Young kids swimming and cycling

[parentingsos]

Aibu to wonder how often your young children swim and cycle? We do both but not at the level or frequency I remember as a child and I always question should we be doing more or is life just different for kids now.

Swimming lessons weekly, and a swim most weekends as a family on top of that. They take their bikes with them to the park maybe once a week (4 and 7)

5yo ds has a swimming lesson once a week and we maybe swim another time at the weekend but not always. He probably cycles once a week somewhere.

I think there are far more people whose kids DON’T cycle or swim than do. It’s sad but true (& was possible always the case) Both require a lot of parental input which a lot of people don’t have the time & money for, nor is it practical for a lot of people (cycling in particular requires you to live somewhere where it’s safe to do so)
Mine are both teens now & don’t ride bikes much anymore (they’ve outgrown their kids bikes and mine is a very fancy road bike I wouldn’t dream of letting them go on!) but they don’t forget how to do it - the old saying is true. You rarely see teenage girls out on bikes anyway - I think even if they had great bikes they probably wouldn’t want to go on them (I certainly didn’t at their age but got into it again as a grown up)
Same with swimming - as long as they can do it then it’s not an issue. One of my had lessons, the other didn’t but she’s still a decent swimmer as we taught her. We did a swimming party for one of their birthdays (11th I think) & I was surprised at how bad some of them were but I think their parents just had never taken them. Such a shame as it’s an important life skill but it’s just not always practical/affordable.

When DS was young he had weekly swimming lessons. He was on his bike several times a week from age two to ten.

We are lucky that dc swim weekly at school. Otherwise I'd probably only take them once a month or so, because we are often busy.

They cycle all the time though, but we live in an area where they can play out. If we were somewhere built up or unsafe I imagine we'd only be able to do every few weeks.

I try and take them swimming once a week, they have finished the ASA stages but I want the to keep their skills.

Cycling - they hate it. Will ride their bikes to the park but aren't interested in loading up the car and driving somewhere just for the point of cycling, which really annoys DH.

They ride horses 3x a week, that's their passion.

From say May to October my kids swim probably every other day on average. Maybe more during the hols. We are very fortunate as my parents have a heated pool and we love a few minutes from the beach.

Cycling, a little less, maybe once a week? They scooter or skateboard regularly though

DS(5) has a weekly swimming lesson and ride his bike every day of the school hols. He doesn't really ride on school days but will every Sat and Sun.
We have a dog and found walks so much more pleasant if he could ride his bike. He loves to go on pump tracks and is a bit of a danger monkey!

@stayathomer

Unfortunately not enough of either but we are so rural there's nowhere to cycle. Could only afford swimming lessons recently and then covid came. Such a pity but different times anyway, dh remembers swimming in lakes and rivers locally and now all have signs saying they're not safe for bathing and roads are very different now. Such a pity though, I do feel we've let them down a bit

Investigate if there is a kids cycling club near you. They generally meet on closed circuit tracks so the kids can cycle without cars.

There will be some kids (and a lot more parents!) who have Tour de France ambitions but most people just want their kids to enjoy riding their bikes.

Cost is much cheaper than swimming as well. (We pay £14 for 30 minutes for swimming and £5 for two hours with cycling.)

It seems really hard to get a family swim session these days. Pools are all lessons during normal hours we could go or adult lane swims.
Where we lived before, we used to go pretty much every weekend for a mess about with the kids.
Cycling - we do when we can but the roads here aren't the best for it.

Both of mine (9 and 13) swim once a week.

9 year old cycles with her friends every day that it is not raining.

13 year old - never cycles.

Thanks, we must look into that! Also looking into getting a cycle rack, with 4 kids and the nearest safe spot a 20 minute walk away on grass verges with all the bikes at the mo it's not even once every two weeks and we generally all come home pretty grumpy!!

Swimming on holidays only (so not since April 2019!). Cycling when the weather is nice we may all go out for an hour. DS15 has to be forced to leave the house 😂

@adagio

As a kid (late 80’s) I recall going to the leisure centre just with older siblings as ‘supervision’ and it cost something like 50p or £1 a session with big floats and a life guard. We stayed hours! Then spent the locker money in the vending machine. By about 11 or 12 I went in my own with mates.

Now kids have to have actual adults to supervise, and it cost £27 for us (2kids 2adults) to go for precisely 1 hour including changing which had to be booked ahead (ands it’s always very booked up so at least a week usually two plan ahead).

