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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

if you are paying for swimming lessons, you should swim

172 replies

talkiinpeace · 04/12/2015 21:20

You are coughing up good cash to pay for your kids to be strong and confident in the water

so why do you sit at the side, bone dry, playing on your phone

Use that 20 minutes to burn a few calories and make it abundantly clear to your kids that their lessons are worth something
and plough half a mile

all else is hypocricy

OP posts:
exWifebeginsat40 · 04/12/2015 21:22

wow. you feel very strongly. about swimming.

did you have a bad experience with a pool noodle?

HarrietSchulenberg · 04/12/2015 21:24

Several reasons.
a) parent is scared of water but doesn't want child to be.
b) parent can't afford to pay for self, having forked out for kid's lessons.
c) parent wants 20 minutes to her/himself.

Many more possibilities but not having a dip while your child has a lesson is not exactly shocking parenting, is it?

Original poster
talkiinpeace · 04/12/2015 21:25

could not give a shit about swimming
care about hypocrisy

"you must swim but I have an iPhone"

OP posts:
Iguessyourestuckwithme · 04/12/2015 21:25

Is that what you do?

I would struggle with this as i have to be in the pool with the toddler but at a later swimming lesson 1) i would have a toddler and baby with me 2) the other pool is not open at thaat time.

Peskyelephant · 04/12/2015 21:25

Or sit and enjoy the first 20 minutes of sitting uninterrupted you have had that day. Especially true if you have left the younger sibling at home with DHXmas Wink

SaintEyning · 04/12/2015 21:26

Because the pool where my son learns to swim is 7m x 5m.

FourEyesGood · 04/12/2015 21:27

Parents aren't allowed in the pool during my DS's lessons.

That's all.

Castrovalva · 04/12/2015 21:27

Because parents aren't allowed in the water during lessons

Brewdolph · 04/12/2015 21:27

Urm I'm scared shit of water and you couldn't ever make me get in it...

But I don't want my children to feel how I do...

Sirzy · 04/12/2015 21:27

By the time you had got the child to the lesson, got yourself into the pool then out and sorted before the child had finished the lesson it hardly seems worth the effort for such a short time

JumpandScore · 04/12/2015 21:28

That doesn't make any sense. If you're playing for music lessons you should play? maths tuition? Football coaching? One of the reasons for kids activities is to give parents a bit of time and parents often like to watch.

HarrietSchulenberg · 04/12/2015 21:28

By the same reasoning, do you expect parents of little footballers to have a quick 5-a-side kickabout while the kids train?
Or ballet mothers to do bar stretches while offspring have a class?
Ace fun to be had!

scrappydappydoo · 04/12/2015 21:29

Cos the pool is full of children in swimming lessons and therefore shut to everyone else. However if you are on your phone and not paying attention to your toddler who is wandering a little too close to the poolside then I will judge.

teacherwith2kids · 04/12/2015 21:30

??? When my DCs had swimming lessons, all pools were full of kids having swimming lessons, and all parents were in the various viewing areas, often controlling siblings who swam earlier or later. No possibility of parent swimming at the same time - that was for weekends.

JumpingJack56 · 04/12/2015 21:30

Both pools are closed for lessons when my children have them. Small one for the younger swimmers, large one for the older.

Original poster
talkiinpeace · 04/12/2015 21:30

got yourself into the pool then out and sorted before the child had finished the lesson it hardly seems worth the effort for such a short time
20 minutes is half a mile
I cannot see why "sat on the edge" is ever better

OP posts:
MrsBungle · 04/12/2015 21:31

No parents allowed in the pool during my dc's lessons. Children learning only.

Needtobebetter · 04/12/2015 21:31

I'm not sure what the big deal is? I swim with my toddler for his lesson but getting both of us dressed again is a pain, not to mention the fact that my hair is soaking and I often have other things to do in the evening that requires me to look smart. Once he starts to take lessons where I don't go in the water with him then I won't be swimming during his lesson.

Of course I will take him swimming at other times, when it's convenient to do so. That's probably what the parents you are referring to do. I'm not sure why swimming at the same time as your child's lesson is so essential, it's not like you're allowed to be involved.

MajesticSeaFlapFlap · 04/12/2015 21:31

Because the pool is for kids only during lessons.

Whaleshark · 04/12/2015 21:32

"you must swim but I have an iPhone" Well yes, because I have already learned to swim.

JeffreySadsacIsUnwell · 04/12/2015 21:32

I'd love to swim during DC1’s lesson. Are you offering to come and look after DC2 whilst I do so?

Floppityflop · 04/12/2015 21:32

Theoretically with the OP on this but it can get a bit splashy if I ever go to the pool when lessons are on. Half a mile in 20 mins is going dome too... Would take me more like 25!

Boredofthinkingofnewnames · 04/12/2015 21:32

Erm ok. I am an avid swimmer (do 10ks) and that is the most pretentious thing I've heard.

AliDran · 04/12/2015 21:32

Because I'm on my own with twin 17 month toddlers whilst my husbands at work, and I can't take them both in the water on my own yet

MrsMook · 04/12/2015 21:33

Because I've just rushed over to the lesson after an hour of Buggy Fit and have a two year old to entertain.

That was a few months back. There's no public session, it's all lessons on that time slot. These days I'm enjoying a sit having rushed from work in town A, to city B to collect child and dashing to city C for his lesson.

Not exercising in the 25 minutes I'm sitting around has not been an impediment to my ability to swim a mile or run half marathons.

There's lots of sensible reasons why someone won't swim at that time. YABU

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