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Original poster

Did you teach your own children to swim?

55 replies

Dogscanteatonions · 15/04/2021 16:39

Having read another thread I realised my kids didn't have swimming lessons. From the age they were old enough to go in the pool (think it must have been 4 months or so) we always went swimming at least once a fortnight or so. Admittedly mine are nearly grown up now but I can't recall ever teaching them much, I just remember lots of messing about in the pool but they could all swim before going to school. Did they just learn by copying me as they got older? How odd I have no memory of teaching them anything!

OP posts:
emmathedilemma · 15/04/2021 16:52

I think some kids are more of a natural than others. I have friends who are swimming teachers / club coaches and even though their kids were confident in the water from a young age they still went for lessons as they'd never cooperate to learn anything properly with their parents! I think there's also a difference between being able to swim in order to save your life if needed and being able to swim with good technique and for exercise.

reluctantbrit · 15/04/2021 17:10

No, it would never have worked.

DD loves swimming and we went all the time from baby age onwards. But proper swimming techniques - forget it. She saw us as the fun option to play around in the pool but any attempt to teach her strokes were pointless. We found it vital to make her confident in the pool and happy to be adventurous but that's it - for our own sake.

So she had proper swimming lesson since she was 3 and until Covid was a Rookie lifesaver.

raskolnikova · 15/04/2021 17:17

I commented on another swimming thread as I have never had private swimming lessons and felt like the only one! My parents took me to the swimming pool sometimes and I had some classes at primary school. I can swim, and I enjoy it, but I'm not a strong swimmer. But I'm not a sporty person in general though.

Bazookapie · 15/04/2021 17:24

No I didn’t - I couldn’t even swim myself and nor could their dad. So it was vitally important to me that they should learn fairly young so they had lessons and could all swim by the time they were 7ish.
Then I found myself alone in the shallows so made a decision to learn at adult classes, it was hard going but in my mid forties I could finally do a length of breaststroke (very slowly!)

Rolypolybabies · 15/04/2021 18:03

I just learnt by going with family. I can swim, but I don't have any real stroke or confidence. Living near the sea it is a priority for me that my children can actually swim properly. Swimming lessons are the only club I am bothered about my kids doing.

Zarinea · 15/04/2021 18:12

DH learned to swim just by going to the pool with family.

I say 'swim'...he thrashes about with lots of splashing and not much speed. Our DD will be having professional lessons!

KVIIIlyne · 15/04/2021 18:12

No

I took lessons when I was a kid, all their friends were taking lessons from birth, so I didn't even consider teaching them myself.

I am an ok swimmer, but I don't think I would have made a great teacher.

JaceLancs · 15/04/2021 18:18

Sort of - as in I took them swimming from 4 months old - they never needed any lessons
We all still love swimming - sat outside gym with pool right now waiting to meet DD 29 for our first swim since lockdown

Tal45 · 15/04/2021 18:30

No, I'm a very good swimmer, swam/raced for clubs all through my teen years but still got someone else to teach my ds. There is a lot of technique involved that I wanted him to learn from someone he would pay proper attention to.

Plumbear2 · 15/04/2021 18:31

Mine learnt by swimming with me. It just seemed a waste of money to pay for lessons at 3 or 4 years old when they learnt just as much going as a family. They are all strong swimmers now as teens.

B33Fr33 · 15/04/2021 18:37

I taught my eldest. The middle one developed a fear of the water so she responded better to a specialist teacher. My youngest is 5 and was swimming (just) before the pandemic. He has no technique and it is embarrassing that he's to startedschool not able to swim a length of a normal pool. I feel I've really let him down.

Subordinateclause · 15/04/2021 18:41

My husband's parents taught him and think he's a great swimmer with good technique. He is not.

bruffin · 15/04/2021 18:42

I was a good swimmer but wouldnt teach them myself, do they had lesson from babies until they did their bronze medallion. They then did yheir NPLQ
You can tell kids who havent had lessons because they splash a lot and dont know how to breath. Although dc think its funny you spend so much of lesson swimming with your head down , but when you start to learn to lifesave you have to swim with head up

megletthesecond · 15/04/2021 18:45

No.
I spent £££ on group and private lessons over the years and they're ok swimmers now.

