Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to feel I've wasted money on swimming lessons.

84 replies

MsColour · 21/02/2014 17:22

DD7 had swimming lessons for 2 years. Yes, she can just about swim without any swimming aids but her technique is not good and she has lacked a lot of confidence. She spent a lot of time standing on the edge of the pool because she wouldn't jump in (which would have ticked off one of the things she needed to achieve to move to the next group up) and didn't like putting her face in the water. DS4 started lessons last year and watching him trying to learn in a group of up to 8 children with no-one correcting his technique. He still requires a lot of swimming aids.

So got to end of January and was due to renew their lessons but money was tight. So thought about it and decided that paying £5 each a week for them to swim across the pool 5-6 times in half an hour just wasn't worth it. Plus they were always missing lessons due to coughs, parties etc. I decided not to renew but instead I would make a point of always taking them on my weekends and extra in the holidays(they go to their dad EOW) which would work out cheaper and would be more quality family time. The pool I take them to is never to busy and also gets all the floats out for them to use. The children can be in the water for longer so we can have some time to practice their swimming technique and some time to play.

About a month in and I already feel the children's swimming and confidence is improving. DD's technique is much better just when she puts her mind to it and has been happier about putting her face in the water. She will quite happily jump in as she's doing it on her own terms, not just because someone else has told her to. DS is generally swimming horizontally not vertically like he was in his swimming lessons and is also much more confident in the water.

So AIBU to feel group swimming lessons were a bit of a waste of time?

OP posts:
JackNoneReacher · 21/02/2014 20:23

I think swimming lessons from a young age have become so fashionable they are seen by some as almost 'essential'.

But I think you're absolutely right for many just going regularly with parents or maybe having lessons slightly older would be better or equal.

arethereanyleftatall · 21/02/2014 20:50

I'm a swimming teacher. Interestingly, if I'm teaching say 6 yr olds, the 'confident' children learn the least, as they spend much of the time with their head under the water. The scared children listen to every syllable I utter about technique and progress so much faster.

nameuschangeus · 21/02/2014 20:56

I'm obviously incredibly lucky then. I do live in a very 'end of the line' area so I'm not sure if that's the reason I get such cheap lessons. To add to that the teacher was a member of the Australian swimming squad at one point so I'm even luckier to have that level of expertise.

Newcurtainsplease · 21/02/2014 21:06

JackNoneReacher couldn't agree more

nova1111 · 21/02/2014 21:11

It's been a huge learning curve for me, three swim schools, a year of individual lessons, five years later and a lot of money - and mine has just got some free school lessons and she's been put in a group below someone who's never had a lesson. Mine can swim about a length of not a very good style after 6 years of lessons. I think some are more suitable than others for swimming. One person's experience cannot be compared to another's. Some are just better at it and nothing will change that.

I was just thrown in a pool and I swam out.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 21/02/2014 21:27

Our local pool charges £25 for half an hour 1 to 1. DS gets his heavily subsidised because he has got diagnosed special needs, it has made a big difference.

nova1111 · 21/02/2014 21:39

We paid that for a year and it made not a blind bit of difference. Some are just more attuned to being able to swim than others.

wol1968 · 21/02/2014 21:47

Depends a lot on the teachers I find. My DD was hopeless with the 'intensive' subsidised group lessons at age 5 or 6 with several others in the class. We went private a couple of years ago and both she and my DS have come on hugely. I have noticed though that you need to watch critically what the teachers are doing with them, as they vary a LOT.

Some don't do anything much beyond striding up and down the pool edge, talking at, rather than to, the kids between lengths (I've eavesdropped, and a lot of what they say doesn't register with the kids) and yammering on with their colleagues instead of watching technique. If you get one like that, take your kids out, don't waste your money. If you get one that shouts at your kids or does frightening/dangerous stuff like dunking or pushing in, take your kids out immediately and complain like hell.

Luckily the swim school we use has had a big shake-up recently and the ineffective teachers have been weeded out, much to my relief.

AnneEyhtMeyer · 21/02/2014 21:50

Actually nova makes a good point. When DD started at 3 she was with a group who had all been going to Waterbabies since birth. DD had not gone as she had screamed every time she got near the water.

There was no difference at all in their ability. And now DD is more advanced than the ones she started with (we know them outside of swimming). I do think that some are more attuned to it than others, whatever lessons they have had.

madmomma · 21/02/2014 21:54

that bloody woman could you recommend a book or resource to teach me how to teach my 3yr old to swim? He went to one public lesson and nearly drowned! Never again!

