Swimming

[yesokthen]

Aibu to wonder how far your child can swim? I understand the National goal is that kids can swim 25 metres by the end of primary but I keep hearing of all these 5 year olds and younger that can already do this.

Mumsnet will be full of super swimmers all doing 100m at 4 years old.

My DD is 6 (year 1) and hopefully about to get her 10m certificate, she can swim 10m comfortably on her front and back now. Her swimming class are all about her age. She is probably one of the better swimmers in her year group - there has barely been any swimming over the last 15 months so perhaps the children are behind.

My child is 5 and despite having had lessons since 4 months cannot do this. He was getting there, then covid. He is now massively behind as most other children seem to have not been affected by a year off. He's my only child not able to do this and it's worrying me as we like to spend time on boats at sea etc and it's not a risk I feel we can take on until he's got it.

Technique is more important than distance tbh!

Officially neither of mine can swim because I can't get them lessons... they are on the waiting list. Aged 8&10.

They can, but their strokes aren't right.

DD is just 6, I’d say she could probably swim that but very awkwardly with lots of splashing and she wouldn’t really have the stamina and would be clinging to the wall gasping at the end. DS is 8, that would be a breeze. They go to weekly swimming lessons (COVID permitting) as we both work and live in suburban London rather than a coastal region, so there isn’t really any opportunity to practice swimming outside of that.

In my experience the super swimmers at an early age have parents who facilitate extra opportunities to get the skill, especially the age group you are talking about - COVID will have interrupted so much of their usual rate of progress.

DD is in Yr2. She is working toward her 10m badge and seems fairly on keeping with the rest of her peers. Of course there are some who can swim further, but there will also be others that can't.

My 5yo can do it. She started Waterbabies at 6 weeks old, and could swim on her own at just turned 3.

My 3 yo can’t swim unaided. She was Orem so we had to wait until she met the weight requirement to start, which was about 9 months. Then she’s not had lessons for a year. Only time will tell if she will by the time she’s 5.

Like many things to do with kids, the involved, financially comfortable parents will pay for expensive lessons. Kids with out either or both will miss out

My 7yo can swim front crawl for 25m but only recently. 4yo can manage 5m doggy paddle without a float in shallow water. Both have swimming lessons.

My kids have all done waterbabies, so DD1 got her 25m the summer before she started reception. DD2 has had a year out of classes and is just getting her confidence back underwater so I'm not sure yet whether she will be quite as successful - she's only 2 though so if we don't have another round of lockdowns I think she will. I can't swim so it was really important to me that my kids learned, I think its such an important life skill and makes holidays so much more enjoyable.

Sounds about right.
Dd did lessons and could swim 25m at 7, can swim more than that now but we stopped lessons shortly after her 25m badge as we just wanted her to be able to swim confidently so no need to carry on.

My eldest is 9 and a half and can swim 50-100m. He was a very slow starter with swimming and isn't at all naturally athletic. It took alot of effort to get him there. My 7 year old DD can swim about the same distance but it came more naturally to her.

In My eldest's year 4 class of 20 most can swim at least 25m but there are 3-4 who can only swim about a width. This is a very affluent area though and everyone can afford swimming lessons.

Mine (5 and 3) are no where near this. Swimming lessons are like gold dust round here.

My DD (10) is a confident swimmer and can do 2 x 25m front crawl without stopping but strangely cannot tread water or keep herself afloat and will only swim with her face in the water and goggles on. I don't like leaving her alone near water for that reason. She needs more lessons to increase her safety . My DS (6) missed out on lessons because of covid but he's back on track. IMO school swimming lessons are not sufficient and they need extra practice. In my mind it's an important skill for safety reasons and I would prioritise the cost over other activities and clubs.

My 4 year old has just got his 10m badge. He has had swimming lessons since birth but made huge amounts of progress when we changed to his current swim school who are fantastic!

He can jump into the water and swim to the other end of the pool but needs to build his stamina and technique to be able to go further.

Yes I'd also add that school swimming lessons won't be nearly enough for all but the most natural swimmers. They definitely need lessons or a parent who can teach them.

My dd is 5 and is in one to one lessons as she was petrified of water when she was little. We couldn’t get her into the pool for group lessons.

She’s been going a year but more likely 4 months overall due to lockdowns. They’ve been focusing on technique, so she’s been going from swimming under water on her front to rolling to her back to take a breath. She’s also been taught to star float once on her back. They’re introducing the leg movements for breast stroke to her next, before introducing arms. She can currently swim around 5m independently but more importantly she can save herself if necessary by rolling to her back and star floating to take a breath before swimming to the side on her front.

It will vary a lot. Dd's 10&8 just started lessons last week after being on a waiting list. We had previously gone to the local pool fairly regularly. Dd1 can swim a short distance. The majority of children in the lesson are around 8 one or two could swim a width on their backs.

My children live in a part of Australia where children are in swimming pools from infancy. My 7 year old is my youngest and swims with a club - I think they do 1km per session but in sets, obviously. His butterfly isn’t that good yet though.

They could all do 25m by 4 years.

I agree about technique being the most important thing, though. None of them have ever earned any kind of distance badge, it’s all about form and technique even from an early age.

My kid is the world's shittest swimmer. I don't know how many more stage 1 classes I can sit through week in week out before I lose my shit completely. He's 7 and if we take him swimming 'for fun' I pretty much wear him like a back pack the entire time we're in the pool.

Every time I sitting in a lesson I contemplate the thought that surely in the olden days people who could swim (pirates? Fishermen? Sailors?) didn't spend months on end twatting around with pool noodles and floats so surely there's a quicker/more effective way of teaching a kid to swim than the way we currently do it.

I teach swimming with my class in year 3. When they start, some are terrified of the water and some are swimming every stroke fast, good technique, tumble turns. Such a massive spread of experience and ability every year.

By the end of their 2 terms of weekly lessons, well over half are confidently swimming widths of the big pool (lots swimming lengths). About 20% maybe still in the little pool but mostly confident and using different strokes.

We sail so taught our young children that deep water is to be feared and respected and started lessons at 5 when they could understand. I don’t understand the trend for teaching very young babies or toddlers to be overly confident in deep water, it sounds dangerous to me but that’s not a popular opinion I know!

Not sure, he did do swimming lessons but they stopped because of Covid and aren't starting up again until September.

Me managed about 3/4m by himself in the sea last summer aged 4.5 (DH and I got him to swim between us in shoulder height water).

@MyFloorIsLava

Mumsnet will be full of super swimmers all doing 100m at 4 years old.

My DD is 6 (year 1) and hopefully about to get her 10m certificate, she can swim 10m comfortably on her front and back now. Her swimming class are all about her age. She is probably one of the better swimmers in her year group - there has barely been any swimming over the last 15 months so perhaps the children are behind.

Yep.

Here, D took several years of lessons and swimming in between to get to grips with it. Four or five years of swimming at least three times a week, she was probably eight or nine by the time she was confident and capable of swimming two lengths of the pool.

Then she wanted to do nothing else and swam for her very competitive school team for a time.

It depends how long they've been swimming I guess. Both of mine could do a length of the pool (25m) by the time they were in Year 2, not because they were particularly naturally good swimmers but because they'd been at swimming lessons since pre-school and had progressed over time. You did see the occasional strong swimmer who reached that level more quickly than others but generally it just depended on how much experience you had.

My 6 year old has lessons in a group of 2 and has made massive progress in these lessons, now swimming 10m lengths throughout the lesson, getting a lovely technique. My 4 year old is just starting to propel by himself but mostly uses arm bands, float or woggle to swim - but will happily jump in and go under water.