To feel a bit embarrassed my nearly four year old is in a class with two year olds!

I wouldn't worry, my DD is 11 and just started swimming lessons this year after finding she had started to enjoy the brief school swimming lessons. Her stage 2 class was younger kids, from 4+. I wanted her to progress but she just really enjoyed learning in her own time. She's moved up to stage 3 now, which does include a 17yo in her group. In her case her sensory issues were holding her back as she didn't want to jump in (due to the feeling of the tiles when she landed), and that was the reason they weren't progressing her. I resisted learning to swim, until I taught myself at 25 (again, realising now that sensory issues are my thing, as I don't like water near my head)

Take him once a week yourself, and give him play lessons. He's only four for goodness sake.

We had exactly the same thing. She hadn’t progressed much in a year and hadn’t learnt to swim independently in the 4years. Cancelled water babies and started swimming lessons and she was swimming after just a couple of lessons. Water babies was lovely until pre-school age. Definitely get swimming lessons where you don’t go in the water and he will be with his own age.

My DS started lessons at 4. He just didn't seem to make much progress so eventually I started paying for 1:1 sessions. They made a huge difference and soon he could rejoin the normal classes (graded by rainbow colours so you move from red to orange etc). Ages were all mixed so that wasn't a concern, but just the fact that he wasn't improving.

He does have ASD and ADHD so that may have contributed to the lack of progress - but if you can afford it I really would consider 1:1s. It is a bit pricey but probably less than you will pay in additional classes overall.

But don't stress about it. I'm sure at 4 he isn't fazed about being in a class with toddlers - although he might be when he's older.....

Your 3 year old child is in a swimming lesson class with 2 year olds because he cant swim independently

what are you going to do about it

I never understood group swimming classes. Mine learnt in a small class for a week in the summer when they were eight. By the end of the first day they were swimming...

Not everyone gets things easily. We'd tried for years to teach ours to swim. Don't judge your son by the others in the group.

If you’re embarrassed, don’t be, I’m sure no one else actually cares and it’s about making your child happy and proficient in water.

Swimming is a weird one in that some kids just get it at 3 or 4 and some don't. Not always the particularly sporty ones either. Some kids it simply won't click until they are about 6.

If your child is in lessons and isn't progressing its probably just that there's a physical "click" he just has not had yet. I'd ditch the lessons, it will knock his confidence to be left with toddlers. If you must have him in lessons/aren't willing to just take him swimming yourself, consider moving him to a normal stage 1/2 swim england program with other four year olds .

DD was 4 when this happened.
puss me off= piss me off

This was us OP. My Dd, now 14, was in a class of toddlers. Her older siblings also had swimming lessons and were quite good. This is for context, as I don’t think the swimming teacher wanted to puss me off.
At the start of the year,, when DD was starting to stick out like a sore thumb, I had a quiet word with the teacher. Kept it pretty factual.
Dd has had lessons for 3 years….. everyone else has moved on…..DD hasn’t and it’s becoming obvious. What we have done isn’t working, can we try something different?
The teacher agreed. She actually gave me a couple of private lessons at no extra charge. This gave DD a boost. Have a word with your teacher and see what they suggest.
Good luck, OP.

It’s not unusual at all for children to take time in learning to swim, my 6 year old has been learning for years and has only recently been able to swim a width independently and she’s in a class all the same age. If we hadn’t enjoyed the lessons when she was younger I wouldn’t have bothered, kids naturally get stronger and more boyent as they get older, if you start learning at 6/7 years it would take way less time for the majority.

We did Waterbabies style classes in a private pool where you go in with them for 3.5 years. No progress for the last 18 months of that. Moved him to the local council pool where he could touch the bottom and they go in without the parent and he had made more progress in a month than in the last 18 months. Like a different child. I'd definitely recommend switching.

It's also less than half the price which is a winner.

Yes it can. I literally taught myself how to swim while on holiday aged 3.

I really do think swimming lessons for babies and preschoolers is a marketing gimmick

When he's old enough ditch the water babies and go for proper lessons. My DS started in the summer hols before he started reception. Made a lot more progress than he had been in the water babiesesque class

It took my ds till age 6 for it to click, despite lessons since 2, lots of practice with me and an intensive course. Possible ND, but remember not everyone learns at the same pace.

My child didn’t start till she was 8 and learned in two weeks, maybe stop for a while…

God my daughter was like this, it was so painful at the time. She suddenly just for it though and is a great swimmer, just took about 7 years!!

Both of my DC were self taught. Never bothered with swimming lessons at all, partly because of the expense and the waiting lists so me and my DH took them swimming twice weekly instead. Huge improvements were made on family holidays as we were in the pools a lot. Both able to swim properly by the ages of 5 and now one swims for school. I’d look to either change whoever is providing the lessons and go somewhere else or do it yourself where it would be more relaxed and fun.

Wow. Your pool costs are super high!

Good that it has started to click with him.

Other suggestions would be to look into local swim clubs- there will be a list on the swim England website. Sometimes they have a academy / lessons section. They might also be good to contact re small grp sessions , different pools etc.

Maybe move him, my daughter wasn’t progressing and when I flagged this they said she’d been messing around in the shallow end with a friend and not listening so asked for her to be moved with kids she didn’t know.

Give him time he's not training for the Olympics.
I couldn't swim till I was 9.
To much pressure on kids I think.
I have a cousin that never learned to swim until he was 27.

Maybe it's because of the age of the kids he's with that makes him so ambivalent about swimming independently

Im pleased for you that he’s suddenly swimming. Get him as strong a swimmer as possible when young. This is one thing less to learn for him when older. I’d up the practice because we are an island and many children who don’t know how to swim find themselves in troubled waters. (Well done Mum
Perhaps when he’s older he’ll take up sailing and have his own boat. (Although on a different thread, men who own boats are not so loyal - but that’s for a different age)

My DS hated the “baby” swimming lessons so we’ve just started him again in a non- swimmers group where I don’t get in with him- every other kid is about the same age (nearly 5) and he’s really enjoying it so far!