When My Swimming Student Stripped Down in Public, His Dad's Reaction Blew Me Away

My first job in disability support was as a physical education teacher for teenage boys with autism. The program was run at a prestigious private school, and we were given access to the school’s private swimming pool. This was always at the end of our fitness sessions and most of the parents would come into the pool area to watch before picking their children up.

This always made me nervous; I was new to this kind of work, and I was always a little on edge having parents watch me with their children. One day I walked the boys over to the change rooms before realizing I’d left one of their bags on the other side of the pool. I asked them to wait for me in the change rooms while I went to get it.

When I came back I saw one of my students casually chatting to an all girls swimming squad — completely naked! I sprinted over and ushered him back into the change rooms as quickly as I could. I felt terrible, realizing I’d let him down and caused an extremely embarrassing moment for him, as well as his father, who was watching on.

I was relieved when my student brushed it off as a simple mistake, but when I walked him back to his dad, my heart sank. He was holding his head in his hands and crying; I could see his whole body shaking. I began apologizing profusely. But suddenly, I realized he wasn’t crying. He was laughing.

He looked at his son and continued to laugh, shaking his head with a smile. He grinned at my panicked face and told me this kind of thing was a fairly common occurrence for them and not to worry about it.

I’m sure part of his amusement was derived from watching my frantic reaction, but the thing that stuck with me was the fact that he’d fully accepted this kind of thing as an honest mistake, which then allowed his son to do likewise, preventing any real embarrassment.

I’ve continued working in various disability support jobs over the past few years, and I have always tried to remember it’s not my job to make my clients behave in a way that will make others comfortable but to teach others how to react in a way that will make my clients comfortable. Just like that dad taught me.

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