to wonder what he bruhaha is about learning to swim..

[AtYourCervix]

great if you want to but why the years of weekly lessons and enforced cold dripping and swallowing someone elses wee?

what's the point?

rofl at Getorf - 'interminable lengths you have to swim to get your 25M, 50M, 100M badge.' So if you'd done that in a 25M pool that'd be, er, one length, two lengths and four lengths.

I bloody love swimming - don't care where. There's nothing better than diving in and feeling confident about being in the water. Total escapism for me - am very glad I learned young.

Nikki- as long as MIL can show them a good powerful front crawl, that's the most important part

I can't remember the time before I learnt how to swim which was probably when I was about 3. I absolutely love it, can't think of a more relaxing form of exercise and there is so much fun to be had playing around in the sea or in swimming pools on holiday.

Arguing that you don't need to learn to swim because few accidental deaths are from drowning rather misses the point that this is probably due to the fact that most people can now swim.

Also, we don't hang around in canals but we might get flooded like Queensland at some point and if you're going to go in the sea at all you need to be able to swim.

However, I agree that you don't really need lessons so early- I could swim when I was 4, taught by my mum, and then started lessons when I was about 6 as I was really into it.

I think swimming lessons for 4mth old DS are a waste of wonga from a "him actually learning to swim POV" but hell knows it's hard enough to entertain a 4mth old and it burns up a good chunk of time on something he loves (being held in the pool and swished around a bit).

DD2 is the only person I have ever met who forgot how to swim.

Was like a fish at about age 3/4 - under water and on top. by the time she was about 8 she was completely clueless and forgot what to do. now completely pool phobic.

If your children want to learn to canoe, sail, windsurf, waterski, etc, they need to be strong and confident in water.

A) it can save your life
B) it's lovely fun
C) like many other things (cycling, learning to drive) I think the younger you learn the skill the better.
D) you do sleep brilliantly after a good swim

Or you could choose not to teach your kids to swim - then they may never ever learn, and will grow into adults who don't swim. At least if you allow them to learn now they can choose for themselves when they are older whether to swim or not, and even if they choose not too, they will still be able to float/save themselves if they need to, or maybe even be in a position to save someone else at some point.

At one time I swam three times a week for exercise, but then I read it doesn't help to prevent osteoporosis so now I walk instead which is free and I don't get cold and wet (unless it is raining!)and have to sort my hair out under those stupid little hairdryer things they have.

It would have- they were 16 and walking align the promenade- a freak wave washed one of them in, the other ran in to help- both of them had only had swimming lessons for a year

something similar happened to me - fell over the side of a boat and got sucked underneath because of the propellers. If I couldn't swim as strongly as I can I'm not sure I would have gotten out as quickly as I did.

"There is a risk, with young children anyway, that if they think they can swim they won't be as careful around water."

What utter bollocks. Swimming lessons teach water SAFETY. Thus if you have been taught to swim you are HIGHLY aware of the dangers of water.

How depressing that some children will not be able to swim because their parents think it is hassle to teach them. Aside from the safety issue, swimming is wonderful. Admittedly it is nicer in off the coast of the Mediterranean or Australia/New Zealand than the UK or a crappy council pool but your children may want to swim there one day, no?

The other thing is, as well as being life saving, it is the only "sport" my non sporty children enjoy and are really good at.

"you can't swim after a fashion under 5 and not drown but proper swimming with recognised strokes? Not really"

I dispute that - I could swim and so could dd under the age of 5. No was not 'recognised strokes' and we wouldn't have been able to win a wimming gala, but we could certainly swim.

I think whoever told you that was trying to encourage you to sign up for another 12 week block of lessons

I grew up by the sea anyway, and was always swimming and around water from a very young age, I didn't know anyone who couldn't swim as a child.

