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Original poster

To ask if your children can swim? Is it important to you?

314 replies

Lionking1981 · 12/05/2017 23:50

Do you class swimming as important? We spend 100 a month on swimming lessons for our two sometimes leaving us short. My two were swimming with their cousins on holiday recently.My brother pointed out how much we all spent on swimming lessons and remarked none of them are great swimmers. They are 8,7,6 and 5. All in swimming lessons since they were 4. They can swim but we couldnt take our eyes off any one of them such is our confidence in their ability. Me and dbro were left in swimming pools by ourselves for hours from age 9. I have always thought it was essential and budget for it, going without other things.My class teacher told me probably only 50% of their 8 year olds can swim. Do you believe that is right?

OP posts:
TrollMummy · 13/05/2017 20:21

There is a middle ground to being a breathless doggy paddler and Michael Phelps.

The kids I witnessed getting into difficulty swimming on holiday were the over confident doggy paddlers that thought they could swim and who had obviously been to the swim school of mum and dad. When they suddenly got out of their depth in the middle of an unfamiliar pool, they panicked and couldn't swim to the side. It's all very well to be able to swim a bit and splash about but it is a different matter to be confident out of your depth, to swim underwater and to swim a reasonable distance. I'm a pretty decent swimmer and there is just no way I could teach my DCs these things at a family fun session on a Saturday morning.

pointythings · 13/05/2017 20:23

Good swimming lessons are great. My DDs started just shy of 4 years old (but had been swimming weekly with us from about 3 months). DD1 stopped at 7, DD2 a bit before that because she progressed a bit quicker. By then they could both swim 300+ metres at all strokes, dive in, float, use fins and snorkel correctly, tread water. We all love swimming and having kids who can cope in the sea - and know their limits - is great.

MiaowTheCat · 13/05/2017 20:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Etymology23 · 13/05/2017 20:54

I had lessons til I was nine and could swim a mile, then stopped.

I was an over confident swimmer - went swimming in the seas with friends much taller than me. We decided to swim 500m across a bay - so far so good. We stopped and chatted on the way, the others standing, me treading water. We got a bit over halfway across and I was exhausted and felt like we were being pulled out to sea. I panicked and thought I wouldn't get the rest of the way across. One of my friends said they'd tow me but I could feel I was just exhausting them too. I managed to get my shit together and did front crawl the rest of the way (because back crawl wasn't fast enough to stop me getting pulled out to sea), and got to the other side. We figured we'd walk back rather than swim! Got down to the bottom of what we thought was the bay, and realised it wasn't... it was a river. So we had to swim back across that!

We'd swim across an estuary which (when measured on a map later) was in fact 2km wide, not the 500m bay we'd estimated.

It really taught me to have the correct respect for the sea. I went back to swimming in a pool semi regularly after than and got my distance up to about 2.5 miles, which made me feel a bit safer again. But I'd definitely check a map in future. We didn't have one with us, no phone signal to google it and one friend (thought!) they knew the area. I could have been an accidental drowning death. I'm very glad I wasn't.

Radishal · 13/05/2017 22:21

There's an awful lot of opportunity for competitive parenting on this. Your child should learn to swim/ride a bike not sure about skiing but it's handy but in their own time. If that is 8 rather than 4, then so be it. You take appropriate precautions with them near water.

PortableVirgin · 13/05/2017 22:31

a necessary skill like riding a bike, skiing and golf

Yeah, right. Golf is a crucial life skill. You might accidentally fall into a bunker and have to play your way to safety. Hmm

qumquat · 13/05/2017 22:34

I really worry about this because I have no money and it does seem so expensive. But I do feel DD needs to learn to swim. I'm relieved to see a few people saying 5 is a good age to start lessons, that gives me two years to save up!

TheGentleMoose · 13/05/2017 22:38

@pointythings You said your children can cope in the sea, would they know what to do if they were caught in a strong current or a rip tide?

Westray · 13/05/2017 23:09

To me it's a necessary skill like riding a bike, skiing and golf.

WTF!!

PeachyPip · 13/05/2017 23:30

Fwiw I think kids do things when they're ready. You can sink months into teaching a child a skill that they might master in a matter of days a few years later.

That's so true. I used to live overseas in a wealthy area and all my friends kids were being taught to ski, swim, skate etc etc. from 2 or three. It's seemed like a lot of hard work.

CoteDAzur · 14/05/2017 08:08

"my friends kids were being taught to ski, swim, skate etc etc. from 2 or three. It's seemed like a lot of hard work."

