To think swimming teachers are obsessed with putting face in water

[2catsnowaiting]

Here's the thing. All my children love going to the pool and enjoy playing in the water. All of them, at a young age hate or hated putting their face in the water.

The older two taught themselves to swim by using flotation jackets, from which I gradually removed the floats, until they were able to swim without the jacket. I tried the same thing with the youngest, but he has now outgrown the jacket and no sign of any bouyancy at all. He can just about swim with a noodle float but even that is a struggle.

I'm wondering whether to put him in for swimming lessons, however, from my limited experience of it, it seems that swimming teachers are obsessed with making kids put their faces in the water, as if this is more important than actual swimming, and you can't learn to swim without doing so. I know this is not the case as my oldest got her 10m badge swimming with her head out of the water. She then did 6 weeks of lessons with school, at the end of which she would put her face in the water, and then they said she could get her 10m badge, which she already had before she started - how is that progress? I realise that if you are planning to become a professional or competitive swimmer, then you need to learn correct technique, but clearly none of mine are, I just want them to enjoy swimming for fun/exercise. My mum is in her 60s and still swims with her head out of the water, it's never done her any harm.

My worry is, (and the reason the older two have never had swimming lessons outside the very few they had with school) that he will start to hate going swimming because the teachers will make him put his face in the water. I would rather he loved going to the pool and couldn't swim than started to hate it.

Has anyone experienced swimming lessons where they do not insist they have to put their faces in to make any progress? I'm unwilling to pay good money for someone to make my child do something he hates.

If enjoyment is the thing you're after, don't send them for lessons. Lessons = technique improving, meeting specific requirements. You don't want that so why are you complaining - you're the one that's made a mistake in paying for something you didn't want!

So if she gets stronger and is able to swim 100 metres, 200 metres etc, that would still be considered not making any progress and she should still be in a beginners class????

err. yes. Swimming lessons are not about distance they are about learning the 4 main strokes to good efficiency/effectiveness/style. If you aren't bothered about that then don't do swimming lessons!

I agree that if it's just about enjoyment then I would just let her enjoy swimming when you take her rather than doing lessons. It's all about technique when you move up to the higher groups. She can build up her stamina with you.

I posted on this thread before, but I'll repeat it...

OP - being able to cope with your head under water is vitally important. If I had not learnt how to cope with my head under water I would have panicked and drowned at the age of 11.

It sounds like structured swimming lessons is not for your children, but please get them to deal with having their heads in.

The risk of them falling in might be small, but that small risk could have catastrophic consequences.

My friend and I swam miles up and down the school pool this way to use it as an opportunity to gossip 5hilst doing PE. It is totally possible to swim with your head out. It may not be the fastest/best/proper technique but it is actually possible and enjoyable

Women who do that (and it is almost exclusively women) should be banned from public pools.

You may think you are swimming, but unless you are extremely immobile, the benefit from this type of 'exercise' will be minimal and you just take up a huge amount of room that gets in the way of people who are swimming for exercise. I bet you pull a cats bum face at anyone who splashes and risks getting your hair wet too.

Clearly the OP just has to find an instructor who will do a gradual introduction. One famous French swimming coach used to just to use a glass bowl by the side of a pool which left his (mainly adult learners) fully in control. It seems to me the OP has accidentally passed on her own fears to her kids. But I agree with other posters that (a) learning to swim without getting your face in the water is no preparation for eg having a wave dump you in shallow water in Brighton and then panicking, or falling in a river (b) it's not efficient swimming and leads to neck ache and over expenditure of energy which could be crucial if caught in even a shallow riptide.

Titchy, you are quite right, I won't be sending her for more lessons.
I was swayed by the fact that apparently everyone else in the entire world thinks lessons are necessary. From now on she can just enjoy the water with her head out.

Barbara I already said I can swim perfectly well with my head in the water, I just chose not to at this time, and I am so not the type to worry about my hair getting wet. In between doing lengths and gossiping, we'd be doing handstands in the shallow end. And what nonsense to say that unless you're doing proper strokes there is no benefit in terms of exercise. All movement of any kind uses up calories and swimming in this way moves all your limbs and raises your heart rate therefore is perfectly acceptable cardio exercise.

Blimey..

I've taught my OH to swim (alongside a few proper lessons) - swimming is firstly about being relaxed and confident in the water, and this does involve face in the water, going underwater and being able to float.

If you are desperately trying to keep your face out of the water, you are not relaxed enough to be able to float, you will be stiff and tense, you will sink, you will panic and struggle and get water on your face/up your nose and this will make you panic further...

OH says the massive breakthrough for him in swimming came when he finally trusted me to support him as he floated and put his face in the water - the SECOND he relaxed and let it happen, it all became a million times easier and he is now a fairly competent swimmer (enough that he swims in rivers outdoors with me, which is why I insisted he face that fear, because whilst I swim competently enough to keep myself safe, im not a strong enough swimmer to rescue HIM)..

OP - get a grip, get over yourself find a good swimming teacher and get ALL your kids taught to swim safely and properly - a good teacher knows how to get them doing stuff they are not keen on without making it horrid!

They need to get used to face in water/water on face to swim.

But OP has a point that there are a lot of crap swimming teachers who are like old-style PE teachers - 'do this, do that, do the other, what do you mean you can't? You're shit. You're scared? You're shit. OK, I'll ignore you from now on or refuse to teach you.'

Ds got over his water phobia by the time he was 4, and was finally enjying baths, so I tried the local pool. Also fun, so signed him up for a swimming course. Fine for about 10 minutes of jumping about in water, and then the teacher said it was important to get used to getting water on your face and without warning threw cups of water into each child's face.

To cut a long story short, that lesson didn't teach any child much and ds has only just been persuaded back in the pool age 7. I don't think they should need to have face-in-water as a requirement for up to say 10m badges, because they also need to learn what to do with arms and legs, and most will get used to water in the process, but beyond that swimming really needs face-in.

though I only got over it when a terrifying PE teacher forced us all to jump or be pushed in at the deep end and swim a length, and that 25m was a huge achievement for me as I'd never done 10m before! She apologised as she'd been told all of us were good swimmers!