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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To cancel the swimming lessons

108 replies

HungryHippo11 · 14/08/2021 05:08

My DD is 4.5 and is a complete beginner at swimming - we have only been about 4 times in the past year due to pool closures etc. An opportunity came up for a week of reduced swimming lessons at a local private pool, so I booked her on. Website said that parents could watch from the poolside.

I phoned yesterday to check the details such as what to bring along, because I hadn't had any confirmation email or anything. Apparently due to covid, parents aren't allowed poolside, or in to the building at all, and have to drop the kids off at the entrance swim ready and pick them up an hour later.

WWYD? My instinct is to cancel the lessons - I don't think I'm OK with sending a young child into a place she has never been, with instructors neither of us have ever met, to do a potentially dangerous activity at which she is a complete beginner.
BUT I think the swimming will be a really good thing for her to start learning as she has been so little and its a life skill.

Am I overreacting? I know kids swimming lessons the parents aren't usually in the water but they would at least be in the same building?

OP posts:
lannistunut · 14/08/2021 06:59

@Sadiecow

*Health and Safety law allows for this.

Self-employed swimming teachers don't have to get ill just because some people have decided covid no longer exists.

Would you be willing to risk your business shutting for two weeks? No income, no pay?*

Well if everyone cancels lessons and goes elsewhere, to people with a more pragmatic view, then their business is finished anyway.

I'm not sure where people have said Covid no longer exists?

The government is pretending covid no longer exists.

Good luck finding capacity at another swim school, there is a shortage of places in my town, with waiting lists.

Covid exists, businesses will protect themselves.

Randomness12 · 14/08/2021 06:59

I’d cancel, my DD is 4.5 and we are doing lessons at the moment. I’m not allowed in the pool but usually parents side poolside. However, because of covid, we get them changed then walk them through to the pool with masks on, hand them over to the instructors then leave. There is a viewing window on the first floor - the pool is at a local hotel - so we watch from there. I was a bit dubious about that, no way would I be dropping at the door of the building.

careerchangeperhaps · 14/08/2021 07:00

@Looubylou At my kids' swim school 'swim ready' literally meant that. No clothes / shoes could be stored poolside. It was horrific through the winter. I'd run DS from the car with his Crocs and a dressing gown over his trunks to the door and then take them back to the car with me to wait (where I either had to freeze in the dark for half an hour or run the engine to keep it heated). They then came out dripping wet so we wrapped them in a towel & bundled them in the car with lots of blankets etc. We were at the point of giving up with swimming because it was just so difficult when we went into lockdown. DS was 8 but there were plenty of younger kids there too.

OP - the thing that concerned me with your post most is that the lessons are an hour. This is way too long for a 4 year old beginner. She'll likely be freezing after that long in the pool and no 4 year old can concentrate properly for an hour.

lannistunut · 14/08/2021 07:00

@HungryHippo11

Self-employed swimming teachers don't have to get ill just because some people have decided covid no longer exists. I do agree with this but do you think having parents on the pool side is actually putting the instructors at risk? Maybe its putting the parents at risk because they might be close to each other, but not the instructors? Ditto kids using the changing rooms, the instructors wouldn't be in there with them.
Yes of course, the more people you have in a building the greater the risk. Covid is airborne. The edge of a pool is usually quite small and can get congested.
lannistunut · 14/08/2021 07:02

Agree with @careerchangeperhaps about an hour being too long - my child has been swimming for eight years and his sessions are an hour, he comes out knackered either from the amount of swimming or concentration on skills!

RobinPenguins · 14/08/2021 07:05

I would cancel, this sounds an awful arrangement all round. It’s depressing that children’s activities are still being curtailed so heavily to the point they’re just not doable for younger kids. Find another pool with a less ridiculous set up, they are out there.

Original poster
HungryHippo11 · 14/08/2021 07:06

Incidentally, these rules have been imposed by the school where the pool is, not the swim school themselves which are a private agency. So its not their business decision.

I think I will cancel and book her on to regular lessons in September at a different pool.

I also did think an hour seemed quite a long time.

OP posts:
MoreAloneTime · 14/08/2021 07:07

I wouldn't want to do this with a 4 year old. Maybe in the warmer weather with a child whose been at school for a bit. Those stories of people being bundled into towels in their wet costumes in the dead of winter are ridiculous.

Bunnycat101 · 14/08/2021 07:09

At my pool it would be compulsory for parents of those ages to stay. It is pretty common for little ones that age to need a wee during class, get upset etc. During covid they arrived swim ready and the teacher collected them from parents and then parents followed to go to the viewing area. I know some of my friends were unhappy with the set-up at a different pool where they just left the children in an area with no supervision and then had to go to a waiting area far away. One of my friend’s 4yos wondered off while she was walking to the waiting area and no-one noticed. Some pools have dealt with covid restrictions more effectively than others.

