To be annoyed at parents at swimming lessons

[daffodil10]

Returned to swim lessons after half term and have a new batch of over protective parents. A couple of them are hovering on the edge of the pool on the verge of jumping in, while the teachers try to teach. If you can't sit in the seating area and let the teachers get on with it go and have a coffee. The children are safe, the teachers are in the pool and there's life guards - they are not going to drown rant over !

What does bug me as well, however, is when 33% of a lesson is gone before they swim - coaxing little Petal into the water. I'm paying for this!!!

God I hate swimming lessons. Been going every week now for about four years with various kids. I generally play on my 'phone and/ or talk to new chums met who equally hate taking their kids swimming as opposed to crowding near the edge. Yes the "new batch" of parents is annoying, but that was probably you in the first week of your first kid going?

pombal then I would agree with there was an issue of supervision on that particular class (or possibly it was too big?) but I cannot see how safety is enhanced with a bunch of extra adults by the edge of the pool, only interested in their own child and unlikely to be trained as swim teachers or lifeguards.

The incident you describe is a good reason to query size of class and level of trained supervision in the lesson or even the qualifications of the teacher in session but its not a reason to add more untrained people distracting the children to the edge of the pool.
I really cannot see how parents at the side of the pool calling to their own children does anything other than reduce the overall safety levels.

Only the parents of the tinies are allowed in the 'baby' pool area where my ds goes swimming. They can come in to reassure the child when its their first couple of times there and sit at the side if they want to.
The rest of us sit in the cafe which looks onto the pool.

Yes its nerve racking when they first go, my ds went to lessons when he was older and went straight into the big pool at the deep end! (He had been assessed and was pretty confident in the water anyway) I watched like a hawk first couple of times I was really nervous but then I realised of course that they were never out the teachers sight, and they had floats and the long pole to hand and since then I take the opportunity to sit and read my book while looking up now and again. I remind myself that when he went swimming with nursery they were jumping off the high (not olympic high!!) board at the end of the sessions!

I appreciate that some parents are more anxious than others or may have had a bad experience with swimming so its understandable to be anxious. But having parents disturb the lessons, interupt lessons cos their 'precious' needs more attention than the rest or 'cheer on' their kids is not on. Leave the teacher to do their job and stop spoiling it for others who are paying just the same for thier kids as you.

And yes let your kid have a shower and move on, we havent got all day to wait while everyone spends 20 minutes pampering themselves, the rest of the kids are standing around waiting dripping wet and getting cold and we actually do have other things to do today.

Ha, I love the "well MY children are precious" approach, as if everyone else is just all "well, if they die, they die"

Mine have always been the sort that jump in and get on with it so I've never needed to stay too close to the pool or cheer them on. They also don't really care if I watch or not so most of the time when they swim I get on with a bit of marking. I spot them every so often and occasionally give a thumbs-up but generally wouldn't want to interfere with their focus.

I don't disparage parents who do sit closer and cheer or watch like hawks. Some DCs need more support and monitoring. It would be rude to imagine that because my own DCs are happy being ignored by me when they are in the pool that other people's DC are the same.

I used to organise swimming lessons, and we didn't allow parents poolside except in exceptional circumstances (child has known medical condition(s) and has an individual risk assessment). We always had teaching assistants plus a roaming senior teacher on hand that could help 1-to-1 with reluctant children without distracting the class teacher, but parents poolside distracting both children and teachers are a serious hazard. In fact, I used to put the beginners classes on the far side of the pool from the spectator gallery to prevent the children getting distracted by parents hovering at the rail. Some children are ready for lessons at a young age (we started at 4), but some aren't ready until much later and forcing them to take part does nobody any favours.

I also think people way overestimate the knowledge and training of lifeguards.

Do you know what the National Pool Lifeguard Qualification entails? Or the National Rescue Award for Swimming Teachers and Coaches? Do you know how hard it can be to spot a person in trouble? They don't wave or shout or sink for instance.

InformalRoman I'm not looking for a bun fight, I'm sharing my experiences of seeing lifeguards react IRL and it wasn't reassuring.
I don't think parents should be criticized for watching / being on hand when children are in the water.
I agree they shouldn't interrupt the lesson.

