If your child is an excellent swimmer, how did you get there?

[ABakersDozen]

Just that really. My child is very slow to swim. I am so keen for him to learn as it is a life skill and could save his life. He has no fear of the water, just not really getting it yet.

Children in his class (Y2) are swimming 100 metres! If you have a child swimming to this level, what did it take?

Did you start them swimming as babies, do they have a weekly lesson, one to one coaching (with you or a teacher), do you swim religiously even in school holidays? Did you do other activities to work on 'core strength'? I have friends with DD's who say gymnastics has helped with swimming because they have strengthened their core. Am I just not putting enough thought and effort into this?!

All children are different op so please don't worry.
My child is y2 and is swimming long distances (longer than you say by quite a way). However he is very sporty and picks physical things up quickly, always has. He's had a weekly swimming lesson since he was 4 and a half in a local club where the maximum per class is 4 children. Dh also takes him swimming for fun occasionally. That's all we have done.
If he's not progressing in a swim class maybe think about some one to one lessons to kick start it a bit?

Not sure dd counts as excellent but she's just turned 6 and has her 25m badge. I am a rubbish swimmer (hence why I am v proud of the dcs!) so I started both dcs at mother and baby classes at 4 months. They have both gone religiously every week since then. When they turned 3, they were allowed in the pool by themselves. So it's taken dd 3 years of weekly swimming classes to get the 25m badge. She initially wasn't a fan of the water at all (like me!) and struggled with putting her face in the water. The dcs also do gymnastics but not to support swimming, just because they love it. Their swing lessons are just the ones run by the council at the local pool. No one to one.

My year 1 child has just got his 400m badge.He has been having 30minute lessons once per week since age 3.In addition,his school have been taking him swimming once a week since reception.
We also go as a family quite often too at weekends but this is just fun,I never make him swim lengths.
He's always really enjoyed swimming ,I've never pushed it but I like it too so it's always been something that the whole family have done together.
His younger brother is much less confident on the water though and I don't think will be swimming to that level at that age. Some of it is just personality I think.

I think it's unusual for a Y2 child to be swimming 100m. My DC have had weekly lessons in a group since 3/4. It's taken till about age 8/9 for them to be competent (by which I mean good grasp of strokes, can swim 400m+). They both have friends aged 8-10 who can't swim a length. DD noticeably progressed more quickly than DS despite exactly the same regime, to prove that it's not what you do it is down to the individual child.

Thank you this is really helpful.

Mine both had private lessons for a year. DD swam 800 metres in Year 2. DS1 could only swim 5m in Year 2 and can only do 25m in Year 4. It totally depends on the child.

I really think it is about buoyancy as well. My dd just really seems to float whereas sticklike ds has always struggled with the propensity to sink.

I 100% agree with what Cat says, all children are different. DD (in Yr4) is a very good swimmer and has been accepted to a number of swimming clubs (not sure if we want to commit to it all yet). She has had weekly lessons since 3 and private one to one tuition since she started at school. She now has swimming lessons with her school (where her swimming instructor suggested she should try out for some clubs).

DS (in Yr2) is the stark opposite. He has had the exact same opportunities as his sister. Don't get me wrong, he can swim, but he is nowhere near the same level that DD was at the same age. DD has a real aptitude and is very driven whereas DS just wants to have fun. They are just different. I don't care how good he is, as long as he can swim.

Don't worry about it- he'll get there.

There's a lot of guff talked about the absolute requirement for young children to learn to swim- unless you live on an island or have an unfenced swimming pool or something there's no need to rush.

Although dcs had weekly swimming lessons we also went swimming on other days - we were at that time members of a gym with a pool (which provided towels) so it was very easy. In yr1 dcs had swimming lessons at school, had their lessons at the gym pool & swam with me, so were potentially swimming 3 or 4 times a week. They swam in every year of primary.

I had one early and excellent swimmer and one that had a much slower start and struggled more with learning.

Both had a huge amount of very early water exposure (we live in California near the beach and have a pool now but used a public one when they were tiny) and didn't wear floaties or armbands except on occasion. We did lots of play in the water, crab walk chases around the wall, jumping in, toys etc. As teens they are both competent swimmers but the early swimmer remains a stronger swimmer overall.

I think leaner kids sometimes have a harder time floating but IMO it is down to individual personalities and skills.

There's a lot of guff talked about the absolute requirement for young children to learn to swim- unless you live on an island or have an unfenced swimming pool or something there's no need to rush.

I kind of agree but I do think it's a good idea to teach them before they have any fear of the water or at least ensure they are happy and confident in the water. They don't need to be able to swim long distances.

oh and we practised swimming skills in the bath when they were little, blowing bubbles, face in the water etc.

I didn't start mine on lessons until about year 1-2. DD is now excellent and still has lesson to perfect technique because she enjoys it (yr5) but DS (now year 3) hated the lessons. We gave up after about 18months of trying them and thinking he would click with it. But he was getting anxious about the lessons (not water or swimming) so now my DH does lessons with him each week and that seems to be working much better. I have no further expectations for his swimming other than he can confidently get to the side if he fell into a lake or river.

