What level did you let kids stop swimming lessons?

[strawberryurchin]

I was reading you're meant to keep them in until stage 7, but weekly lessons (now at stage 4) are getting a bit much for us to facilitate in terms of time commitment, energy etc and wondered if we might give up earlier.

Obviously I want to encourage her to be a strong enough swimmer.

Do you think it's feasible we could give up sooner and maybe I could go swimming with her myself more regularly instead?

DD doesn't really love going either. She can swim unaided, up to stage 4 level of competence.

Mine is stage 4 (but that varies a lot pool by pool and I think really she’d be 5/6 in some pools or against the asa competencies) and I don’t think I’d be ready to stop her yet. I am confident that she is good enough in a swimming pool to have fun and be safe. I wouldn’t be confident she’s strong enough for sea swimming. As we’re likely to do water sports with the children in the future I’d like them to be strong swimmers.

On this, for those who have already stopped how do you keep up the swimming practice? We have a large family so can't take everyone swimming yet and also not sure we will particularly and don't at the moment go abroad. However I do want them all to be able to swim as adults and I'm not sure it is like riding a bike (ie you learn and then can stop for ages and then start again without problems). Or is it like that provided you get them to a certain stage?

One stopped at level 4, the others kept going until 7/8/squad

I think they are a bargain. We pay £27.50 per month per child and they get unlimited swimming plus one lesson a week. Yes it is a life skill and could save their life but also it is leisure and enjoyment and fitness. As an adult I love swimming and find it really mindful and good for physical and mental health. The kids all love swimming so we will keep up with lessons as long as they want to.

Not sure if the stages are universal, but in our pool DS1 went up to ‘light blue hats’ which is the 5th stage. He did saving himself from falling in wearing his pyjamas type stuff in that level. Everyone seems to stop then - there are only a few time slots for the next levels and barely any kids in dark blue and purple so I assume other parents think that’s fine too.

I suppose 'can swim' in stage 4 or 5 is like saying your baby 'can walk' when they can manage 10 steps across the room. Technically they are indeed walking, but not well enough to be much use for anything IRL.

For us, the minimum is completing stage 7 and earning their 800m distance badge. At that point they aren't great swimmers, but are competent.

Those saying that their swim schools hold them down in levels to drag out the process and extract more money should change pools. This hasn't been our experience (council pool). DD1 passed level 7 at 7yo, and 6yo DD2 has nearly completed level 6 (just a bit of polishing on her fly left).

@SpringBunnies "I can swim half an hour non stop at school swimming lessons for three strokes. But I’m a really terrible swimmer."
On what planet is that being a terrible swimmer?

Swimming lessons are massively over emphasised in my opinion, particularly starting so early. Wait til they're five instead of starting at three - their greater strength and ability to follow instructions means they pick it up in half the time (and expense!). We stopped when they could swim 400m in our house.

I've no idea what the levels allow you to do, as mine learnt abroad.
500m was my rule - and 66m (which was 2 lengths) had to be done in 2 different strokes - so 66m of stroke 1, 66m of stroke 2, rest in stroke 3.
BUT, we had open access to a pool with no lifeguards, and was out of depth at both ends.

7 or 8. Could do 3 lengths without stopping. Age 9 got bored.

1000m any style. But we live walking distance to the sea, both now into coasteering, open water swimming, SUP, surfing etc. Probably a bit more of an essential life skill round our way.

I think the levels aren't that helpful as each pool has a different interpretation of the levels and/or adds their own limits.

For example a pool that might do level 4 as "widths" where they can touch the ground is different to a pool that has them doing lengths out of their depth.

I'd want them to be able to do more than 3 lengths and have some stamina but I'm not fussed about butterfly.

For everyone with children in swimming lessons do you also take them swimming separately? Mine never had weekly lessons, they had 2 separate 1 week intensive swimming at 6 (Ds1) and 4( Ds2) but we took them every week to swim so they perfected their stroke and endurance with distance there. The pool was 1.2m deep as it was at a gym. The main thing that spurred them on was being able to go down the rapids at Center Parcs as they knew they had to show they were strong swimmers.

I think there is too much emphasis on perfecting a stroke rather than endurance with a less than perfect frog leg kick. I mean what is the point of butterfly at all? If someone starts doing that in the lanes at the gym everyone is looking like wtf are you doing No one is doing butterfly to save their life surely?

I completely agree it is a life skill and all children should be taught but there also needs to be practise in between lessons.

Not to practice. DD is a child who hates being taught by her parents, she saw swimming with us as fun, not to practice skills.

She often went with DH and they had a blast playing in the pool and also on holiday. It's about confidence in our case.

I think that children who haven’t got to a decent level by the thine they are 9/10 are unlikely to become competent swimmers. Children starting at about 5 can make it by 8/9. The trouble with starting later is that the beginner classes are full of tiny children.

I’d want DC to be able to swim 100m (4 lengths) with decent style and correct breathing in 3 strokes, as a minimum.

If you can’t breathe properly, you’re essentially doggy paddling and not able to cover useful distances. If you’re not a capable swimmer, you is out socially in terms of being able to go to birthday parties at pools, aqua parks when you’re older, or being able to go swimming with groups of friends or to do water sports like sailing or canoeing which usually require 50m swimming.

