swimming leesons

[iloveswimming]

i have recently signed my child up for local lessons, she;s 3(pre-school) and i thought there would be someone in the water with the class helping them, there is no-one. The pool is 1metre deep so deep for little ones(only 1 out of the 8 can touch the bottom) and there are 8 of them in a class.
I find this crazy-if i go swimming with my other kids i need a friend or my DH to make the councils ratio policy of 2 children under 8yrs to 1 adult-yet at lessons there seems to be no 'nod' to this policy.
Its hard to watch as i'm paying good money for lessons, i'm frustrated , the instructor spends more time reining in the floaters than teaching, my daughter isn't 100% sold on swimming being fun.
I used to be a swimming instructor and club swimmer/helper so don't know if my expectations are from 'the olden days' but would like to know AIBU to expect someone to get in the water and help the children learn to swim and enjoy the water??
or at least change their entry policy so that i can take all my kids(with me in the water) swimming at once.

worra, my parents did as you described, just took us to the pool sometimes and lessons at school. As a consequence, I am now a shite swimmer, with no decent technique, or able to swim properly with head under water. So, now I'm looking at lessons to improve my technique. I would just rather get it right first time with my DC, so thet're having private lessons. We spend a lot of time on/near the water and I think it's essential, even from a very early age.

Really sad that swimming lessons are being assumed to be dull, a chore and ineffective.

My two have had lessons since they were in pre-school. They love it - and are better swimmers than I'll ever be.

When I think of my awful lessons in the 70 s, with 15 kids per instructor, no focus on technique, and bullying attitudes, and then watch my DCs (5 and 7) jumping in and out of the deep end, and swimming beautiful front crawl, breaststroke and backstroke, I am in awe of how far swimming teaching has come.

It's great if parents can teach their kids to swim, but a lot of DCs are better taking direction from outside the family. I've also got friends who proudly talk about their self-taught DCs being strong swimmers. Each to their own, and all that - but I don't rate a floundering length of dog paddle as being a strong swimmer.

If the lessons aren't enjoyable or don't take the DC's needs into account - change.

At our pool the instructors are in the pool with them until they get to Stage 4.

My technique is rubbish - and I'd like to improve. May get some lessons!

Our pool runs a "free swimming for kids" over the summer holidays. Its the only pool for a town of 40,000 people, plus the surrounding villages (add another 15-20,000).

On any given day, there would be approx 50 people in the main pool, mostly teens. Families in the baby pool: about 15 (so 35-40 people total). FAmilies in the big pool: about 4.

This is free swimming, and its still underused.

I know lots of people who dislike swimming so they dont take their kids. Lots of parents round here cant swim themselves. These are the people who need their children to do lessons.

I guess many parents have higher priorities. :(

I'm not assuming they'll be dull!

And obviously to learn proper strokes and stuff like that then you'll need a proper teacher. That turns it into an "activity"- sort of like the difference between head stands on the sofa and going to gym.

It's this mindset that swimming lessons are an essential from toddlerdom that I'm questioning. The number of people I know who say things like "I don't insist on him doing any activity- apart from swimming lessons, of course".

I guess it depends on your lifestyle, if you live nowhere near the sea, rivers, ponds, pools and never go onn holiday to such places then maybe it isn't important. We do, and so prioritise it. I know that we still need to keep a close eye on all of them, but now the 7yr old can swim some lengths and 2+5yr old begining to swim I can see a time when holidays by swimming pools will be more fun and less juggling woggles.

I wouldn't be happy with a 3 year old out of their depth with a ratio of 1:8. I take them myself until they are school age, then at the lessons they have a teacher in with them (and lifeguard on the side) until they can swim 2m.

I take that view seeker. But I grew up in a hot country where everyone has pools - and about 3 kids a week drown.

(In 2010, 10 children in the UK under 4 years old drowned in a pool or pond. And four 5-9 year olds. Granted more of those were in ponds than in pools. )

I would like to think that my kids had skills enough to float or paddle to the side if they fell into a pool or a pond.

Seeker, lessons are just under £5 a week. If I take DS it's £4.30 per adult and £3.80 for each child. It's not cheaper to do a family swim, unfortunately.

I took DS to the pool religiously every week from the age of 3 and he was very, very nervous. Last November when he was 4.5, he started lessons and he's just started level 3. It's made a huge difference - he's massively water confident now and really enjoys lessons. We live by the sea so he spends a lot more time in and around water than most kids.

I wouldn't be at all happy with such a big group nor with the teacher not actually getting in the pool - that seems utterly pointless.

One reason we have to pay for lessons is because until recently it was impossible for us to go swimming as a family as we had three chdren aged under 7 and our local council has a 1adult per child policy.

Much easier now DD1 has turned 8 and is a strong swimmer.

If you are not happy, change her lessons. DD has lessons in group of 4, and the instructor gets into the water with them. She is 6. They don't do it based on age, but based on the group/level of swimming they are at, as she progresses in the classes she will soon be in the water with the instructor on the poolside.

and to add, DDs lessons are a lot of fun, she always looks foward to her lessons, because it is a group she does not hang around for her 'turn', and sometimes she is lucky enough that there is a spare instructor who gets in with them too!

