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

[Lionking1981]

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?

[treaclesoda]

My almost 11 year old can barely swim. She had years of lessons, different teachers etc, and lessons in school, and she still couldn't swim.

I always loved water and I took her as a baby as I thought she would love it, but she hated it and screamed the whole time. I tried repeatedly, it was always the same. I took her as a toddler, and she hated it even more. I took her when she was a bit older, she still hated it. I put her name down for swimming lessons, but the minimum age was 7 in my area, so we had to wait until then. She loved the swimming lessons and looked forward to them, but she stayed in the beginner class whilst the other kids who started alongside her moved up, some of them can now swim 1km whilst she still can't swim 5m. Taking her to the pool is a total nightmare as she wants to hang on around my neck the whole time, despite being nearly as big as I am. We hope to get her a few one to one lessons over the summer, as we have found a private instructor, and frankly if those don't help I don't know what more we can do.

[Crowdblundering]

Yes -only sport that if you can't do it could kill you.

Have paid for all of mine to have lessons.

[DrDreReturns]

Both my kids can swim (they are 8 and 10) and I do consider it very important - as pp said for safety and social reasons.

[justkeepswimmingg]

I think it's very important to be able to swim. That being said, I can't swim . I hate it, but I've tried to learn so many times and just can't 'do it'. I sink instead of float, and because I can't swim I'm so scared to be in the water. Hopefully one day il be able to overcome it.
My DS is 2, and has spent time in pools, and thankfully isn't scared. Once he is about 4/5 years old my DH is going to teach him to swim, on top of swimming lessons (DH can swim thankfully).
Agree with other posters about all children learn to swim at different ages, my DS won't be ready for at least a couple of years.

[treaclesoda]

I'm not really convinced about it being a basic life skill though. None of the elderly people I know ever learnt to swim in their lives, and when I look at the middle aged people I know, I'd say the majority of them can't swim either. I'm a strong swimmer, proper technique etc, and I only have one other friend who can swim any more than about one length of the pool without stopping for a break. None of them can tread water, which I think is a far more important skill.

[LookMoreCloselier]

My 8 year old can swim now and is reasonably confident but only started with lessons at age 7 (Had been on waiting list since 6yo) and I think that was a good decision tbh, I don't really see the point in putting them from 4yo, we just went swimming as a family for fun at that age and there wasn't a noticeable difference in ability between him and the kids who had been to all the beginner classes.

[Natsku]

I consider it very important, essential really, but there are no swimming lessons in my town at all (except for school swimming lessons, which start at six and continue throughout school) so I have been trying to teach DD myself. She can swim underwater for as long as she can hold her breath, can float a little and is starting to tread water a little. I always take her into the pool in which she is out of her depth so she has to swim, and no flotation devices except occasionally for fun.

[Radishal]

It is a life skill. However our dd came to is slowly. We tried her with lessons, she did pretty well but wasn't confident and started to hate having lessons. I have MS and I love to swim so, in my head, it's the only sporty thing I can do with her. I hated the idea of her hating it. So I paused lessons and we did bits now and then. In Year 4 they had formal swimming lessons. I insisted she go in a group weaker than her actual capability and we went each weekend before the classes to bolster what she had learned- or just to mess about. She still isn't the strongest swimmer but she can swim and, more importantly for me , she loves it.

[papayasareyum]

I was gobsmacked when my daughter was in year 4 at school and having weekly swimming lessons and she told me that loads of her friends couldn't swim. I don't doubt that one or two were probably phobic or slow learners, but not all. From what I've witnessed with a few friends, if the parents hate swimming, or water, they don't bother taking the kids.

[Ellybellyboo]

Both mine can swim, not brilliantly but well enough.

We live by the sea and both kids have done some sort of water sport so we've always felt it important they can swim.

They had lessons when they were younger but not recently. Their water sports instructors have taught them more useful, life skill type stuff (rip tides, treading water, etc) than they ever learnt in their swimming lessons

[PippaFawcett]

And just think how much Center Parcs would cost if you couldn't use the pool! You would have to fork out for lots of £££ activities.

[treaclesoda]

I was gobsmacked when my daughter was in year 4 at school and having weekly swimming lessons and she told me that loads of her friends couldn't swim.

When my daughter started school swimming lessons in P5 most of her class couldn't swim.

I don't think it's quite fair to say people just don't bother taking them. It can be quite hard to access lessons - long waiting lists, prohibitively expensive, minimum age requirements etc. You can take them to the pool on a Saturday afternoon yourself, but it's so packed that you would never actually be able to learn to swim in it because there isn't room to do anything other than splash around.

[Bluntness100]

Swimming is an important life skill and it can be limiting if kids don't learn in later life, it impacts on things they can do on holiday for example. Boat trips. Snorkelling, canoeing,, sailing, but not just that, they then are unable to teach their own kids or go in the water on holiday with their own child.

We taught our daughter ourselves and then she went with school, she's a really confident swimmer, more so than myself actually, because we got her from such a young age.