Kids can go in the pool from 8 without an adult in the water with them. At age 8-12 kids get huge enjoyment from playing in the pool with friends, using big floats, inflatables etc. if you’re a poor swimmer, you don’t have the confidence to join in and enjoy it properly. So not being a competent swimmer excludes children from activities.

In terms of stopping, don’t just consider if the level seems okay for their age. Once they stop lessons they won’t improve, unless you regularly swim with them and make them swim lengths etc. Consider if their swimming is good enough to swim the 25m to the big floats at an aqua park, that they will want to go to when they are 12. Will you be able to sign the form that says they can swim 50m to go on a coming trip with the scouts or the school? Will you feel confident that they are okay when they want to go swimming with 3 friends when they are 10 and go in the water without an adult in with them?

Well maybe I'm mean but I made mine stay until stage 10....I didn't feel they had much stamina until then and I wanted them to be confident to swim in the sea etc. To be fair none of them really minded lessons, it wasn't their favourite thing but they didn't complain ( much!). They got to stage 10 at about 8-9yo.

Level 6 when the teacher said she wasn’t really getting anything from continuing with lessons and did she want to do competitive swimming.
I didn’t fancy the 5am starts so we stopped then. Any earlier than that and i wouldn’t have been happy with her ability. DD2 is in level 4 now and nowhere near able to not drown

@WombatChocolate "I think that children who haven’t got to a decent level by the thine they are 9/10 are unlikely to become competent swimmers."

This is quite a strong statement and I am not quite sure why you think this?

I'm a strong enough, and competent swimmer and I didn't ever get taken to proper lessons as a child. We weren't in the water for hours and hours, just occasional lessons from family.

How do you define "competent"?

@reluctantbrit ours was a combination of swimming underwater through our legs, diving for those dive sticks, learning to do handstands and tumble turns but we did take floats for them to learn the breathing technique for front crawl. We watched a YouTube video on it. We went swimming as a family so one child per adult which helped with being able to focus on each child and their individual progress.

We did make them swim some lengths because we went to water parks on holiday so they needed to tread water to get to where the tidal wave breaks plus being dumped into plunge pools from water slides.

I take competent to mean being able to swim several lengths (100m) without stopping - that means swimming the stroke properly and breathing correctly, which enables you to sustain swimming over a distance.

You don’t have to have lessons to become competent, but you do need to swim regularly and to be shown the techniques and you have to practice and build stamina. Regular lessons over a sustained period allow that. People do t tend to be come capable swimmers in just a few weeks. It’s why the 1-term if swimming at many primary schools achieves very little for those who couldn’t swim before..it’s just not long enough to become a capable swimmer.

competent means being able to cover a reasonable distance. It means being confident out of your depth. It means being able to join in activities which require confidence in water and an ability to cover some distance safely and in a reasonable time frame. Someone who can doggy paddle 5m or 10m isn’t a competent swimmer. They can propel themselves a short distance and are starting to swim. Great. But they won’t be able to go to a pool based party and pass the swimming test at the start that determines who can use the full pool and all the floats, and who must stay in the very shallow end.

I am amazed at all these 6/7/8 year olds on level 6 and above. Mine is on level 4 and is in the top group for swimming when she goes with school (and is on of the best swimmers). She's 8 (but the size and strength of a 6 year old - I guess that might make a difference). Anyway, I'll let her stop lessons when she can swim 100m in 3 strokes like others have said. At the moment she has beautiful technique but not a lot of stamina. She loves going at the moment so hopefully that will continue. Her swimming was very disrupted by the pandemic and lessons stopping for 18 months, we pretty much had to start from scratch again.

Thanks, that is very helpful. My eldest is at 50m in the puddleducks system which seems to be very much about perfection. Having said that my child doesn't have the stamina to swim 100m yet. One of my worries is that none of the puddleducks pools are deep enough to teach diving which I think does need to be learnt.

You know the ‘oh swimming isn’t such a life skill. You don’t go near water/swimming pool that often’.

yep.
Until you go away on hols and there is a pool or the sea. Or a water park.
And then your weak swimmer struggles and gets a fright (and you do too)….

I’ll Bev honest I can remember what level the dcs were. But my aim was to be confident that I didn’t have to constantly keep an eye in them if they were near water. Fir me, it means being able to confidently swim 2 lengths of the pool. That is easily, Wo getting over tired and looking like they might drown at any point.
ive not regretted that.

Mine stopped when they'd done their personal survival, could swim half a mile, could do 3 strokes correctly. So age 8 ish, started lessons aged 3. Eldest carried on longer though because they enjoyed the lessons.

Many kids find there are loads of other clubs and activities they’d like to do as they get older. If they can already swim, that’s one that is no longer needed, unless it’s their activity of choice. In my mind, it’s very much a primary school thing to have lessons…by secondary you should be perfectly competent. Most who have lessons from 4/5 can be confident and commenting by 8/9.

But as many things, those with the money and inclination to prioritise swimming, tend to be competent and those who lack money miss out. Group lessons seem to be around £10 each now. It’s not affordable for everyone.