Child's swimming lessons

[Oliviawilde]

I need some perspective on this as DH and I disagree on it.

DD is 6 in 2 months time and has been going with DH to a swimming pool weekly for the last 7, 8 months. He's been teaching her to swim although a lot of the time she just enjoys splashing and having fun. She can swim a few meters now but it's all a bit haphazard.

She started a week's crash course on Monday 1:1. At the initial assessment the teacher said she is strong, very water confident and by the end of the week she'll hopefully jump up a level.

However it's been going downhill since then and by today the teacher has been getting frustrated with her and she doesn't seem to be getting the technique right, starting with very basic things like holding her legs straight and not bending her knees. He was a little harsh on her today but I do agree she's not paying attention plus she's not been taught properly so I think she finds it hard to shake off old habits.

DH is not happy with the teacher now as I think he was proud of what he did with DD.

I'm a bit on the fence as I feel DD needs to learn the right technique not just to swim as she'll never progress to being a good swimmer without it.

What do you think?

Swimming lessons can be a bit of a money making scheme unfortunately. Personally if I was in your position I'd try a few different swimming teachers in the area. Some are a lot better than others and kinder.

Sorry posted that too soon, in terms of the issue with your DH, I feel as though they learn and pick up the proper techniques better at the age your DC is at so she should learn those now and your DH simply needs to realise shes better off knowing the correct and safe swimming practices at this age and can swim with him on weekends or other free time.

I never had swim lessons. My df taught me the same way as your dh. I doubt many of us on mumsnet had swimming lessons that children do these days.

Schools will help out, more swimming sessions will sort out technique. I think you've not really had your dhs back.

At 6 she's not going to start swimming with straight legs after one week. It takes time. So I'd question a teacher who was frustrated after such a short space of time. But I do think structured swimming lessons are necessary for good technique. I guess it depends on how important proper technique is to you.

I'm as swimming teacher I can tell when parents have taught kids, poor body position, head out the water, no aquatic breathing in the water, that been said il always be patient and kind towards a child. If a child's messing on and not listening though I'd sit them on the side.

Thank you all.

DH used to teach children to swim a very long time ago (20 years + ) so I thought he'd teach her some technique. I know it was a very long time ago and he didn't really enjoy it, but still he'd be better than a parent who had no teaching experience.

I really liked this teacher at first, he's communicating really well and seems quite enthusiastic. You can tell when someone is just going through the motions. I believe his frustration is coming from the fact that she seemed so strong at first so he thought she'll fly through the sessions however it's proving quite difficult.

She's not messing around in the water, she's very well behaved, but he'll ask her to do something and she'd do a different stroke for instance rather than the one he asked her or just switch half way through as she's finding it difficult.

This was an issue for me. My dd could never just come for a fun swim. She was constantly swimming underwater, found it difficult to just paddle across without going full aquatic breathing. I learnt my lesson from this and as soon as ds was confident swimming in the big pool I pulled him and just took him to normal swim sessions with me. My youngest dd is actually showing a bit of talent so I'm going to leave her as long as she enjoys going.

The way they teach kids to swim has changed a lot in the last 20 years!

She was supposedly not a total beginner from his point of view so he's probably expecting a bit more from her.

Good technique is important is you want to swim well.

I was never taught to swim, I learnt by myself when I was 12 after a near drowning experience. However, because I was never taught any technique, I can't swim very far, I have no stamina and I was never able to progress. Let's say I won't drown in a pool but that's all.

My 6yr old does swimming lessons and has suspected ADHD. He struggles to follow instructions and to concentrate in a pool, with so much stimulation from the water, noise and other children. (Small group of around 5 per lesson.)

The teacher is brilliant, really understanding of him and helps to break things down. He gets reminded to listen quite a bit from what I can see through the glass🙈 but I get the sense that his teacher really likes him and wants to help him learn.

If you are getting the vibe that her swimming teacher is annoyed and impatient then I would find another one.

I'm coming round to thinking he's not right for DD. He should work with her ability (since it's a 1:1 lesson) not rush her and push her onto something she's not ready for.

Anyway, this is just a summer crash course and he's not doing the weekly classes from Sept at this place so we will have to look for a different teacher anyway. It's just that it's hard to get a recommendation re a specific teacher and you are allocated one after you've paid.

IMO intensive swimming lessons are not a particularly good idea, I think they are more designed for making money than a good way to learn for the kids. At 6 their attention spans are still short and swimming is exhausting! She might simply not be able to cope the intensity.

When ds did his one to one lessons aged 7-8 they were only 20 mins long for this reason. The group lessons (5 kids) were also only 30 mins.

If feel the same about driving lessons when they get (much!) older. Anything after 1-1.5hrs is a waste of time.