Swimming

[Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain]

How good at swimming are you? I was brought to the pool as a young baby, had swimming lessons when older but also used to live near a sports centre with an Olympic sized pool and we were taken every weekend. We always used to love swimming whether in the sea or in a pool.

Is it a life skill?

DNephew 7 used to have lessons now uses a board (where you kick legs). Last time I took him swimming he refused to do so (I kept on saying swim goddam you!) then he found a boy his age an was playing and swimming. I forever played sharks with my brother and friends when in pool (hands just above water in shark fin shape).

I'm a pretty good swimmer - did it competitively through secondary school. I'm unfit, but my technique is still good. I'd love to do more open water swimming but not many opportunities round here.

DS1 is 9 and fairly confident, though needs to work on stamina. DS2 is 6 and making slow progress, he can manage ok on his back but front crawl is a mess. I would not have confidence in him going more than about 10m safely.

Both want to splash about and play in casual swimming sessions though!

Thanks for the comments @SarahAndQuack about Covid and taking nephew swimming by himself. Sadly I don’t know other 7 year olds who’d come.

Agreed with @SockQueen that playing and splashing around is more what he’d prefer to do.

I had a few lessons in primary school but didn't get the hang of it. Went with a group as a young teen and someone held me under 'for fun' which triggered a fear that prevented me from making any progress for decades, I could manage half a width and couldn't bear to put my head underwater.
Took a trip to Australia in 2023 but couldn't go out and snorkel on the Great Barrier Reef so sat on the boat and watched with envy.
Came home and decided I really had to conquer my fears, took adult lessons in the local pool. 3 months later I was swimming lengths.
Swim 2 or 3 times a month now and can usually do 32 lengths (half a mile).
Still can't quite believe it!

That’s great that you took adult lessons and feel better about it now.

I can swim decently. I grew up by the sea and spent every weekend boogie boarding and splashing about as a kid. You become a fairly strong swimmer when you’re battling waves. I was a lifeguard and have done various triathlons and open water swims. DH is better than me as he was a competitive long distance triathlete.

We take the kids swimming every weekend but have to opt for the SEN or quieter sessions which can be a bit limiting.

My 7yo is a fantastic swimmer. He’s got absolutely no stroke/style but can swim as far as you like, and swim underwater. He’s autistic and dyspraxic so I’m very proud of him. My 5yo is still quite anxious (no diagnosis but l quite possibly high-masking neurodivergent of one flavour or another) but she’s getting there. She’ll swim with a buoyancy vest or do a few metres of doggy paddle.

I had enough lessons as a child to not drown (maybe swimming 25m front and back?) and then stopped. I’m not sure why, I assume my parents didn’t want/couldn’t afford to take me anymore because I’ve always loved being in the water but never learnt proper strokes or under water breathing techniques and wouldn’t consider myself a strong swimmer. As an adult, DH taught me how to swim front crawl properly and encouraged me to wear my first ever pair of goggles and that’s been a game changer. I’d go every week if I had the time, but I’m still slow and ploddy. I’ve never swam in the sea (although I’m a wuss about cold!).

I’m really keen for my kids to swim confidently and DS (4) has been having lessons since he was 6 months old. He’s now confidently swimming without armbands and is very happy in the water. My nieces who are older primary/young teen aged are both competitive club swimmers and I watch them with awe. It seems like a massive commitment so I have no desire for mine to follow in their footsteps, but I’d like them to be confident and safe enough to be able to say yes to any water activity they fancy in the future.

I swam the length of Windermere which is 11 miles in one go. So I'm a fairly decent swimmer I suppose. I've never swum competitively so I'm not fast. But I've got pretty decent form and can keep going indefinitely.

My kids were forced to complete level 7 of swimming. Which is the "reliably probably won't drown in a pool" level. They don't have particularly good form/technique though but they are good enough to allow me to unclench slightly when near water with them. They absolutely love the water but absolutely hated swimming lessons.

I can swim 5km in open water. It takes me a while, but I reckon I am a strong swimmer. My primary school had a pool so I think it started there. I love swimming more than most things. Not singing, or my kids, or travel, but after that there is no better feeling.
These days it is expensive and harder to access. Our local pool is closing down. I have spent a fortune teaching my kids to swim, but it is worth it. I just think of all the enjoyment I have had over the years and I couldn't deny them that. But I understand why other kids can't swim.

Like another poster, who seems to be on the same learning trajectory, I started early. I remember swimming in an outdoor pool that was too shallow to develop a cyclical kick.
When I was 5 they built a ‘real’ indoor pool in our town and by the time I was 6 I could swim a mile.
By before I was 7 I could swim two miles. I swam competitively for the local club but I adore swimming distance. I used to travel quite a bit for open water events before lockdown.
Swimming is a life skill. But then I teach and have been teaching other people to swim since the first pool I swam in employed me and trained me up…..possibly because I was in the place so often, that does make me very biased.

I love teaching swimming. It is absolutely the best job in the world, it pains me when I hear some of the blanket criticisms of ‘swimming lessons in general’ when some of us are out there absolutely trying to do our best for every child in the group, regardless of how often they come into the pool between lessons.
I really just want kids to pick the skills up and WANT to come back next week, if they want to turn up, half the battle is won.

My Dad’s brother drowned, he was a great swimmer, but one day he got bad cramp swimming in the sea. Dad and his other siblings were never taught to swim.
Every Sunday Dad took me to the local pool and made sure swimming was FUN.
I was thirty before I found out he couldn’t swim and he just stayed in his depth and played with his daughter to make sure she was confident and happy swimming.

I can’t remember not being able to swim. In fact I taught my sister when she was 4 and I was 8. I’ve always been a strong swimmer. Was a club swimmer in my teens (mediocre; I’m strong and enduring, but not that fast). Swim at least once a week, indoors or out now.

Swimming is a life skill. Many parents I know make swimming lessons a non negotiable activity. That being saideach child is different and will learn at different paces. It's meant to be fun for them not being told to swim or improve. It's also not fair to compare yourself with him at the same age.