WIBTA for firing my babysitter for taking my son to swim classes without our permission

I'm going to go on the light ESH. She should have told you, and you REALLY should teach him to swim. It's your right to know what your kid does, but she really didn't have any malice in her intentions. But swimming is something that needs to be taught young, or your kid will have a fear of water. My mother didn't learn how to swim until she was thirty. She isn't a strong swimmer and has an extreme fear of putting her head under water. You live, I assume, around water in Florida. He needs to know, at least, how to deal with being submerged, and learn how to swim. Talk to your babysitter, tell her that things like this needs to be ran by you and your husband. I firmly believe that kids need to learn how to swim, especially places like Florida. But if the trust is broken, either all of you need to work on regaining it or get a new sitter and set up swimming lessons with them. Researching the swim lessons wouldn't hurt, and you would get to choose where you feel safest sending him.

Ultimately, you need to decide if you can trust her to not do things behind your back. You're right in feeling betrayed, she did go behind your back. But learning how to swim isn't something that can be pushed off until he grows up into an teenager, as someone who is around people who have that fear of the water. It's great he knows a bit of swimming, and it would be a fun thing for him to do, as there's plenty of water he can swim in Florida. You aren't the TA for not taking him to swimming lessons, but just please think about having a trusted person take him to lessons until he is a strong, confident swimmer. It will make him happier and safer in the area. You are the TA for not at least planning for a way to get him swimming lessons in a state that it's critical for him to know water safety and how to swim.

/r/AmItheAsshole Thread