Both DS are very good swimmers, particularly DS2 who swam a mile aged seven and was beating boys 3 years older than him in galas. He did have lessons (weekly) from aged 5 but I believe he is just physically suited to it. Tall for his age, a little on the skinny side but very strong, with definite little muscles. Quite sporty in general. He also enjoyed it which is half the battle with smimming.

We had a very reluctant swimmer! She has had lessons with the same teacher now for three years (along with the same four children so all going along together).

At eight she can now swim a couple of lengths, backstroke, breaststroke and front crawl.

She absolutely hated it for two years (we had had lessons at the local pool where there are 20 kids in the water and someone shouting from the side for a while before this teacher - learning zero apart from hating it).

Now absolutely loves it and swims with the school so at least twice a week.

It takes all sorts OP and everyone learns at a different pace so I don't think that it is anything you are not doing. In Year 2 our little class was probably only doing doggy paddle widths.

Some kids pick things up easier than others. DD took part in a small gala last week, despite rarely swimming these days and managed to beat some of the kids who swim in a club 3/4 hours a week.

I took her 'swimming' weekly from when she was 12 months or so. She's never worn arm bands. The only bouyancy aid was a zoggs jacket when on holiday (because she was fearless). When we lived in Cyprus we had a pool in the garden that she pretty much lived in, teaching herself strokes etc. The only thing I concentrated on was getting her to roll onto her back and float, and how to scull. Both things that would help keep her safer. When she started swimming properly I showed her how to do the strokes correctly - I'd say she could do 50m backstroke and doggy paddle by age 3/4.

we haven't swam regularly since we moved back to UK. She had a year of half and hour a week school lessons in Yr4, and 12 weeks of the same in Yr5. After seeing her last week I'm thinking we should go regularly again, I hadn't realised how good she was.

But this is the same kid whose hand eye coordination is pretty awful and dances like an elephant in hob nail boots swimming just 'clicked'

Mine both swim well and love the water. They started in the tots groups at about 3/4 - ds1 started grade 1 in reception year as most kids do, ds2 started grade 1 when he'd just turned 4 (unusual, but he'd outgrown tots). They swim everyday on a fortnights holiday, and have the occasional 'play swim' but probably only once a month maximum.
As for how far they swam and when I don't really remember other than ds2 doing 50m when he was 4.

They've has weekly lessons since tots, although took most of last year off. Not sure when we'll stop. DS1 now in grade 10, the last one, and ds2 grade 6. We'd always intended to go as far as grade 3 when they can jump in and swim a couple of lengths. Hate to think how much we've spent!

My son is 7 and can swim 30 x 25m lengths in a row. He started lessons 10 months ago (group of 4) and has now finished at the swim school, we just go on weekends for fun but he is keen to do laps.

Tbh I have been astonished by his rapid progress. My older child was in swimming lessons for 3.5yrs before she got to this level.

It can't be about core strength because my son has very poor core strength, he has been tested.

He is well coordinated and quite determined when he sets his mind on something. His primary motivation was to be as good as his sister and he told me he learned "by watching a girl with black hair who was really good".

How is your child's coordination? For a term I sat next to the mother of a little girl who had been attending for 2 yrs who had only progressed to the second class. It was quite obvious her coordination was poor; her mother
thinking about trying her in gymnastics to see if it would help.

And do they like being in water? I would encourage trips to the pool and beach for fun, no lessons attached to build a positive association.

My DD learnt to swim quick and well so by year 3 she could swim an individual medley legally ( even butterfly). Now in year 6 she can swim further, but her speed has not increased.
Yes she is a good swimmer, but no where near as fast as other friends who were later to master the strokes.
So please don't worry take him swimming and it will come.

Blowing bubbles in the bath water is a really good idea.

Some kids are just not very buoyant! My DS is the sporty one in the family, but swimming took a while - he just doesn't float and he still (he's 12) finds it hard to swim with his head above water, although he can swim fine if he does proper strokes, only lifting his head to breathe. It's really odd, but apparently one of his best friends was the same - this other kid is gifted at several sports so it's nothing to do with physical ability, it probably has more to do with body composition and body fat in particular.

My daughter, who is not at all sporty, has always found swimming easy and she floats easily - she can float in all sorts of strange positions.

By the way neither had lessons as we don't have a pool nearby - they swim in a nearby lake, on holiday etc. DS only really learnt to swim distances 2 years ago - we went on holiday with friends and I remember describing him as a non-swimmer and then getting funny looks when he went and swam 50 lengths of the holiday complex pool.

Weekly swimming lessons from 4.

ES is 9 and a very able swimmer. He's had weekly lessons from 4, and also goes swimming once a week with school. I take him and YS swimming most Sundays to our local baths and just play around rather than forcing him to practise strokes.

YS is 4 and looks like he'll follow in ES' footsteps, I firmly believe the most important thing we did was taking them swimming as a family and letting them have fun in the water. Lessons are grand but enjoying swimming has been my priority.

DS(12) is a club swimmer- right now he swims around 10 hours a week. Until he was 9 he was a rubbish swimmer. We switched classes from the local leisure centre to a local club that had a swim school attached to it. Once we did that he progressed at a rapid pace and once he finished the swim school levels a year later, he decided he really loved swimming and joined the club.