Swimming lessons should be essential!

We now live in NL and all kids, literally, all kids, start lessons aged 5 upwards. Most of them have gone through all stages by age 8/9. It's weekly lessons, followed by swimming exam. Yeah, it's dull sitting by the poolside Saturday mornings - but an essential life skill.

Agree all of mine have lessons and are not allowed to quit untill they can pass swimming in clothes and I don’t allows pjs to count like some parents. I send them with jeans and a hoody. Swim in proper clothes in an emergency situation.

Our swim school makes them line up back to them to get shoved it at any given moment fully clothed so although they know it’s coming they don’t know when and it’s over the diving pit so deep deep.

Swimming is a great skill to have, but saying it is essential is just another stick to beat hard up parents with. Even going casually to our local, council run pool costs £20 for 2 adults, 1 DC - not something we can afford every week.

We could manage lessons if we stopped DS martial arts club which is something he has been doing since he was 4, loves and also has the potential to be very good at.

We live on the coast so focus on water safety and swimming together when we can. I am a regular sea swimmer so definitely do appreciate the skill, but it can't be learnt and improved at any age

I enrolled my son in swimming lessons 6 months ago just as he turned 4.
if you receive Uc the council gives a discount on the monthly lessons.
it’s still £23 a month with the discount and thats 30 mins a week. if i didnt work I definitely couldn’t afford it.
no option to move lessons around if you need to.

If I’m honest i saw progress quickly but now it’s slowed down and the instructor seems to do the same thing every week- not really teaching just ticking off the tasks to get them to try.

We’re going to give it a few more weeks then maybe take a pause for 6 months or so until he’s old enough to follow instructions better and understand why swimming is important.

Nah theres no requirement in life to be able to swim. Just dont go near water.

My two eldest learned absolutely nothing from swimming with the school so we paid for lessons. Both are excellent swimmers much stronger than DH.
DS I'm struggling with. He absolutely loves water and the swimming pool but his additional needs means he won't cope with lessons and has no fear.
But in general I do think all children should be taught to swim or at least be confident in the water.

The early lessons are about entering the water safely, touching the side, learning to float and getting from a float to a stand, etc. I think these are important skills.

I've learnt this year, at 55. There was never the money when I was a kid (and I was nervous of the water). I'm still taking lessons because I can't get to grips with front craw and breathing!!!

That's not for 1-2-1 lessons. That's the price for group sessions (my friend's child is in a group of 6). The only other option for lessons is run out of one of the private schools; again about an hour away; and that's £60 a month per child. That also has a long waiting list. I think because there are so few pools in our area, and such high demand for lessons, they can charge what they bloody well want knowing people will pay it. My sister lives in a neighbouring county, with four public pools within easy driving distance, and pays £15 for 45m...

A problem for small children can be water overconfidence. I hear a lot of patents brag their toddler is soo confident, they just leap right in.
Mine were young in a hotter climate, and toddler swimming was about water safety and strength rather than strokes. They were taught not to randomly leap in water, to always turn and touch the side after jumping in, to tread water and float etc.

I disagree that lessons are essential for babies and toddlers. Taking them for a fun swim to get them used to the water, yes.

From 4/5 I would say it's essential.

Those are likely 121 lessons. Group lessons are fine and much cheaper. Better Leisure centre gyms up and down the country do group lessons for much cheaper too

Swimming in a calm heated pool is different from falling in a cold sea, river or lake.

Children should always be supervised near water, but teaching them to swim isn't a guarantee that they will be capable of getting themselves out of trouble.

The majority of people who drown are people who can swim.

Yes this. Lots of people can't afford swimming and lessons/pools are not nearby.

It's just not an option for us. £25 per child for 30 minutes, with a 3 year waiting list. Our council pool never reopened after lockdown, and the next nearest is a 50m drive (assuming it's not rush hour, when it's nearer 90).

Even if we could have got them off the waiting list and actually into the pool, I simply don't have £50 a week to spend on swimming lessons (plus the fuel costs getting them there and back). I'd struggle to find £50 a month.

My children, now 10 and 12, are able to swim reasonably well thanks to school swimming lessons in Y5 and 6, and have been taught water safety since they were tiny. We've done the best we can. Not being able to afford swimming lessons does not make us neglectful parents, despite the numerous threads on MN.

My DD tried it at 4, screamed every second she was in the water and clung to me. Restarted this summer hols, aged 7, and she's whizzed up to the second stage and is absolutely loving it now. On the other hand my 4 year old DS is stuck in a pre-stage 1 class because he can't touch the bottom and I'm not convinced he's really getting anywhere fast and isnt particularly enjoying it. Swimming is very important but sometimes waiting until they're ready and receptive is when they make the most progress.

I agree. Cycling isn't essential but swimming is. This is what I've been telling myself this week as I have no energy to teach him how to cycle or chase him with a infant hanging down my boob but I'd happily take him to his weekly swimming lessons that he's started during the summer holidays. He's only 5. He had some lessons last year but between having Hg during pregnancy and giving birth we stopped and restarted this summer.

Absolutely agree. And even one that can swim will likely panic and not know what to do if they fell in without warning or water is cold.

I don’t agree lessons are essential for babies and toddlers. Once school age, absolutely and definitely before the compulsory y4-6 ones offered in school.

Spending time in the water is enough when they are babies and toddlers. My children had both hit stage 2 in their second term of group lessons at 5 years old (dc1 is now 7 and working towards stage 6). They had no swim lessons before but we swam regularly as a family so they were ready to take instruction as soon as they started.

Starting them younger would have been months of giving a crying child to a swim instructor because they did not want to get in the pool without me - I’m delighted to have skipped that phase

The lamest thing I heard was ‘I’m not sending my daughter to swimming lessons because she gets chesty. THEY LIVED IN A COMPLEX WHICH HAD A POOL!
I’d rather a sniffly child than a dead one. Swimming is a life skill, and should be government funded for those who can’t afford it.

Yep...

Lessons when they're very young are good for water confidence though. My older DD had lessons when she was a baby but the younger missed out because of Covid and their water confidence is dramatically different.

You never know at what age you are going to fall into water.

As a baby/toddler/young child they shouldn't be unsupervised around water.

We took our children swimming as babies/toddlers to get them used to it. We tried lessons with our oldest but found them to be a waste of time. Too many kids, many not listening, messing around. My child did listen but the instructor just didn't have time to help each child properly. I didn't bother with group lessons for youngest.

When our kids were 5, we booked 1:1 lessons and they were both swimming within a few weeks.

So no I don't think lessons essential as babies and toddlers.