Swimming teaching making kids put face in water

[SliceOfCakeCupOfTea]

Sorry it was hard to sum up in the title.

DS is 5 and in stage 2 swimming lessons at our local, council ran pool. I know they've struggled with swim teachers a lot over the last few years and DS seems to have a new teacher every few weeks. His current teacher is brutal when it comes to swimming with faces in the water. She isn't addressing why the kids don't like it or teaching them ways to overcome it (I hate having
my face in the water too so I always breath out my nose and am quite a confident swimming). She shouted at DS last week because he kept bringing his face out to breath which then made him stop swimming.

He's now told me he hates swimming lessons and really doesn't want to come back. It's very important to me that he learns to swim and we can't afford more expensive lessons nor do I feel I have the right skillset to teach him myself.

Is there some techniques we can do to help him overcome this? Is this normal for stage 2 to be so forceful about it? Am I going to ruin swimming for him if I keep him in these lessons or should I make him see it through?

@Doisaysomethingornot my DD is in stage 2 lessons, but stage 3 is in the other half of the pool at the same time, and I’ve definitely seen their teacher demonstrating turning her head to the side to breathe every few strokes. I assume the stages are the same nationally?

The objectives for each stage are available here www.swimming.org/learntoswim/swim-england-learn-to-swim-awards-1-7/

Surely she should be teaching them to turn their faces to the side to breathe?

I had similar 20+ years ago - a new swimming teacher shouting at the whole class. My DS hated it and didn't want to go any more. So we stopped the lessons and just carried on going swimming as a family for fun. 20+ years later, lots of time and money saved, and my DS can swim.

Swimming teacher here, side breathing is normally introducedin stage 3.

@SliceOfCakeCupOfTea , from what you describe it sounds like your DS is holding his breathe rather than exhaling. He can blow out through his mouth but ideally he should be blowing out through his nose (this also prevents water up nose) so that when he raises his head to breathe he only needs to inhale. Back to basics with this part as without it he'll not progress further but once it clicks he'll fly through. Frustration is your enemy here.

The teacher shouldn't be shouting unless it's a danger situation. However due to the environment, busyness and acoustics we have to throw our voices to be heard and I think this can be easily misinterpreted with shouting- especially when you are trying to manage a badly behaved pupil.

I wish him well OP.

Too early, that comes I stage 3.

Contact your local swimming club, ours did learn to swim lessons, all qualified instructors of course, to increase funds for the the competitive swimmers. It wasnt overly advertised and the classes were largely made up of the younger siblings of comp swimmers but it was cheaper and better quality teaching than the local swimming pool.

You really can get your DC to stage 4 standard without any real skill as its all about water confidence, stage 4 + is more about learning technique. DD started formal swimming lessons at 7 and went straight in to stage 4 and could already jump in the deep end and swim to the surface, swim through a hoop, doggy paddle a length etc because we went weekly and played the games mentioned above. Six months into swimming lessons they did a distance week where swimmers swam for as long as they could - DD did a mile! She moved to the competitive club within a year.

I couldnt take her to swimming lessons before 7 because I couldnt drive and couldnt get there after school but I really think being that little bit older meant that she learnt much quicker, had good control of her gross motor skills which is still developing in much younger children. They get such a short amount of time actually swimming in group sessions too.

Stages do seem to differ a bit. At our pool, older kids (7+) go straight to stage 2. Looking at the link posted, there is no mention of being able to swim with 1 float, face in the water etc. It may be that if the teacher is newer to your pool she has higher expectations of stage 2 than other teachers. Regardless she should be encouraging not shouting.

Whether or not he's in the wrong class is one thing.

The main issue here is that she is not a good teacher for him, and is going to ruin his confidence and enjoyment of swimming altogether. I'm 60 and I still can't put my face in the water like that.

I don’t see what moving to another Stage 2 class with the same expectation will achieve? It sounds like he needs to dip back a stage as surely you can see that keeping moving while taking a breath is pretty vital for swimming.

Sorry, I should have specified ‘swimming properly’ as opposed to just being able to get in water, muck around and not drown.

I personally would pull him out and just go swimming with him for a bit to get his love of fun swimming back. Then find another teacher. I'm a huge fan of swimming being to help kids be safe as opposed to being obsessed with teaching, say, perfect breaststroke technique, so I'm with the teacher in getting him to feel used to having his face on the water - but she sounds like a terrible teacher with poor communication skills and an inability to engage well with children. It's all about having them feel confident in the water, isn't it?

Ds liked going swimming. Like you, I booked lessons privately. The teacher was from another time, not kind or recognising different styles. My Ds hated water in his face so she used to shout, splash him etc. Not doing techniques that my friend’s dc learnt. My dh used to take him, once I saw him twice in lessons, I removed him and made a complaint. Ds was actually traumatised and refuses to swim. I hate that bloody woman.