Wheelz46 · 14/08/2021 07:10

My children go to private swimming lessons and parents are allowed at poolside, socially distanced with face masks.

No more than 6 children are in the pool at anyone time with 3 swimming instructors. 1 swim teacher has up to 2 children. Only 1 parent allowed at poolside and they have enough benches to socially distance the parents and they are staggering the times so that each pair don't start and finish at the same time.

Seems odd that parents can't be at poolside if there is enough space to socially distance.

RobinPenguins · 14/08/2021 07:12

@MoreAloneTime

I wouldn't want to do this with a 4 year old. Maybe in the warmer weather with a child whose been at school for a bit. Those stories of people being bundled into towels in their wet costumes in the dead of winter are ridiculous.
It also excludes any children whose parents don’t drive them there! You can’t take a dripping wet child home on foot, on a bike or a bus.
itsgettingwierd · 14/08/2021 07:12

I get the anxiety about new place, new people etc.

Have you asked for an introductory visit before the sessions start? As a minimum a zoom meeting and virtual tour but I'd point out covid restrictions (or lack of!) allow for people to visit now.

As for the rest about her going in a alone. It'll be fine. It's no different to school where they go alone and the teachers are qualified, dbs checked and children have been doing it up and down the country for months.

There are some pools allowing parents to watch now so you could look for alternatives if your really that worried.

itsgettingwierd · 14/08/2021 07:14

The instructors are trainees, which is why the lessons were so heavily reduced, but they are supervised by qualified instructors.

This should reassure you. Adult to child ratio will be very high.

Marchitectmummy · 14/08/2021 07:15

Our pool is a similar set up, although we take them to the changing room and the teacher takes them from there.

I would let your daughter go, pools have been operating as they are now for more than a year so they are used to this set up.

Also at 4.5 if this is their first lesson they are already quite late starting lessons so I wouldn't delay any further.

Whitewolf2 · 14/08/2021 07:16

I was looking at lessons for my 3 year old and came across the same thing. There’s no way my DC would be happy to go into a new building and pool without me, I was so surprised they would do this for little ones who are complete beginners, where they say no swim aids too. It turned out one reason was that they had a lot of different sessions happening at the same time so didn’t have space for spectators, which didn’t sound ideal for a small pool. I found a different one where I could be poolside and had only one session at a time for similar cost.

MoreAloneTime · 14/08/2021 07:19

I usually walk too. Even with a car I'd want to be right on the doorstep of that building and obviously you can only have so many parking spaces that close.

Superstar22 · 14/08/2021 07:19

This set up is at my local pool and all the other swimming classes I’m aware of though friends.
Kids in, parents at door, sort themselves out re getting dressed, Goggles, to the poolside snd then back out and dry and dressed again (large local council pool).

I’m totally fine with it, however mine are middle juniors, not reception & there’s two of them. We Can also stand outside and watch through unobstructed glass wall.

Original poster
HungryHippo11 · 14/08/2021 07:20

Have you asked for an introductory visit before the sessions start? As a minimum a zoom meeting and virtual tour
The lessons are supposed to start on Monday so no time for this now. I was waiting for some sort of information pack or at least an email but none arrived, hence I phoned yesterday to find out what the situation was

OP posts:
Original poster
HungryHippo11 · 14/08/2021 07:22

Also at 4.5 if this is their first lesson they are already quite late starting lessons so I wouldn't delay any further.
Obviously I would have started her earlier but the pools were closed!

OP posts:
BikeRunSki · 14/08/2021 07:25

Are they aware how young your dd is? Our pool allows one parent in for children under 8.

Original poster
HungryHippo11 · 14/08/2021 07:27

@BikeRunSki

Are they aware how young your dd is? Our pool allows one parent in for children under 8.
I had to give her DOB when we booked, so I assume so. The class is for beginners so I expect many of the children are quite young but some may be older if they have missed the opportunity due to recent events.
OP posts:
BikeRunSki · 14/08/2021 07:29

@HungryHippo11, that’s a shame.

Sadiecow · 14/08/2021 07:39

The government is pretending covid no longer exists.

Are they?

I thought they gave statistics everyday on infections, death etc.

I

Jessica60 · 14/08/2021 07:48

No way would I agree to this because I know of an incident of a child nearly drowning. The pool was deep, so they have stools in the water to stand on. There was one instructor to 6 children. When the instructor was teaching one of the other children, one of the children on the stalls stepped off. It was only because the parent was allowed poolside and saw her child go under water and the instructor did not.

Gizlotsmum · 14/08/2021 07:49

Our local council run pool had restrictions during most of the year but even they let parents of under 8’s stay poolside. They have now lifted all restrictions. I would express your concerns and see if they are willing to address them, if not I wouldn’t go. Do you know how many others will be in the pool and what ratio that is to instructors? I do agree that my son learns more if I am not watching but he likes me watching and is learning to concentrate regardless

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