The most memorable thing I ever saw was on holiday a Russian couple with a child no more than a year old, the child could swim, literally they threw the child in the water and the baby would swim. They were adoring parents, and so focused on their child, and clearly were both very strong swimmers and were either professional and we suspect had their own pool. But that baby loved the water and had clearly been in water from birth. Neither of us had seen a child that age swim before, the child couldn't yet walk or talk , but good god she could swim and clearly loved it.

[LookMoreCloselier]

@treaclesoda your DD sounds like me when I was a kid, I went to loads of lessons, different instructors etc but still just didn't 'get it'. I went to secondary school still unable to swim, but was too embarrassed to admit to it so in the first lesson when we 'swimmers' (there were about 5 kids who could not swim in my class) all had to jump in at the deep end one by one and swim a length, I just did it due to everyone watching me, and after that I was fine. Not sure what my advice is there haha but she will likely manage it eventually. At the council run lessons my DS goes to, if they haven't progressed from level 1 in one year, they get one to one classes.

[kel1493]

We haven't taken our ds yet, but we want to start.
The one thing I regret from school is not learning to swim.
I think if we take him now (not literally), I mean at this age. When/ if he does go with school, he will be more used to it.
A friend of ours has been taking her little girl since she was very young and she's so good now.

[witsender]

Very important, we spend a lot of our time on or around the water (live by the sea, with boats and parents have a pool) so it is a daily 'threat' to us.

The 6 year old is pretty strong, I would always watch her of course but she can swim 50m or so etc. The 5 yr old is less confident due to an accident when he was younger. He can tread water and climb out on his own etc. I think he could swim if he was confident, but we are taking it slow with him. He knows how to be safe round the water, and goes in a pool almost daily from this time of year onwards so will get there. The older child has lessons once a week as well as regular swimming with little one. Her lessons are £5.5 each though, so about £25 a month.

[treaclesoda]

Not sure what my advice is there haha but she will likely manage it eventually.

I hope so

She has definitely improved over the years but it is slow, slow slow. Her younger brother could swim better after three half hour lessons than she could after three years of them

[BurnTheBlackSuit]

I wouldn't rely on school swimming lessons. They can vary massively depending on the school. At my children's school they do 3 hours of lessons in total in the entire time at school. You're not going to learn to swim in 3 hours of group lessons.

[arethereanyleftatall]

I'm a swimming teacher, I teach babies through to adults plus schools. My observations on the op are...

1. Some dc are ready to learn at 3. Some are not and you're just wasting your money.
   

1. I teach school swimming in both poor and affluent areas. In the poorer area, up to 90% will not be able to swim by 8, but in affluent area, there will only be 1 or 2 children who can't swim.
   

1. School swimming is usually not enough to learn to swim well, I think parents who can afford it need to take some responsibility. For example, in dds class there is just one child whose parents, who can afford it, have never bothered with lessons. This has changed the dynamics of the class completely to the detriment of the rest of the classes, because ratios and lesson plans are determined on the weakest swimmer.

[Oblomov17]

I can't understand why it takes kids so long to learn to swim these days.
I learnt to swim quickly, so did my 2 older brothers.
My ds's took a lot longer. Ds2 is still having lessons.
I don't like how technical it is these days. Does it really matter if ds2's front crawl hand goes in at an angle of 46 degrees, rather than 45? I don't want him doing professional swimming. I don't want the next Rebecca Adlington. I just want him to be safe when he goes swimming with his friend and friends mum watching.

[ThornyBird]

Yes, we live on the coast and spend a lot of time on and in the water.

Older 3 dc took to swimming well - youngest has been painful and ridiculously slow progression but it's been worth it as he was very scared.

Older 3 have all done some life saving classes too - not enough to lifeguard but enough to react safely in an emergency.

[littlefurrysheep]

Mine is only a baby but yes it's very important for us (me) as his dad is a sailor and kite surfer and big sea fan in general and I want to not be terrified all the time when we do these activities so he's going swimming as soon as we can

[znaika]

I agree Oblomov. My daughter was taught by her grandad in a river near where they live. Non swimmer in the morning swimming out to the 50m buoy in the afternoon. No sides yo cling on to, no pole dangled in front of her face as ive seen in a local pool. Just wait till a bit older (6) and go for it. The notion of spending hundreds getting your toddler to splash ( can do in bath) put their head under (also in bath) and then do the half swimming half drowning doggy paddle for months/years is weird. Who benefits? Apart from the teacher

[VerySadInside]

It's important socially. You don't want to be the one sat poolside if all your friends are messing around in the water. Think of first holiday with mates, you'd look like a right loser.

[Muskey]

Absolutely dd started having swimming lessons when she was three. I stopped paid lessons when she was 10 as the school she went to do swimming as part of the curriculum. I consider swimming to be a life skill and everybody should learn.
Having said that somebody I know who refused to pay for swimming lessons for her dcs (who were so bad at swimming had to go in the baby pool when the school went swimming) but was happy to pay for piano lessons instead. Playing the piano is really going to save your life one day