Tbh it was to try with a different teacher. I wasn't sure if it was her teaching style that wasn't clicking with DS or if the actual group were further along (ds is the newest kid into that class).
She flicks water at the kids to get their attention and it just irritates me. Perhaps that is normal and playful but ds doesn't like it which obviously has got my back up.

I will also admit that when DS isn't good at something he tries to give up so I can completely appreciate that he isn't giving it his all but I was really hoping his teacher would be a bit gentler and encouraging.

I feel a bit sorry for the teacher with the shouting comments. I think you do probably need to shout in a swimming pool. The acoustics are funny and I'm pretty sure if she asked nicely he wouldn't hear her.

I've got 4 grown up kids, all learned to swim but one had issues with exhaling into the water. What his teacher suggested was every afternoon get a nice big washing up bowl and get him to breathe out into the water. It did work for him.

Yeah move him back to stage 1. My dd is stage 4 but has had to do all the stages twice, she's just never ready to move on. I think some of the teachers are brutal and really shout at them. Maybe get his confidence back then do stage 1 lessons somewhere else.

That's a really good idea!

Another great idea thank you!

Some really good suggestions and thank you very much everyone.

HPandTheNeverEndingBedtime
Contact your local swimming club, ours did learn to swim lessons, all qualified instructors of course, to increase funds for the the competitive swimmers. It wasnt overly advertised and the classes were largely made up of the younger siblings of comp swimmers but it was cheaper and better quality teaching than the local swimming pool.

You really can get your DC to stage 4 standard without any real skill as its all about water confidence, stage 4 + is more about learning technique. DD started formal swimming lessons at 7 and went straight in to stage 4 and could already jump in the deep end and swim to the surface, swim through a hoop, doggy paddle a length etc because we went weekly and played the games mentioned above. Six months into swimming lessons they did a distance week where swimmers swam for as long as they could - DD did a mile! She moved to the competitive club within a year.

I couldnt take her to swimming lessons before 7 because I couldnt drive and couldnt get there after school but I really think being that little bit older meant that she learnt much quicker, had good control of her gross motor skills which is still developing in much younger children. They get such a short amount of time actually swimming in group sessions too.

^*
I was a bit confused with this thread until I read the above.
That was exactly us.
Went to the Poole regularly with parents just for fun.
Never had swimming lesson , though did go with school later.

We really had a very similar situation with our son.

he had a crap teacher that would shout and tell him he wasn’t swimming properly when he was just trying his hardest and was a bit anxious. He can swim and float fine doggy paddle but can’t coordinate the face in plus swimming.

I think the crap teacher just moved him up so it looked to the owner of the swim school (who he teaches alongside) that he was moving kids up and doing well when his lessons really were shit.

I asked him to move down again with a nicer teacher. He’s slowly getting over the anxiety his last teacher gave him and starting to make progress now.

Try new teacher and a lower stage. He will get there.

Doisaysomethingornot they shouldn't be holding their breathe, they need to blow out in the water, I teach turning the head to the side in stage 3/4 depends on if the they have a strong enough leg kick otherwise they struggle to rotate they head and body and sink down. They is usually a reason behind what they do.I mostly teach head to the side in 4 because of this. Stage 3 Is only 10 metres stage 4 with us is 25metres so 3s are swimming a shorter distance, the need to build on legs and arms and blowing bubbles before turning their head first.

So this makes sense but it's a shame it isn't communicated through the swimming lessons.

We get no feedback and no prompts, no explanations or reasons for things. It's quite hectic as lessons are back to back and teachers moving from pool to pool. I'm not sure if that's normal though, perhaps I have unrealistic expectations considering its council led. Even just a read along, generic website or something.

The link further up the thread is great. Wish the swim school had given us this.

We are a very outdoorsy family and regularly go on outdoorsy trips, think moors, lakes, boats, camping, etc. I totally appreciate the interest in stage 1-4 but honestly as long as he has a teacher he likes does it really matter? I need to know my kids are able to get themselves out of trouble if they need to, can float if they are in difficulties, don't panic if they face unexpected issues in the water, know water safety etc. They don't know stages or levels and do pretty average in school swimming lessons actually yet they can swim far in cold lakes, skull for England if needed, spot reasons where to swim and not to swim, etc. To not EVER jump in water on a very hot day as kids as well as adults can experience heart failure from it...this to me is by far the most important thing.

I was going to say the same as @Bananarama21. I'm a lifeguard and watch 1000s of swimming lessons.

You have to put your face in the water to swim the strokes properly.

It doesn't sound that well organised at your pool. Our classes have the same teacher each week.

Well done you, though OP. Swimming is a very important skill.