Sorry, but swimming lessons getting my goat AGAIN....

[Wallace]

Ds2 (age4) is a very able swimmer (swimming teachers words not mine) but is still in a beginners swimming class until he "gets used to the structure".

In other words he doesn't listen and follow instructions consistently so fair enough that they keep him with the beginners.

However today at swimming lessons they were doing distance badges. The only ones they expect them to do at ds's class are 5/10 metres with a float. He came out of the lesson with a slip of paper saying he did 5m without a float with lots of !!!! and :):)

Which would be great however he has done 25metres when swimming with me and n his parent and toddler lessons which are part of the same scheme he did 15m and he has the bloody badge sewn to his swimming shorts

I'm afraid I did struggle to be happy and surprised that he had done his 5m badge.

Now I've got that off my chest I will stop whinging again :)

this is really a no win situation. DS (now 5.5) got his 25 swimming badge at age 4 and was moved up in teh following term. The class was full of 7 year olds - he struggled to focus, didn;t enjoy playing with them (they thought he was a baby which he was compared to them) and the teacher was way more used to teaching older kids and made him cry by shouting at him that he wasn't trying

We stopped going at half term and just swim for fun now - he will go back to proper lessons in a weeks intensive course in teh summer. ow that he has been in school a year I expect him to be able to concentrate better and I've kept him at the same level as when he stopped so there shouldn;t be much of an age gap.

I don't get why you're spending loads on a four yr old who can already swim
I hope he's enjoying it, it's just fun and exercise at four surely

It's really to hear all these stories about inflexible lessons, teachers not being able to deal with young but able swimmers - it doesn't have to be that way. My local pool runs very good swimming lessons and they are flexible - though you do have to be a ltitle bit pushy sometimes. Both my DDs are winter born and missed the criteria for 'proper' swimming lessons by about 6 weeks - age criteria, that was.

All it took was a conversation with the instructor to get them moved to a group they were ready for, on the understanding that if they didn't cope behaviourally they would be put back down. They both behaved beautifully. The same happened when they changed the ASA levels system - they were going to make DD2 repeat level 3 because it was 'new' level 3 - I had looked up what was in it, and pointed out that actualy she had done all those things. Same arrangements - if she did not cope, she would be moved down. She passed new level 4 first go.

Then she failed new level 5 on the basis that she could not do butterfly and feet first sculling - well, at age just 6 that was reasonable. So the instructor said not to bother repeating the course, but to come back when she was 9 and do junior lifesavers instead as she would get more out of that because she had really good underwater skills, breaststroke, backstroke and crawl. They saved us a lot of money suggesting that - DD will be 9 next year so will be looking into it.

Meanwhile both our DDs love to swim, they go every week, and they swim like fish. People from outside our area queue up to get into our local swimming lessons, waiting lists for beginners' groups are very long - well, it's obvious why...

My DS swimming club don't take children until 4.9yo. They start by learning just 5m with legs on front and back. Next group learn arm stroke. Next group to breathe on F/C. Next add butterfly/breaststroke and then next is for refining stroke and building stamina. It works well.

The LC lessons (same pool) DS was doing well distance wise but stroke was diabolical. This is why I switched him (bad stroke = tiring quickly) and living near the coast it was a safety aspect.

Unfortunatly with a club comes pushy parents. (kew may remember my recent thread!)

Wallace I was on your original thread. I would suggest perhaps looking a swim school that has a different approach to teaching (although you use this one for low cost IIRC?). But tbh it does sound as if your DS is doing brilliantly. I guess you need to speak to the instructor and get a sound answer to what they intend for your DS.

Learning to swim is a life skill and I guess its what you want your DC's to learn that governs what lessons you send them to.

Well maybe you should work on him being able to take instruction. A disruptive child is off putting for others in the class!!!