Bikes - by about 7 I went out with my brother then maybe 11 for miles/hours on nature reserve or trail paths (had to be from the house - bikes were transport not put in a car!). I wouldn’t let my 8 year old out far alone really so the bikes are not used so much, particularly when you factor in school/work/activities/life. She does ride to her tennis lesson every week but that’s like 10 mins away so not what I call a proper bike ride… we need to get out more.

I agree. We had activity days where you did tennis or badminton and then a free swim. Was so cheap and yes we did the vending machine too. No adults around. I was younger than 12

Mine are 4,6 and 8. 8yr old and 6yr old swim twice a week for lessons, 4yr old once a week.
4yr old cycles at least twice a week too. 8yr old refuses to learn and 6yr old is trying their best but struggles with balance and co ordination poor thing. They try at least once a week though.

DC age 5 and 7 here. Weekly swimming lesson and then maybe go for fun every 6-8 weeks. Bike rides - 5 year old will play out riding round outside 3-4 evenings a week in summer. We usually do a family ride on a weekend of between 8-20 miles though so they're very bike fit.

My younger two (5 & 8) swim weekly in lessons, and then some weekends if we fancy it. Oldest two swim when we go as a family, so realistically once a month or similar.

DS11 rides his bike around with his friends, probably every day he’s on his bike. He did the cycle safely at school. DD10 does have a bike and can ride it but I don’t think she could cycle properly on the road. She doesn’t go on her bike much really. DS8 can’t ride a bike, DD5 can but more just playing up and down the street, not ‘proper’ cycling as a form of transport.

7, 5 and 3.
Swim every day in Summer as we have a pool in the garden. 7 year old has weekly lessons too, and the 5 year old will start when she is 6. We book a family swim abkut once a fortnight.
Cycle - 3 yo has a balance bike so we cycle short distances (the 3 kids and me walking) about once a week. When she is bigger we will go further. The 5 yo loves cycling and would cycle every day if I let her. They are all too young to cycle or swim without us now though.

Nearly 3 year old swimming lesson once a week plus once or twice a month with DH or me on a Saturday morning. Can't ride a bike yet but scoots everywhere, we often go for long walks as we live on the coast. Today he scooted almost 4 miles with a few breaks. DH cycles to work, I don't have a bike at the moment but when he's bigger there are lots of good cycle paths here, especially one that runs for about eight miles along the seafront. My DNs do swimming lessons but don't walk or cycle anywhere, to be honest where they live there are lots of busy roads and or wouldn't be a pleasurable cycle, so then it means getting bikes on cars and going somewhere to cycle which I think reduces the likelihood. My parents live on the edge of a country park which leads into farmland etc with bridle paths and my seventy year old dad cycles around ten miles at least 4 or give times a week as long as it isn't torrential rain or snow

-Swimming lessons once a week

-Sea swimming could be 3-4 times a week in the summer and once a week in autumn/winter and a bit more in spring.

-Cycling- usually 2-3 times a week.

We do more cycling and less swimming than I did as a kid.

Cycle lots - to get to clubs, school, shops and for fun too. I’d say we cycle more than most of their friends - some can’t ride a bike yet anyway. Kids are 5 and 8.

Swimming lessons once a week. I know we ought to take them for a family swim more often too, but struggle to find time. (Plus I hate getting cold, bobbing around playing splashy games with them)

DCs are 7 and 5yo. Both are swimming mad, which is lucky as learning to swim to a decent standard is not negotiable.
7yo does a 30min council lesson and 60min swim club lesson a week. 5yo does a 30min council lesson only. She should be ready to try out for the club in 6 months, at which point she'll do a 60min session too.
We do a 2hr weekend family swim around every 6 weeks, but I took them a few times over the summer hols as it is a cheap way to exhaust them (DCs swim free as a perk of lessons, I only pay for me at £4.50). On holiday they practically live in the pool. Last summer, through some fluke, we managed 10 days in France. They clocked up a little over 40hrs in the pool over the 10 days

They can both cycle, but we rarely get the bikes out. There are few child-friendly routes here, sadly. By coincidence, they were cycling up and down the street today, but the last time before that they were on them was whilst camping a month ago. DH is a MAMIL and is keen to take them out when older and able to cope with the roads

Dc swims for a competitive club so swims about 3 hours per week in total. Prior to moving to our current home we cycled a lot (very flat area). Where we are now is really hilly and school is a 1 minute walk so not worth cycling.

@spooney21 do you mind me asking how old your DC are? I'm beginning to wonder if our competitive swimming club is expecting too much as DS has been swimming 12 hours a week since he was 9 and you are not the first to say their swim club asks for far fewer hours.