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.

DTs learned to swim very early; we lived in a very hot country and pools were one of the few recreation opportunities for small children.
DD was always really relaxed in the water, and under it. She could do lengths on her back, just kicking her legs, by 3/4, and doggy paddle on her front. DS was slower to start but striong physically.
When we returned to UK they learned proper strokes and were swimming 100m by 5 years.
I think the key is bring confident and relaxed in the water; DD could swim for hours as it was as natural as walking for her. I’m not confident and it exhausts me!

Mine could both swim 25 meters by age 6, not 5. But they started swimming lessons at 3.5 and in addition we took them every week as well from the moment they completed their first immunisations. Just because we all loved to swim. So by the time they hit lessons, they took to it easily. Nothing to do with being super swimmers, just luck and a family love of swimming.

They all get there in the end.

Mine could all swim several lengths by aged five. Mainly that was because we swim often. They learnt by being with us in the sea, in rivers and we had private access to a very nice 30m pool.

DS1 is 6 and can’t swim at all. He had lessons age 3 but wasn’t ready so we decided to wait til he was age 5-6. He turned 5 and then covid hit. Now all the local pools have hugely long waiting lists for swimming lessons 🙁 I’m hopeful he’ll get a place over the next year

Any decent swimming teacher will tell you it's not just the distance but the ability to do it.

It's no good being able to swim 100m if it's tiring, they are struggling and have no form.

My son is a swimmer in a club. The children who get it earlier and have the speed earlier aren't always the ones on top 3/4/5 years on.

DD is 7 and has recently swam 25m. As she's not had many lessons the past year she was very chuffed she managed to do it.
We live next to the beach so being able to swim is important for us. She's had plenty of practice in the pool and the sea. The main reason we push the lessons is for water safety .

Ours both could swim early I'm member of a gym kids swim free . Took them from 16 weeks 2/3 times a week even if it was just for 10 minutes .

They had a handful of private lessons to get there technic

My 8 year old can swim 400m and I think my 6 year old as his 100m badge. They’ve had lessons since they were 3.

A lot of it is about technique though, not just distance.

My 5 year old in reception started lessons in September, they were interrupted by Covid between November and March so it felt almost like starting again when he went back. He could happily swim doggy paddle with arm bands before he started lessons and now, almost at the end of the year, is almost there swimming 5m without any aids, but sometimes still puts his feet down. I’m happy with his progress! In his class there are a few who can swim well who had proper lessons before Covid, lots who haven’t started lessons and the rest at the same sort of level as he is.
25m by the end of primary seems perfectly achievable if most start lessons around 5.

I took my son swimming every week from 3 months and he loved it and was pretty good when he started formal lessons at 4,by 5 he could do 25m+ and 200m+ by 6

My D's is 3 and can't swim at all, he went to water babies until I couldn't afford it anymore and used to be able to surface then hold onto the side, now he would just sink. He's on the waiting list for swimming lessons but they are only allowing older children to have lessons, presumably because covid restrictions mean parents are not allowed poolside and children are expected to change themselves alone.

My kids go to the pool at least 3 times a week on top of their swimming lessons which probably makes a difference. My 6 year old can swim over 400m doing proper strokes. My 4 year old can't do proper strokes but can get across the length of the pool, mostly under water. He's just started to learn front crawl this month.

The primary school my DDs went to is within walking distance of a swimming pool.
When they did lessons in y4, both times about 1/3rd were non swimmers, another 1/3 could swim but couldn't swim 1 length, and 1/3rd were reasonable.
I used to help walk to swimming not just when my DDs year had swimming but other years too. Some years they needed an extra teacher as there were so many non swimmers. Once I saw a child unable to even walk across the very shallow 'learner pool' without holding onto the edge.

Swimming lessons were great for DD2. It was the only thing she was better at than most of the class throughout primary. It is such a shame there were only 6 or 8 lessons.

We were lucky that mine had swimming lessons at the council pool from 3.5 when we moved here. We hit a patch where they had a gap and once they were in they were in.

They had lessons from them until yr 5 and by the end were swimming a mile. We stopped because they got through all the levels and next stop was proper swimming club which they weren't good enough/interested in.

School took them for a term in yr 4 I think. They have just taken those in their class who don't have their 25m (yr 6) and about 50% of them went.

My 6 year old can, I'd say that's pretty average for around here. There's one older child in her class but the others look the same age. I'd say 90% of her class take lessons and are at a similar level.

My older kids could both do that easily at 6yrs old but my current 6 yr old hasn't been able to start lessons & didnt even get to go swimming with us for months so I suspect there will be a cohort of kids who are "behind" by age due to COVID restrictions.

As long as your DC enjoy the swimming, they'll get there in their own time.

One of them is now top 10 in the region on fly now despite having zero coordination and being kept down a level because they couldn't do it.

25m seems like a tiny amount to expect a child to be able to do by the end of primary school. Based on my rather small swimming pool at school, that's 1.5 lengths or 3 widths. We could do that from the age of 4 (widths only, they wouldn't let us go to the deep end until we were taller).

Swimming club from age 8 consisted of about 20 lengths as a warm up. Then you got way more for actual tuition, and then more for a cool down. This wasn't even a competitive team or anything, you took part in competitions if you wanted, but it wasn't expected. This was to get you fitter and stronger in water.

If a kid is only expected to be able to swim 25m by the time it's 11, and that's all they can do, I'd be very worried about their fitness level as that's very low. They stand no chance in the sea. Just quite worrying really as people will expect that they are competent then but they most likely aren't, that's how you end up in dangerous situations.

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

Mine hadn't even started swimming lessons at 4 :) He started learning when he was about 5.5.

I could swim 50m when I left primary but it was "get down the pool any old how" whereas he could swim properly with decent stroke technique.

Actually I could swim 400m when I left primary but was definitely get down the pool any old how, mainly on my back and legs only!

I just had a look at my son's swimming badges and certificates. He got his 800m and ASA silver awards in the week he started secondary school.

I got my 1500m badge in year 4. My neice has just turned 8 and can do 5m unaided or 10m with a float. She has a real issue with her face getting wet though so it's a slow process.

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

smirk aside, I don't think there was one child in my kids class who didn't take swimming lesson from reception and earlier, Y1 at the very latest. All the swimming clubs always have very long waiting lists.

Lockdown has messed up everything, but swimming lessons are considered a basic for most families, so children DO swim.

25m is one length in many swimming pools, some are much longer obviously. It's hardly comparable to running a marathon.

I also think technique is much more important. MY now 9 year old at 7 could technically swim 20m but it was what my husband called slow drowning. Basically a frantic doggy paddle where he barely kept himself above the surface and used up every ounce of energy and endurance he had. He didn't want to go under water or get his face wet so he wasn't in the correct position. Once he got over his fear of the water he progressed really quickly and learned a decent technique in 3 strokes in a few months of private lessons. He is definitely not a natural sportsman so if he can do it almost any other kid can! DD on the other hand at 5 could swim 10m but with a decent technique and made steady progress all the way up to now where she can swim distances confidently.

Mine is 8yrs old, has done 100m but the swim school she is with focuses more on technique and stamina than ticking off the big distances. She can do all four strokes proficiently, her front crawl with side breathing is way better than mine. Lots of swim schools just go for distance awards but technique is often flappy, head-up swimming. They also cover proper water safety skills too which is v important