Learning to ski is always hard work, but it is much easier as a small child - center of gravity closer to the ground, less fear of falling, etc. That is why it is best done as early as possible, usually around 3.

Swimming is also best done as soon as possible if you live on the Mediterranean like us, with hot summers and everyone in pools & the sea for at least 4 months of every year.

Radishal · 14/05/2017 08:48

I'm a strong swimming adult and I am reluctant to swim in the sea because of unexpected currents and rip tides.

Crumbs1 · 14/05/2017 09:04

Swimming is one of these most vital life skills. I insisted all mine achieved bronze medallion before giving up on lessons but ....it wasn't the lessons that made them confident it was swimming with us, their parents and the nanny. They weren't allowed to the beach with friends until they'd got the medallion- no excuses. That was around 13/14years of age.
It can be done much more cheaply for families on a budget. Swimming clubs often are cheaper than lessons. Taking your chin the sea costs nothing if you live nearby. Taking your child to local authority pool isn't usually expensive. They need to feel comfortable being in the water so they don't panic if they fall in and so they don't have to stand by and watch helplessly if a friend got into difficulty.
School swimming lessons rarely teach children to swim. They simply aren't offered often enough.
Eight is probably too old to be starting and it then becomes a big deal. Throw them in as babies is best way. No armbands, no costumes full of polystyrene just a parent and lots of splashing from 8 weeks.
Interestingly a rural primary headteacher friend says you can divide classes into MC or WC by whether they can swim or not.

MyOtherNameIsTaken · 14/05/2017 09:22

I can't swim because I can't get the thought of being held under water to make me blow bubbles by my class teacher out of my head. Even if I'm watching a film where there's an underwater scene I have to stand up to get above the water level Sad

Because of this I took DD for lessons and she is a very, very confident swimmer and is considering becoming a swimming teacher.

MyOtherNameIsTaken · 14/05/2017 09:23

Excuse the grammar fail in my first sentence! Blush

Natsku · 14/05/2017 09:48

Skiing is a life skill-ish where I live, at least its mandatory at school, but pretty sure golf isn't! It only seems to be mandatory for US presidents.

When I say I'm teaching DD to swim, she's really teaching herself as she doesn't like to do it the way I do so figured out things herself. One thing I will teach her though is to swim on her back, when you just kick your feet and don't use your arms so she knows how to rest if she does have to swim a long way and gets tired - my mum made me do that and made me practice long distances alternating normal swimming and resting swimming on my back. Will also practice "falling" in the lake with clothes on with DD.

Ffsherewegoagain · 14/05/2017 10:02

My child can't swim or ride a bike. Never will be able to do either.

I suppose I'm a crap parent then since those are essential life skills. And they will be excluded from all kinds of activities.

😞

JojoLapin · 14/05/2017 10:31

Swimming lessons to level 10 are compulsory here. It is important for children to not only being able to swim but also being strong swimmers for the obvious safety issue + it is a healthy activity for kids which then opens up to great recreational activities.

Natsku · 14/05/2017 10:38

Swimming lessons throughout school are compulsory here too - in the later years they do lifesaving lessons which is fab I reckon. Just remembered that I am certified to rescue people from water and treat hypothermia - nearly got hypothermia myself during the testing!

Doesn't make you a crap parent ffsherewegoagain obviously not all life skills are possible for all people to learn depending on their physical or otherwise abilities, I'm sure your child learns what they are able to learn and you are not a crap parent.

treaclesoda · 14/05/2017 10:39

Eight is probably too old to be starting and it then becomes a big deal. Throw them in as babies is best way.

People say this all the time but I did take mine as babies (I love swimming, always have done) and they hated it. Properly hated it. Crying and screaming until they were making themselves sick. It's not a given that if you take them early they will take to it naturally.

Natsku · 14/05/2017 10:40

Mine hated it as a baby too treacle definitely isn't a given that they'll get used to it if you take them as a baby, though I do think its worthwhile getting them useful to water on their face but that can happen in the bath/shower.

NataliaOsipova · 14/05/2017 10:53

Mine have swimming lessons. I think it's important that, were they to fall in, they wouldn't panic and would be able to cope until help came. But water isn't a big part of our lives (or our holidays), so it isn't something I particularly think about. They don't particularly like it, so it isn't something I push beyond the "need to to a basic level".

BertrandRussell · 14/05/2017 11:10

"Swimming is one of these most vital life skills"

Why?

Ffsherewegoagain · 14/05/2017 11:48

What Bertrand said. Why is it an essential life skill? What is it up there with?

honeylulu · 14/05/2017 12:24

Because it can save your life.

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