Is there much point to a 6-year-old having swimming lessons?

[Thesnailonthewhale]

My 6-year-old can swim maybe around 8 to 10. M in a sort of recognised stroke. She's currently in stage 3 lessons . I'm just thinking of taking an eight of lessons because she isn't getting that much from them and spending a lot of time standing around, waiting for her turn to go up and down the pool etc. we swim at least one other time apart from the lessons and would replace the swimming lesson with a family swim where I'd make her practise. We do the practise anyway on our weekend swim. So should be practising at least twice a week, about 10 to 15 minutes each time, which is probably more that she gets out of the 25-minute lesson anyway.

Am I missing something?

I don't need her to be able to do butterfly or breaststroke or anything. Just be able to swim across the pool and then naturally grow her stamina as she gets older. She's a million % confident in the water but also safe. she'll dive down to the bottom of the two to three metre pool to collect weights etc.

I'm just thinking I could save myself 40 odd pound a month

She's a million % confident in the water

That combined with her lack of ability puts her as most likely to drown.

If you feel you could teach her to swim and take her regularly then do it. This is what my mum did with me and DB.

She's never unattended in the water, and is incredibly safe. In that she listens to adults and knows, and never has jumped into water without permission etc.

Yes. Stage 5 completed minimum to be a safe and strong enough swimmer to see her into adulthood ( so she can confidently do all the activities she needs to as a teen).

No - you’re not far enough along. She really needs to pass stage 5. Maybe do the half term intensive courses instead of weekly? They usually offer 1:1 and mine made the most progress in those rather than weekly group lessons

If you don’t need her to do breaststroke or butterfly then you’re teaching her front crawl? Can she coordinate the breathing and the strokes properly? Lessons as she gets older will concentrate on both technique and stamina.

Are you intending to put her back into lessons at some point? It sounds like she’s doing well for a 6 year old but you don’t want her skills to stall where they are or she might not be able to join in with friends as she gets older.

Absolutely there's a point. I'm surprised you have to ask.

She can swim 8-10m, and so far has had no experience of swimming without someone watching her closely, and has a very high opinion of her ability. This would make her very high risk for getting into trouble in different circumstances, say at the beach or in a holiday hotel swimming pool.

Get her actually competent rather than imagined competent before you think about saving a few quid.

I kept my ds in lessons even though he said he wasn't learning much, because he was, just not huge steps forward that children notice. He was gradually improving technique so he could swim further, faster with less effort. He became much more competent in the water without realising it.

I'd keep her in lessons unless she absolutely hates it. It really is an essential life skill.

It sounds like you need to find another swimming lesson provider, rather than give up. My son is 6 and they don’t wait to take turns in the lesson. They all go at once.

It was really important for us that both our kids became good swimmers because neither of us are.
We did lessons and a couple of intensive weeks from the age of 6 to about 10
Money well spent I think

Working towards stage 3 is pretty much 'non-swimmer' territory. As others advise, keep going until she has achieved stage 5 as a minimum. And keep up the extra family swims.

Dunno mine went for years and never got properly good and I’m annoyed how much money I spent which should have gone elsewhere
however I will say that easily the best thing for their swimming confidence was a week in Portugal where they were in the (fairly deep) pool all day every day. It was amazing to see and very rapid.

No I wouldn't take mine out until they can swim 100m strongly and have done extra water safe courses. Even then I wouldn't assume they can actually swim in any water outside of a calm swimming pool.

It sounds like you need better swimming lessons.

So she’s 6 and can do half a width of doggy paddle? No, she’s not ready to stop. I know people go on about how they don’t need their kids to know butterfly etc and I think that’s fair, but learning those strokes feeds into the other strokes, doing those properly and in a meaningful enough way to be able to save themselves if anything happened to them. If you even look at the slightly later changes like 6/7 you’ll see what a massive difference in ability there is between them and where your dd is now.
i agree you probably need to find new lessons rather than stop

Yes of course there is a point. Being able to swim safely isn't just stamina , although lessons will help to build that too. It's about the correct breathing and the correct stroke.
My 7 year old GD can swim 20 lengths of the pool with out being out of breath, but only because she had been going to lessons regularly since she was 3.

... spending a lot of time standing around, waiting for her turn to go up and down the pool

That sounds rubbish. I know a lot of swim schools do this sort of thing but others don't. You want all the kids to be in the water with a supervising adult for every few kids. My child's swim school had teenage helpers for the early stage learners, most likely all from swim clubs.

I'd look for another swim school before chucking in lessons entirely, and I do agree with PP that your assessment of your DD's ability is likely to be biased and inaccurate for obvious reasons. I also agree that kids make far more progress in the intensive half term courses than they do in their once a weekly classes, so if you can book her into those it will really help.

It's great that your DD has strong water confidence, that can hold children back for such a long time. She'll get so much benefit out of family sessions as well, although that shouldn't replace proper formal lessons with professional teachers.

Definitely don’t take her out of swimming lessons at stage 3. She’s got no real strength or stamina built up yet whilst in the water, and if she were to fall into open water she’d likely panic and quickly lose the little stamina she does have.

Swimming lessons until properly proficient are the only non-negotiable extra curricular in our house. It could save their life.

Im always amazed when people say stage 5 is a minimum.

My daughter went into stage 5 at about a month after her 6th birthday. In a typical lesson they might do 6-8 lengths of the pool (one 25m length at a time), and some of those might be holding a float to practise stroke technique. She can do front & back crawl & breaststroke but is still working on butterfly, its not a huge amount and i certainly wouldn't describe her as a strong swimmer! I think you need to complete stage 7 to hit that stage.

I think a lot of lessons at leisure centres are a bit like this. Ds does swimming at a private place where there are only four of them in a class; it costs £70 a month so not cheap.

I think aini.um of stage 6 to be considered a competent swimmer. You could try the intensive half term courses as mine made most progress when they swam everyday for a week. On the final day they usually go for a swim badge so quite motivating for them.

Fartoo many people stop far too early.

We went to a pool party recently and most of the kids had said they could swim safely and no longer needed lessons. It was carnage as they really couldn't and the lifeguards made them put swim vests on etc.

8m of doggy paddle is not good enough to not need lessons.

I'd look for lessons elsewhere if she's not making much progress. 8-10m is no distance at all, nowhere near enough to give her a chance if she got into difficulty. Keep taking her for fun swims, keep taking her to lessons. Swimming is hugely fun as well as an important life skill, well worth £40/month and more.

I think group lessons are a waste of time.

DS didn’t progress much so I took him out and paid for 1:1 lessons with a different instructor.
Money well spent! He had 6 x 40 minute lessons and the improvement was staggering!!