My DS started swimming lessons at 3 at a leisure centre and the teacher was in the pool with them. However, he is now 5 and he still can't swim so we've have stopped sending him. He now has swimming lessons at school instead and seems to be improving. My DD is 3 in November and as they have a swimming pool at her nursery she'll be doing them there but no teacher in the pool. My father taught me how to swim when I was a child and my grandfater taught me how to dive when we were on holiday!

I don't believe you have to have formal lessons to develop a reasonable technique although granted if you want to swim competitively it's essential.

I had no formal lessons until Junior school in the late 70s and certainly that helped to improve my strokes, but having been taught by my parents who could swim, I was a competent breast and back stroker already.

I still can't do front crawl even though I know in theory what I should do, and i have no problem with face being in water.

I do think it's important that a child can swum to the side / back to boat etc if they fall in but, like seeker I don't see swimming lessons as an essential.

We take our daughter swimming and attempt to teach her ourselves. We have started lessons because she lacks confidence and is incredibly nervous of water over her face. The teachers have techniques we don't so we are learning how she can overcome it all. Maybe after a term we'll know enough to continue without the lessons.

Got no real opinions one way or the other. My ds 4, hasn't had lessons yet. I'd be fine teaching him -but how?

I think it depends on the child but have a read of the following extract from an article published in The Petts Wood Gazette recently by Matt Perkins Head Coach at Orpington Ojays Swimming Club about the importantce of swimming:

Swimming an Essential Life-Skill?
A report from the National Water Safety Forum shows that more than 400 people drown each year in the UK and that drowning is the third most common cause of accidental death in children. With figures like these, coupled with the tragic headlines we have seen recently, you start to understand why campaigners such as Matt Perkins, Head Coach at Orpington Ojays Swimming Club feel passionate about children learning to swim. ?One in five UK adults can?t swim and we are starting to see a similar trend in the next generation with one in three children leaving primary school struggling to swim properly. Drowning is already high on the list as a major cause of accidental death among children in England and, with the number of fatalities increasing 35 per cent year-on-year, we need to reverse this trend and encourage more children back into swimming.?

Learn to Swim ? Your Child?s Olympic Legacy
As a swim coach Matt finds most children are developmentally ready for formal, structured swim lessons between the ages of four and five and most children love the water. However, for reluctant swimmers it is important for a child to first feel comfortable in the water. He suggests starting off in a warm shallow pool, playing games that encourage splashing and putting faces in the water such as blowing bubbles and sharks! ?It is important to make the water a fun place to and gradually build up confidence? says Matt. His advice to parents is ?be patience let your child set their own pace but persevere?. He recommends joining an accredited swim school that follows the ASA?s ?Learn to Swim Scheme? and one that offers a progressive swim structure to ensure your child gets the right level of support.

Why waste your money?

We taught our eldest daughter to swim and she swam very confidently by two years.

We don't have any special ability (although we do have a swimming pool so go pretty much every day) but treated it as fun, not a thing to be joylessly ticked off.

DS1 has just started lessons and there are 8 in his class. There are 2 instructors though, but both of them are at the side of the pool not in the water. We tried going in with him and teaching him ourselves, but he would just cling to us. In his first lesson he just had to muck in and get on with it and after a few times clinging to the side just did! I was amazed how well he did (jumping in from the side too, which he would never have done before) and he went on and on about how much he enjoyed it afterwards.

I think swimming lessons do have their place, but if you're not happy with the lessons I would just do it yourself.

seeker yes, I've been paying £20 a month for 2yrs and almost 6yo DS still can't swim. He's getting there, but it's a long slog.

The problem with our pool is that apart from a couple of hours at weekends at silly o'clock in the morning there is no casual swimming, during kids awake hours mon-fri it's all lessons. So if I want him to get in a pool regularly then it's lessons or nothing. Drives me up the wall.

All my 4 learned to swim by themselves at around 3 years old, just because we took them every week as afamily

The problem with our pool is that apart from a couple of hours at weekends at silly o'clock in the morning there is no casual swimming, during kids awake hours mon-fri it's all lessons. So if I want him to get in a pool regularly then it's lessons or nothing. Drives me up the wall

We are lucky, we have a pool (shared, I might add!) but I found after having lived abroad, the public swimming pools had done this (I remember onyl casual swimming when I was at school), scheduling slots and the whole thing means parents often need an excel spreadsheet to work out the times. Very frustrating. If you want children to learn to swim and have fun why not have casual swimming?

If it's one-in-three leaving primary unable to swim, and the number of drownings is increasings that suggests that the policy over last 15 o so years of having swimming on NC isn't working.

It's important children learn to swim, but group lessons do not appear to be a terribly effective means. Probably better to learn from (competent) parents/aunties etc, with private lesson top up if required; moving to swimming club if keen when a bit older. Faster, and even with some private lessons, probably cheaper than (large) group lessons from which your DCs do ot benefit.

1 in 3 leaving primary unable to swim? I don't believe that for a momentOur school takes them from Y3 and the number of kids who can't swim at that age are very few!

I find it a bit astonishing too: but assumed makeoneuplater was quoting a reliable source (I don't know the who's who in swimming).