I think it is very important to learn to swim before you know what swimming is, almost. It is a major life skill I think. I just don't think organsied group lessons in a pool with a disdainful instructor is the best way to do it - one on one mucking around in a pool or the sea is the best way.

i was absolutely staggered when I met DP and found out he can't swim - he is now too scared to learn.

Its not just about the swimming though, most classes teach water safety, which there is a great lack of in this country.

Both DD's have been swimming since they were tiny. DD1 is now 5 (nearly 6) and did her 1000m badge in the summer last year (at 5.3).

She is now doing a different swimming program where she is learning the proper strokes, but I know that if she was to fall into water somewhere, she would be able to tread water or swim for some time.

Their lessons have been worth every penny and they both have great confidence in the water that I will never have.

x-posts

nikki1978 - I think there is a difference between taking your kids to the pool for fun and teaching them to swim, so no you don't need formal lessons if you are happy to spend the time yourself teaching them to actually swim as opposed to just playing around. I chose to pay for formal lessons because I don't have the patience or skill to do it myself and as another poster pointed out it is actually cheaper in my case to pay for lessons than pay for an adult and a child to go into the pool outwith a lesson!

Proper lessons could bring them on a lot, Nikki, although you might want to hold off until they are 7-8yo to get the most for your money. Do they not get swim lessons with the school as they get older?

I said this elsewhere today; DS was a fairly good swimmer when he quit formal lessons 2.5 yrs ago and is now a lot weaker. I'm not worried about the technical form of his strokes, he just looks like a weaker swimmer to me than I know he used to be (less command of his body, slower, not as agile in the water).

To me swimming's a fundamental, essential life skill, like knowing how to interact with dogs or when to say Please and Thank You. I'd see it as immensely derelict parenting if I didn't make sure DC were as competent as possible at those things.

And of course it's great fun, and I wouldn't want them to miss out on that.

We live on an island, ffs. I grew up in a surfer beach town, many outdoor swimming pools, no question about whether children "should" learn to swim.
It always shocks me (& scares the bejeesus out of me, to be honest) to meet adults who can't swim.

I agree that swimming is a social skill and should be encouraged.

My mother says that never being able to swim blighted her life: she was always nervous around water, ruined her holidays and it made her panic every time we went swimming.

FWIW I just think that teaching your child to swim properly is simply good parenting. And you need to do it when they are young too, so that they learn it as a 'fun' activity and not via the dreaded school lessons where they discover they are bottom of the class, and as a consequence learn only to hate swimming forever.

I dont understand why parents pay for swimming lessons. I was taught to swim by my father at around 6 years of age. I taught mine at around 4. You dont need to spend vast amounts of money on it. You can do it on a saturday morning in your local pool or whilst on holiday. I taught both mine over a 2 week period whilst on holiday in turkey on year.

It is a fun thing for parents to do with their kids or at least it should be.

No GOML - I was talking to DS1's OT and discussing whether swimming would be of any benefit to him. It turns out I was right to have worries as he just doesn't have the coordination. She has no vested interest in getting him swimming.

(BTW I am sure it wasn't intentional but you totally changed what I had said by not copying out the entire sentence - what you have written is the exact opposite of what I wrote. )

Good point about the watersports angle, DD deliberately fell in when she went river canoeing with Brownies. Brown Owl wasn't pleased but at least she didn't have to panic because she knew full well DD was a strong swimmer.

So you don't drown. Once DD can manage that, then any swimming she does is up to her. Isn't that what most parents do???

and cantspel some of us can't afford two weeks in Turkey, but we can afford 8 weeks of local swimming lessons for £24!

I was taught to swim by my dad.

We signed ds up for those Ludicrously Expensive Baby Swimming Lessons so that his dad could take him to something while I took driving lessons. He hated it. Every week was an endurance test of screaming and wailing tension.

We sacked them off and now I take him for a splashabout.

I think learning to swim is good and when he is older he can go for lessons. However, the current babyswimming fashion IS a waste of wonga. I love that phrase

Maybe he wants to go on holiday.