Caitlin17 · 21/02/2014 21:55

I'm not sure why it's so vital to be able to swim.
Don't children get this as part of school P.E anyway? I remember weekly lessons at school which I hated. My son learned at school, we never needed to pay for separate lessons.

madmomma · 21/02/2014 21:56

Ooh same question to arethereanyleftatall

kazza446 · 21/02/2014 22:08

I've been really lucky... Started my 3dc on swimming lessons in Sep last year. My eldest could swim slightly but needed help to progress. My younger 2 relied on.swimming aids and were very wary of the water. We pay £5 per lesson per child with a private tutor. For my non 2 swimmers there is never more than 4 children in the group and the instructor is in the water. In my eldest childs class there are 6 children and again a tutor in the water.
I've seen good progress with my eldest but the progress withy younger 2 has been amazing. They have gone from being non swimmers with anxieties to now being able to swim unaided. Last week they were diving under the water through hoops!
Im sorry you've had a bad experience mscolour

AnneEyhtMeyer · 21/02/2014 22:12

Caitlin I think it is vital DD learns to swim because we go on holiday to places with pools and the sea and also because we live close to a couple of rivers.

School PE lessons for DD start next term (summer term of Reception) and once a week with a class full of varying abilities makes me dubious about how much she will actually learn.

Caitlin17 · 21/02/2014 22:16

I learnt at school starting from I think P3 (about 7 or 8) and am a good swimmer. I think my son started at P1 and is also a good swimmer.

AnneEyhtMeyer · 21/02/2014 22:20

That's really good. I didn't manage to learn at school, my dad had to teach me by throwing me in and so I worry about school's ability to teach DD. I'm probably being unfair to school, but I don't want to risk it.

rosy71 · 21/02/2014 22:26

Both mine learned quite quickly in group lessons. However, they didn't start lessons until 6 & we'd taken them ourselves regularly from being very young. Ds1 in particular never listened when I tried to teach him myself.

Interestingly, if I'm teaching say 6 yr olds, the 'confident' children learn the least, as they spend much of the time with their head under the water.

That's exactly what ds1 was like! At one point his teacher said she didn't know what he could do as he spent the whole lesson under the water. He also jumped into swimming pools out of his depth without his armbands on several times before he could swim.

trixymalixy · 21/02/2014 22:31

Interestingly, if I'm teaching say 6 yr olds, the 'confident' children learn the least, as they spend much of the time with their head under the water.

This totally describes my DD. all the other kids were doing sedate breaststroke desperately trying not to get their face wet while she was doing somersaults under the water.

I pray she pays more attention when she goes to schoo, after the summer!

AnneEyhtMeyer · 21/02/2014 23:00

I spend the 15 minutes before DD's lesson saying "Listen to the teacher, don't play under the water!"

wol1968 · 21/02/2014 23:10

School swimming lessons are pathetic in some areas. We only get one term of weekly lessons in year 5 where we are, which is utterly inadequate.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 21/02/2014 23:12

We only get 6 weeks in Yr 5.

Cabrinha · 21/02/2014 23:34

There are different quality lessons, and different personalities in children.
So I don't think you can say they're useful or not.

I do think you can't really comment properly on the value of your lessons OP, when you said your kids missed loads for parties and illness! Not a fair test of lessons if you don't go!

Mutley77 · 22/02/2014 03:05

It depends on the lessons and the children I think (and the parents swimming and teaching ability!)

My kids have both done really well from the "cheap" group lessons. They have gone pretty much every week from age 6 months (DD is now 9, DS is 5). DD is a brilliant swimmer and her technique is amazing - some of that is natural but she certainly wouldn't have developed that taught by DH and I (DH is a great swimmer but DD wouldn't be keen to listen to him if he was teaching her - the same reason many people pay for driving lessons I guess!).

DS is not so naturally competent but he can easily get himself across a pool and is safe in deep and shallow water. I am assuming his technique will develop but once he can comfortably swim the major strokes to a reasonable standard he can give up lessons if he wants.

DD could give up but as she is so good I assume she is more likely to carry on indefinitely and go into club swimming or similar. She is also a synchronised swimmer and loves that.

ThatBloodyWoman · 22/02/2014 08:55

Madmomma I like the Usborne Parents'Guide 'Teach your child to swim' by Susan Meredith..
But my copy is ancient so I have no idea if it's still in print!

ThatBloodyWoman · 22/02/2014 09:01

You could look on the Amateur Swimming Association site and that'll give you an idea of some books/resources/training aids.Also the library should have books.
I would recommend a book, floats, a ring or similar to pick up from the bottom, and armbands and goggles if required.
I personally dislike goggles.I don't use them unless I have to, but each to their own.