Realised I have spent £720 on swimming lessons and daughter still can't swim.

[sortingmyselfoutslowly]

She is 6, very bright and ahead in all areas at school, good at listening, well coordinated. Can ride a big bike without stabilisers and learn a whole 3 minute dance at street dance class. Aibu to think that after 3 years of 30 min weekly swim lessons she should be able to swim? She is in the 3rd class up in the learner pool. So she has made enough progress to be moved up twice. But I watched her today and her stroke technique is awful and she puts her feet down to breathe. I knew she was progressing slowly but stuck with it because a) she enjoys the classes and has made some good friends b) it's good exercise and c) it fits in well with family life as I can swim in the big pool at the same time as her lesson. This is a big deal as i don't have family close by so time by myself to exercise is precious and I love swimming. Now thinking that I need to move her to another swim school as it's such slow progress. Her little brother is 4 soon and I don't want to pay for 2 sets of lessons. We pay £20 a month and there are 6 in each class. I also had to pay for her badges when she moved up classes and write her certificates myself :/

My youngest refused to even get in a pool until she was 6, she was utterly terrified (although now diagnosed with autism so maybe that was part of it?). She finally started swimming lessons aged 9 and she is now nearly 12. She did a two mile swim in December last year, is a trainee lifeguard and does swim events in the sea (although she's the youngest by far and always comes last bless her!). She now absolutely loves the water and a part of that was there was zero pressure from me. I have always said, if you want to quit, just let me know and you can finish at the end of the term. But she's kept going and is really, really good now.

I'd give lessons a break for 6 months, concentrate on having fun in the water and then look at another swimming teacher.

I've spent £240 in 6 months on swimming lessons and my DD4 can swim sufficiently for her teacher to say she is 'safe' in the water. She swims in a pool which is always out of her depth so putting feet down not an option. She can swim 10m doggy paddle/front crawl. At the age of 4.4. Definitely worth a word with her teacher.

We did council run lessons for our first child and they were useless; like Groundhog Day. We switched to an independent swim school (still group lessons) but the instructors were in the water with them up to a certain standard. At no point could they touch the bottom or were buoyancy aids used. At 6 they could both swim 100m in 3 strokes with good technique and has he start of a good dolphin kick.

I think the standard of lessons is very variable op. I would contact your local swimming club and ask them for advice. Some have their own learning programme and those that don't should be able to make a recommendation.

I can't swim OP. My mum spent loads on lessons but it just never clicked. Does she like swimming? I hated it - I was very thin so always cold, hated the grimy pools and soggy bathing suits afterwards. Perhaps you could give it 6 months and try again. I can't say it's hindered my life greatly, I still go to the beach and in the sea, I just don't go out of my depth. I know I should learn, but I hate it so much that I just don't bother - it's not like I'll ever go in a pool anyway.

DS has swimming lessons once a week at school and intensives every day for a week every summer holiday. He couldn't swim at all. Eventually I took him to the local pool myself, once a week, and gave him 1-2-1 tuition myself. He went from swimming half a length to being able to swim 1 km in 6 months. The difference was that I was in the water with him, and that it was 1-2-1. In a class, the least able D can get left behind, or can put their feet down constantly and not get noticed doing it.
I used to swim under water to spot where he put his feet down then ask him to try and swim one more stroke before putting it down each time until he managed a full length. Then from that, 2 lengths etc.

My dd had swimming lessons from 3 years old,just really learning water confidence at first,putting her head under the water,jumping in.
The progress she made was totally dependant on the teacher.All the children her age and older had good technique but kids taught later after that less so,and she stalled for a year when they had one particular teacher.
They were also taught where they couldn't touch the bottom.I also notice kids who started later(so in the shallow end)took longer to get going as they could stand easily but really moved up quickly one they moved into deeper water.
Most pools do 1-1 lessons in the school holidays so maybe consider that just to give her a boost.

Ds started group lessons 18 months ago as a non swimmer. He was just 5. He is now able to do a length. He's as skinny as they come too. Has cost about £700.
I would be thinking of a different approach so changing pools/instructors/group size/swim schools.
IME learning the strokes makes it easier to swim once you've cracked it - a bit like touch typing. But you do need to do water confidence and fun swimming alongside that. Otherwise it's a chore.

I think there are a lot of variations when it come to learning to swim.

Dd1 learnt really easily. She had group lessons from 4yo and was swimming well 6months later. She did lessons until she was 6yo and did all sorts of strokes and could swim as long as you want.

Dd2 learnt to swim with school lessons at infants (they have an outside pool) and by 6yo could swim 20m a bit like a submarine. She loves swimming and quickly could swim as far as you want, but without a particular stroke.

Ds is 10yo. He didn't go swimming much as a pre-schooler as he has glue ear. He had the school lessons, but even when I took him last Easter he would push his feet off the ground and then put them straight back.
He had 1-2-1 lessons last week for 5 days. By day 2 he was swimming 2-3m, and by the end was nearly doing a length. In a group lesson he would stay at the back and not really try and they didn't have time to persuade him.

The funny thing is that dd1 is probably naturally the least physical. However both swimming and riding a bike she just did it quite young. I'm not sure why she could do it, but I think part of it is confidence.
For ds I don't think he would have done it without the 1-2-1 lessons. I was really proud of how he did something he finds quite scary.