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

Mine are both stage 5 and I wouldn’t dream of stopping their lessons yet. They are not what I would describe as competent swimmers. Yes they could save themselves if they fell into a pool, but any other scenario like a river or sea they would likely drown. I’m not prepared to risk it.
I personally doubt that I would keep up with a regular family swim where they both actually practice properly. Maybe your family is different.

Don't agree at all. Have been taught by my parents and I suck at swimming. Can't do it for long (get tired quickly as no proper technique or breathing). Can't dive etc. And it's getting worse with age. I am quite fit and can walk /exercise a lot so it's not a stamina issue.

My 4 (almost 5) yo can already do it better than I.

We're in no rush for our kids to learn to swim, but they will keep swimming until they've completed at least stage 6, and preferably stage 7 as that's when I will deem that they can properly swim.

My 8yo is just about to finish stage 4. They've been in lessons since they were 4, and just got their 20m badge. At our pool, most year 3s are in stage 5 or 6, my child is taking longer to progress and that's ok. There are still older children in their stage, and others who sped through it all, learning quickly at a young age. Like everything, different children learn at different rates.

I'd say that your child seems, from what I can see, about average for a year 1 child in an average swim school. I wouldn't say they're ready to stop lessons yet though!

The best thing I did for my daughter was hire a 1:1 swim teacher! Expensive, but I think in the long run it will save money, she's in the pool for an hour a time now and has the teachers undivided attention so is benefiting massively. We've gone from wobbles and upset in the water, to getting her 25m and stage 4 within a few lessons and she's half way towards her stage 5.

I understand it's expensive, but if she gets there a lot quicker I'll be saving money!

I would look into a different swim lesson, my son had this half in half out style of lesson and it put him off for ages, we moved him and they were all in and he had a much better experience. This was a few years ago now tho!

I found group lessons really ineffective for my two. They went for about 6 months and couldn't really swim and didn't seem to be improving. Switched to private lessons and they were swimming a length in less than a month.

If you're going to replace the lessons with an extra family swim where you concentrate on teaching them, you'll probably do a lot better than keeping them in lessons where they are not progressing. If you find they don't progress with you either you can change tack again and try something else.

If the group lessons are a lot of hanging about have you thought about 1-1 if affordable?

Ds didn’t start lessons until age 8 - took them for 1 year (a combo of one 1-1 lesson for technique and one group lesson for badges each week) and by the end of it he had done all levels and bronze rookie lifeguard swimming 20 lengths in pjs as a warm up.

It was an expensive year but cheaper than 5+ years of purgatory going week after week with little progress. I am indebted to the work colleague that suggested waiting then blasting the lessons.

I saw someone say you need them confidently swimming 100m for you to even think they've reached a good enough level to stop lessons and have had them swim in clothing to understand how that feels. We swapped to a private lesson, it was more expensive in the short term but they learnt and progressed a lot lot faster than in a group. Or switch the times to maybe a quieter group. I do understand the issue because they're expensive and sometimes they've maybe done 2 or 3 widths in half an hour and the rest of the time they're standing about or splashing each other!

Mine started with beginners lessons at a Swimming club.
As in, when they were 4 and unable to swim.
They are all excellent swimmers, who all enjoy swimming in adulthood. I link that to the fact they were taught really well as small children, with excellent strokes and breathing technique, so swim really 'efficiently'.
Certainly at the time mine were little, all the swimming clubs round here ran lessons for beginners.

I would potentially just work on her swimming with her and forget the swimming lessons. Think a lot of them are money making rather than really getting children to swim
Really shocked at some people's comments about ages and children's swimming abilities....
My son has dipped in and out of swimming but is finally getting it at 8 (turns out he's dyslexic). My 10 year old daughter got swimming earlier but she now just swims for fun.
We went to lessons which are maximum 3 to a class and children are in the water the whole time. So they can achieve more per lesson....They are slightly more expensive per lesson but term time only, (so that offsets the cost with many larger classes being all year round).

I’m really sorry but you’re not gunna like me then…
my just turned 4 year old is in stage 2 but only because he isn’t allowed into a 3 until he starts school, so he’s stuck. He would be in a 3 if he was allowed to be.

I am a swimming teacher myself and have also moved up 4 other children his age into stage 2 in the last month.

this said….
your actual question….

i believe breastroke is completely and utterly important and it’s helpful for treading water and when confidently done it wastes the least energy, if they were to fall into deep water it’s far more usual to know breastroke and treading water over kicking face down for 8 metres.

id say stage 6 (or when they go to lengths and can confidently to 50m unaided) that’s a good time to stop.

Definitely depends on the club - the ones around me you have to try out for, and you have to commit to a minimum of 4x weekly training. Great if you have a would-be competitive swimmer, not so great if you just want to carry on swimming after level 7 (local leisure centres don’t do levels 8-10 or bronze lifesaving, which is what I went onto as a child after level 7).

(Same also applies for gymnastics older than age 10, dance, and several local tennis clubs though luckily not the one DS goes to).

I doubt anyone ‘hates’ you but a swimming teacher does have a slight advantage!

