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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:
MsMermaid · 04/12/2015 21:33

DD has lessons at a time when the whole pool is booked up with lessons. I would love to get in and swim a few lengths but I'm not allowed.

So I swim at a different time, usually do a mile a couple of times per week. DD knows that, and that I really enjoy it.

We also swim together once a week, which both of us enjoy.

Is all of that OK with you? Or am I a hypocrite?

Candycoco · 04/12/2015 21:34

This is one of the stupidest most pointless threads I have ever seen GrinGrinGrin

JumpandScore · 04/12/2015 21:35

I did used to swim during their lessons and if they weren't swimming at the same time I'd take the other one in with me, but I felt terribly guilty that I wasn't "interested" enough to watch their progress.

Dornan · 04/12/2015 21:36

Because by the time we get to the 18:45 swimming lesson I have been on the go for 13 hours, including nearly 3 hours worth of commuting and I'm beyond exhausted.

I'm wearing a suit, tights and heels and don't want to get wet and freezing and then climb back into them.

I'm not playing on my phone, I'm doing the online shopping/researching Christmas presents/writing to a friend who is having a tough time.

I do take my DC swimming regularly, at the weekends, when it's fun for us all, but you wouldn't know that OP because you know nothing about my life.

Yika · 04/12/2015 21:36

I don't like swimming; my child does. I quite like looking at the swimming instructor's thighs though.

JeffreySadsacIsUnwell · 04/12/2015 21:38

Also - I watch DC1! Sure, I might well be editing the Ocado order whilst the others in her class swim, but I watch her carefully.

20 mins isn't worth it anyway. I prefer swimming for an hour in an empty pool whilst DC1 is at school and DC2 is at nursery.

Floppityflop · 04/12/2015 21:39

BTW my lovely dad took this logic to the extreme and learned piano at the same time as me, and we would even do exams in the same session! He started a year or two before me but after that we had back-to-back lessons every week. Sometimes we did duets at lessons and practised aural tests together. Hilarious! Plus he had sweets in his car which we would have after the lesson. And in summer we might go to the pub (!) afterwards (him for a beer and me for a grapefruit and lemonade and some crisps) or perhaps go for an ice cream. Good times!

dimdommilpot · 04/12/2015 21:39

I do get in with DD2. Her lesson is at 930am whilst DD1 is at school. DD1s lesson is at 330pm on the same day and parents do not get in the water. Instead i spend that half an hour entertaining DD2 and pointing out her big sister to her .

edwinbear · 04/12/2015 21:40

Actually I do. I swim for an hour as the dc have lessons one after another and dh kindly does swap over so I can get a session in. I swim around 10km a week and training for a relay cross channel swim in July. I agree that it motivates the kids to see me swim well and what they could achieve if they carry on with the lessons. But what I do miss, is seeing my kids in their lessons and being able to discuss it with them afterwards. And actually, please don't all pile in the pool, because the parents that do, plod along doing head up breast stroke with no concept of lane etiquette whatsoever, so I would much prefer them to enjoy their 20mins peace with a coffee, before they no doubt spend the afternoon at a birthday party. Grin

SweetAdeline · 04/12/2015 21:40

Because chlorine makes my skin bleed?

bringmelaughter · 04/12/2015 21:41

I am totally a hypocrite... That 3 year old of mine is so not getting my gin.

giraffesCantDoThat · 04/12/2015 21:41

because not everyone wants to act like a fish

PrussianPrue · 04/12/2015 21:42

Goodness. What a thread.

There may be a million reasons why people can't swim at the same time.

In our pool you actually can't anyway.

I whole-heartedly agree with Dornan.

And I wish people would stop equating being on your phone with self-indulgent leisure time. Sometimes it is but poolside I'm doing the weekly shop.

By the way, I don't set an example by going to school either. I can swim and I can read, it's the children who can't - so they have lessons.

DeltaZeta · 04/12/2015 21:42

What a bizarre thread.

When my DCs were toddlers, I went in the pool with them as that was a requirement of the swim school.

Now they are older I don't - the swim school requires parents to sit at the side once DCs reach a certain level of ability.

I am a strong swimmer myself but I do confess to quite like sitting by the side of the pool and posting on MN reading my work emails.

Wagglebees · 04/12/2015 21:42

Because not everyone can swim.

wonkylegs · 04/12/2015 21:43

We're another one where there is no public swimming when the lessons are on but there is also no iPhones or phones of any kind allowed on poolside, so I'm usually reading a book.

Ilovehamabeads · 04/12/2015 21:45

Because swimming is a life skill that I have already learned thank you.

dannydyerismydad · 04/12/2015 21:45

I used to swim while DS was having his lessons. Then we would swim together afterwards. But £5.90 a week for me to have a splash about was excessive.

AliceInUnderpants · 04/12/2015 21:45

I wanted my children to learn to swim for safety reasons, not so they could do lengths in the local pool whilst their own children are being taught.

This is clearly an issue you have with someone in particular, so why not direct this question at them?

AngryPrincess · 04/12/2015 21:47

I did that for a private lesson. Son spent the entire lesson yelling and watching me not the instructor. Also all of the pool is taken up by the lessons. But, we take them for fun swimming as much as we can. I do actually love swimming.

multivac · 04/12/2015 21:49

If water touches me I turn evil.

#gremlinmom

ZedWoman · 04/12/2015 21:49

Because DD and DS have their lessons at a time when all three pools are booked up with lessons. Plus, I've had enough exercise cycling the six miles to and from work. Plus, after a full day at work and school (for all of us) and a manic bus journey and walk to the leisure centre, I actually don't have any more energy to do any more exercise.

At 6:00 pm, it's my first opportunity of the day to have some downtime. I don't feel any obligation to go swimming, even if I could. After my blessed half an hour I've then got to get both kids dressed, run for the bus and then get home and cook dinner.

I'm having my fucking half an hour on my iphone.

ZedWoman · 04/12/2015 21:52

Oh, and I'm on Facebook by the way. And I don't give a flying fuck what you think about it.

rookiemere · 04/12/2015 21:53

Because my i-phone would get wet in the pool obviously.

Pippioddstocking · 04/12/2015 21:54

No adults allowed while children in the pool.
However , my children have stood at many a marathon finishing line to watch me come in so they are pretty clued up that we all exercise . It's part of our daily life , I dont need to " prove" anything whilst they are in the pool.
Strange that you feel you do though ........,,