I find the parents who don't supervise their toddlers the most distracting. I spend the whole time with my heart in my mouth whilst they seem to totally unaware how close to the pool their little ones are!

pombal I'll have to amicably disagree with you then - as a H&S professional as well as many years experience with swimming, teacher distraction is a significant hazard. I don't know of any local lesson providers (private or council) that allow parents poolside for anything other than parent and toddler classes for exactly this reason, and one private provider I know doesn't allow parents past the foyer.

I am also confident in the skills of our lifeguards and teachers - they have all undergone rigorous training courses and do monthly on-going training, we wouldn't employ them otherwise. You can't necessarily predict how someone will react in an emergency - but I have seen lifeguards and teachers swing into action promptly and efficiently when needed.

When I was a child (b.1970), parents dropped and ran if their children were over eight. We would have been ashamed if our parents stayed, and very few parents did. Chikdren need roots and wings.

YABVU and judgemental I sat right on the edge of the pool when my DD did swimming lessons. Not because I'm an over-protective idiot, but because my DD has autism and the sensory overload for her in that environment was huge and she needed me right next to her. The swimming teachers obviously knew and had risk assessed and agreed - very inclusive. To anyone else she would have just looked anxious, because she doesn't have AUTISM tattooed on her forehead. No doubt the other mum's sitting on the chairs having a nice coffee and a natter were judging me too. Believe me I'd have much rather have been having a coffee too instead of getting pins and needles and wet knees.

Her husband had to jump in the pool and haul him up

That happened in our local pool! One of the young lifeguard sounded the alarm when he saw the fully clothes man jump in, it was chaos. Some of the parents who were in the cafe instead of the viewing area nearly had a heart attack when they heard that a kid was drowning.

So of course parents should not disturb the class, but neither should they be look down smugly for keeping a close eye on a child. Some of the kids are 3 years old FFS, they are not teenagers.

OP, YAB VERY U

Our two had lessons from 3 years old. Parents were not allowed poolside. It was good because everyone could see what was going on, and the instructors could get on with teaching.

The lessons were only half an hour long so they needed to crack on.

Point and many others - I'm not talking about parents sitting in the seating areas beside the pool I'm talking about parents sitting on the waters edge literally in the pool.

If they had allowed that at our lessons the seated parents would then have not been able to see their DC swimming daffodil.

There was a lifeguard and one instructor between 2 children. It was fine.

Returned to swim lessons after half term and have a new batch of over protective parents. A couple of them are hovering on the edge of the pool on the verge of jumping in, while the teachers try to teach. If you can't sit in the seating area and let the teachers get on with it go and have a coffee. The children are safe, the teachers are in the pool and there's life guards - they are not going to drown rant over !

All the staff at DDs swimming lessons are trained lifeguards. Absolutely no Overprotective parents are allowed past a certain point for safety reasons and I wave DD off at the shower room. YNBU.

No parents poolside at DDs lessons, would be more of a safety risk to have lots of people milling around and obscuring the lifeguards view I think. You get a birdseye view of the pool from the viewing gallery anyway.

We're in a fenced off poolside viewing area. Most of us just sit there enjoying the peace (although there is some ostentatious marking of exercise books being done by teacher dads - I have tonnes of it to do, too, but want my DD to think that I'm watching her rather than stressing over other people's kids, again). I did recently witness a very stroppy father trying to force his terrified child into the water, which staff dealt with very professionally. The child was crying and desperately frightened. If the dad had just paddled in the shallows with the kid for a bit it wouldn't have interfered with anyone's lesson and the boy might have calmed down and enjoyed it. Instead he created a massive scene and pushed his son to near hysteria. Some people are just mean.

Heaven forbid parents should worry about their children in new, potentially dangerous situations whether there are professionals there or not

It's a wonder some people leave the house with their kids sometimes

If you don't trust that your child's swimming teacher can keep them safe, find a different teacher.

my DD has autism and the sensory overload for her in that environment was huge and she needed me right next to her

In such a situation a parent nearby would be understandable - desirable even. But I think the discussion was mainly around children for whom this wasn't needed.

My two learnt at 3 with no problems and no need for any parental intervention.

I used to love Friday swimming lessons as all six went off for an hour and a half whilst I sat and gossiped with other parents in the cafe. We could see through the glass but parents definitely weren't allowed around the pool.