Not sure if this has already been shared but swim England have the following advice about when to stop lessons
https://www.swimming.org/learntoswim/child-stop-swimming-lessons/
stage 3 is far too early. If you’re not happy with your lessons join a club (cheaper big squads but highly motivated - as competitive - lots of focus on correct technique and fast paced), or get 1-2-1/small group lessons (expensive but if you want to stop sooner rather than later might work out better value if she makes faster progress). I agree with previous posters that loads of people stop far too soon

She sounds about as good as I was when I stopped having formal lessons at a similar age. To judge by the responses on this thread it's a miracle I haven't drowned several times over since!

If you are dedicated to helping her improve weekly, then yes swap lessons for family swim!
I never had a swim lesson, my Dad taught me, I was fine, am sensible in water & confident. I am a stronger swimmer than some of my friends who had lessons. I wasn’t neglected for not having lessons! It doesn’t make a difference whether you get swim lessons or are taught by family - the outcome should be the same?

Agreed. Your parents should push you but encourage swimming wherever you go eg sea and so on. We played but also swam as well.

Having been a non-swimmer after school lessons and learning at adult lessons at 16, then going through many, many years of lessons with my two ND children (one of whom is dyspraxic) I'd say it's worth the patience. DS1 stopped after stage 7. DS2 diverted to Rookie lifeguard after stage 7 and likes playing at triathlons.

It's great now they're around the teen years to know they have strong technique, strong skills, good stamina and are competant to do water based activities.

I think we have a bit of a problem with swimming lesson culture that formal lessons for strokes start too young. We started with the water babies and those years were about water based fun together. Foundation to stage 2 around the ages of 4-7 was where there was least learning rate and value. When they did school swimming around y3/4 they were around average in being able to do a length (their school being one of the best for ability in town due to prior lessons)

What the slow train of group lessons did was maintain a weekly habit of practice and learning and keep it up into the secondary years. DS2 did a triathlon taster event at school and was the strongest swimmer with many of his class having stopped lessons at about 25-50m then losing practice despite them being better a couple of years earlier.

I couldn't have taught my DCs to swim myself, they needed a trained teacher and would have just messed about with me. At casual sessions and on holiday, I see parents trying to teach their children but the outcome tends to be enough swimming motion to do a width or length, but not enough technique to make the stroke efficient for building up distance and becoming a strong swimmer.

Having been a teenage non-swimmer and learing my a slightly embarrassing route then enjoying becoming a strong swimmer with options, I wanted my two to have that flexibility and confidence of being strong swimmers with good technique.

If it's affordable, I'd stick with lessons (although changing the course set-up could be worth considering)

I have this same argument in my head about my two year olds lessons - we started at four months and he can swim a few metres with a noodle now, but obviously progress is very slow and it’s super expensive (£25 per lesson). I’m keeping them going mainly because ultimately swimming is a life saving skill and a great hobby to keep you fit when you’re older if you have the right technique. I like the fact the lessons have structure, he has to wait his turn to do certain elements and it’s so normal for him to go that I’m hoping it helps him stick with it for life.

Working on stage 3 is the same as my son. Id say this is not yet proficient enough to take out of lessons. I won't be taking my son out until hes got badge 7, however long that takes. My DH properly learned to swim with a teacher in his 30s as never learnt properly with parents or school. My niece is 9 and just finished 7. She doesn't want to race or do competitions so she is finishing. She's advanced for her age.
Its a life skill. I think if they are having to all wait their turn, depending on the group size, it sounds like you need to change class provider.

Why did OP ask the question when they get all defensive? Just cancel the lessons if you’d rather spend that £40 a month on getting your
nails done or have an extra night out or something. If your local pool is anything like ours there will be a waiting list of children whose parents want them to become a strong swimmer.

I think you'll find that is once they hit the stage of becoming 'club swimmers', not for beginners lessons.

As I said, all the 4 big clubs I knew of in our City at the time did beginners lessons.

Oh, and there was no waiting round for a 'turn' to swim - everyone swam throughout the lesson (well, except for when they were doing games and fun things during each session, but everyone was moving).

I'm getting "defensive" over people suggesting that all 6 year olds should be swimming 50m, ... And people suggesting that I somehow want my child to drown or would rather do my nails.

When all I wanted was to know if lessons were worth while when it wasn't apparent what they are getting from them...

OP did you say for how long she's been doing the classes?.. Without knowing that it's quite hard to assess if they are good for her. If she's been doing it for years - then not, it's probably it's not worth it. Some swimming classes can be useless / too slow progress (but not all of them, of course)

Op I'm a swimming teacher for ten years and swimming coach 5 year olds and 6 year old at a high level of swimming is rare. Usually they come through the club about 8 years ready to compete at 9. Its certainly not the standard to be having a class full of 5/6 year olds in stage 6 believe me. That being said stage 3 isnt enough defintely atleast stage 5 depending on their levels as they may vary. Dd finished my stage 5 which was a high standard and went straight into a club. She is a county and regional level swimmer at 12 years old. Only on mn do I hear about these amazing 5 years old.

As others have said you need better lessons. Swimming is also excellent exercise as its uses all parts of your body.