What age did your kids give up swimming lessons?

[unlikelychump]

Morning!

What age did your kids give up swimming lessons? My kids are 12, 10 and 8 and I am thinking we might be getting to that point with 2 of them. I'd like them to complete all the levels first really, but I am not sure we will quite get there.

After level 7 and rookie lifeguard. They were around 9 I think.

Same here. In level seven now. But the levels concentrate on technique rather than stamina so they don't do distance awards which I think is a shame in a way.
We live by rivers and lakes so I'm keen on them being beyond basic skill.
Kids have the time, are still happy to go. They also do another sport so I think it's good for keeping them fit.

When they could swim 1km and do three strokes well (I don’t care about butterfly!) plus rookie lifeguard. I didn’t have lessons as a child so can only do head up breaststroke badly, I wanted mine to be able to swim well.

By level 6 though we though the kids skills obviously exceeded DH and mine - they knew all the stokes - it was things like back rolls we were waiting to get ticked off were confident and had skills exceeding most of their peers/friends.

They were confident enough to do swimming events or exercise and had a good foundation to work from if they wanted more when older. So we felt okay to stop - if we lived on beach or somewhere else may have wanted a higher level.

Did get criticized for not continuing on here and in RL - and DS would have like to for bit longer but money was getting tight.

I want all of mine to have done the stage where they have to swim with clothes on. After that it’s their choice. Eldest did another year after that but got bored, middle one will I think as soon as he hits that point.

The swim lessons both my kids go to have a range of ages in them as so many kids had to pause for a long time for COVID and it's taken a while for the waiting lists, lag effect from that to fade out.

Mine originally learnt abroad, then moved to the UK Swim England framework, and it was the lack of endurance swimming that caused us disillusionment.

Before they were actually taught the "proper" strokes (as in technically correct strokes) they had to be able to jump in the deep end, tread water for two minutes then get themselves to the shallow end 25m away. They managed this around 4 or 5 usually. Then they learnt the formal strokes... straight away practicing over the whole length of the pool.

Compared to the Stage 6 lesson in England where they swam widths, stopping at each end...

once they got their 100metre badge.

My DS has just turned 8 and has just completed stage 5. I’ll probably keep him in lessons for another year or so. Like a previous poster said above, Swim England seems to be all about the different strokes and skills and they only recently started swimming 25m lengths 🤔 I’d rather he built up a bit more stamina before stopping.

Your one year old could swim confidently?! The one year olds I know can barely walk confidently (if at all!)

Eldest is on stage 7, so when he completes that.

11yo and 9yo are both at top level before they join "academy" swimming.

14 months ago the 11yo was still in the baby pool so he's a way 'behind' the 9yo (we did 3 months of 1:1 and he's moved through several groups quite quickly) but he's very new to top group and 9yo has been there for a while.

I plan to keep them in lessons as long as possible to be honest. Academy lessons are more about training than learning. The 11yo has little interest in most sports (personal preference) so I want him to have a regular physical activity.

9yo has two other physical hobbies, plus swims for school swim team so I'd be more inclined to let her stop.

At the moment it suits us all though. It gets us up and out, gives the kids some exercise and they enjoy it.

Now just need to source some lessons for the 6yo (disabled and learning delayed so we have limited options and are waiting for an instructor to become available)

DD stopped when the lockdown started in March 2020, so at age 8. She had had 4 years of lessons by that point & was/is a decent swimmer.

She was given the choice of resuming lessons when restrictions were lifted but she chose not to.

We never did organised lessons, just messed around in the health club pool (S1 could swim underwater and come up and get himself to the side by the time he was 2, S2 took a fair bit longer). They had the usual term of class lessons at KS2, three out of the four years iirc.

I did silver Personal Survival in top year of primary school (still remember getting to the end and Mr B saying "well that was a triumph of mind over matter wasn't it?"). Never swum in clothes or for more than 25 metres without putting my foot down/touching the edge since.

Most kids who drown in rivers are suffering from cold water shock, and the sea is an issue because of the currents. Being able to do a perfect crawl won't help much.

DS has stopped in Y11 but was in a swim club rather than still in lessons.

The intensive swim courses offered in half-term breaks and summer holidays are worth doing, as so much more progress is made swimming daily than once a week. We did those and DS invariably went up a level each time.

Agree with PP that swimming is an excellent physical activity worth doing for that purpose alone, especially if your dc is not particularly sporty.

I gave up when I first learnt to swim initially because I hated them. Went back when I was a good swimmer and wanted to improve, hated them even more becuase I couldn't float and being able to float was a prerequisite to move up to the top grade (they just passed me up after 3 terms), and end up quitting not long after I got my periods at 11 as it was just too much to handle in a context with a group that was all boys.

I still love swimming and am a pretty fast recreational swimmer, but group swimming lessons were a miserable experience for me. I still hate coached swimming as an adult, but go occasionally to tri club sessions for a bit because I know they're good for technique.

I taught all three of our kids to swim in our local pool. I’m not a swimming instructor- I just remember my mum teaching me. Why pay for swimming lessons when you can teach your kids yourself?

DD stopped when she was 10 because she got her gold award and there was no further to go with lessons and she didn’t want to do club swimming.

DS stopped when he was about 6 or 7, at which point he could swim properly, as he hated the lessons.

My dad taught me to swim - and I can barely swim. DD has had lessons and is a much better swimmer than I will ever be.

In the same way I wouldn't teach him to surf, play chess or a guitar. I don't know how to do it. I'd pay people who are skilled and qualified. Obviously.

Not age, stage. They could each do 800/1000m.
Eldest carried on until she'd completed the badges and left at 11 when her periods got in the way.
Middle stopped when she was competent in a couple of strokes and could swim lengths well, around age 8/9.
Youngest stopped once she could do 800m, she was six.