JamMakingWannaBe · 15/04/2021 18:48

I do (did) take DC "to the pool" for a fun play session. DC learnt to "doggy paddle" with me. Their swimming club teaches them "how to swim / technique".

NoGoodPunsLeft · 15/04/2021 18:54

DD would never learn with us, as @reluctantbrit says parents are for fun (and dad chucking her in the air, piggy backs etc) whereas lessons are for learning technique.

Eyevorbig0ne · 15/04/2021 18:55

Yes.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 15/04/2021 18:59

When mine were very small we were living in a warm climate and lucky to have access to a pool for much of the year. My elder was barely 2 when she wanted to jump in the deep end minus armbands. I was already in the deep end so I said OK - and she just came up swimming. Largely underwater at first, in a sort of tadpole wriggle. Never looked back, but proper lessons didn’t come until she was 5 or 6.

I had to make slightly more effort with dd2 at about the same age - just letting her go a couple of feet away - swim to mummy - it didn’t take long before she was well away.

Dd has done much the same with her 2 - just taking them as often as possible, no armbands. They were both swimming - doggy-paddle or tadpole style but inc. underwater - by 2.5 or 3. Proper strokes will come later. TBH I think armbands are a bit of a menace - kids never learn with those things on.

The most important thing IMO is for them to feel at home and happy in the water, before any formal lessons.

fallfallfall · 15/04/2021 19:01

all three of mine learned to swim on their own. "water babies" was the in thing in the early 80's.
quickly they figured how to tread water. then with a desire to play with toys they began to dog paddle/crawl into different directions.
eventually they were jumping and playing and very confident.
but no "style", butterfly is not really a natural move.
so yes my proficient swimmers all took a few lessons to get their badges.

RainingBatsAndFrogs · 15/04/2021 19:06

No.

After months of DH taking them to the pool to learn, and then making no progress whatsoever, I booked individual swimming lessons.

They both swam independently before the end of the first lesson.

Looneytune253 · 15/04/2021 19:16

Yes we did and it actually makes me quite proud. I think we owe it to our children to do this for them. I remember when my eldest started her school lessons she was defo in the minority that could swim and the HT sent out an email showing her disappointment that most of the class hadn't been taught yet (baring in mind they do the school lessons when they're about 8).my youngest was one of the strongest swimmers in the school swimming class.

Wearegoingtoneedabiggerboat · 15/04/2021 19:33

I took my children to the pool when they were babies, however as soon as they were able, probably about 3, they had proper swimming lessons. Most people who say they can swim actually mean they can stay afloat. My breast stroke technique could never be called swimming.

SmokedDuck · 15/04/2021 19:36

To a certain extent. We did summer lessons at times but also just swimming.

I've noticed that now most people don't expect to teach their own kids, which seems odd because many of them are families that swim. I don't much like to swim but I can teach my kids.

LemonRoses · 15/04/2021 19:41

Ours had swimming lessons but not until they could swim. East swim a lot so they’ve always swam since birth. They swam between us and learned to surface after going down the slide or jumping in.

merryhouse · 15/04/2021 19:42

FFS. Does that head teacher realise why primary schools are supposed to provide swimming lessons? And has anyone suggested a Poverty Audit?

I took mine to the pool at the gym when small - 9 months for S1, 6 months for S2 - and concentrated on having fun in the water and learning how to deal with it.

S1 refused to wear armbands, though he would sit in the ring - and at the age of two would lift up his arms to drop out of the ring and swim up and to the side. Nearly gave a friend's grandfather a heart attack when he walked into the poolroom to see that!

S2 was a bit more resistant and wanted to stay on me, holding the side or with a floatation aid of some sort (though at 18m flatly refused the little jackets at Center Parcs which meant I had to spend the entire week bent double). When a bit older would get from one place to another by going underwater and bouncing off the bottom Grin

I left the teaching of strokes to the school lessons.