Swimming lessons - help please!

[ThePowerOfThree3]

Not really an AIBU but posting here for traffic.

After a year my DS and DD have gotten places in swimming lessons (my god the price, but that’s a different thread in itself!)

The place they are enrolled at doesn’t have any changing facilities and since this is all new to us I was hoping for some pearls of wisdom from you lovely lot.

currently put them into their swimwear at home with clothes over but it was a bit of a nightmare trying to dry them and dress them in the cramped space around the pool while covering them up.

I’ve seen ponchos but wonder if they might not work as do you keep the wet swimwear on underneath?

please tell me any of your tricks/hacks to make this easier for us!

My daughter used to take off her costume at the end of swim training and put on a fleece onesie and just come home. Hair in hair wrap towel and sliders on her feet.
Most of the swim squad wore that or swimzis but they are very expensive.

Don't people just change their kids in the loo, OP?

Many competitive swim clubs also teach beginners and are much cheaper than other venues so that may be worth looking into.

How are you travelling to and from the swimming pool?

DD was swimming competitively when they went back after covid, we did a mixture of wearing a towelling bathrobe and getting changed in the back of the car (she used to have a towelling poncho but didn't like having to lift it over her head and found a bathrobe better for privacy but she was a preteen at the time). As it got colder a quick rub down and a fleece onesie over the top of her wet suit and a bobble hat on her head and slip on shoes on her feet. Then either a towel on the seat or waterproof seat covers. In all fairness we live by the beach so often go for a dip and then just drive back wet so it's not unusual for us.

If you need to walk home then wait for the craziness of lesson change over to happen and then nip to the toilets to get them changed.

Have a look at towelling robes on Decathlon - fine for going in too. A mini microfibre towel is good for a quick dry off - I use one myself. I would take their wet swimming things off - slip costume straps off before putting towel robe on and it's easy to take off. Boys shorts no problem.

We chuck child into a dry robe and drive home 10 mins (Moon wrap was the one we got). Then straight in shower! They are eye-wateringly expensive but we got one that should last her quite a while and we live near the sea so she can use it at the beach too.

Changing poncho thing, slip swimwear off underneath, then depending on weather, dressing gown over the top or not. I (and most of my friends) wear our towelling poncho things back from the lake in the summer without more than a hair towel. In the winter I put a onesie (oversized is best as its less prone to sticking to you) on

DD is in a swimming club - she has a small microfiber towel to rub off excess water then just puts on her swim club tracksuit or onesie over her swimsuit. It's only a 10 minute trip home so she just stays a bit damp and then as soon as she gets home she goes straight in the shower and then out into PJs.

Most of the girls in her swim club do the same, they all arrive in swimsuits under tracksuits/onesies and it makes it so much quicker for them to just strip off the tracksuit and be ready to go and then at the end they just have a quick rub down, pull on their tracksuits and go.

Thank you so much!

in answer to the change in the toilets question, there is only one cubicle in the fairly small room the pool is in and with classes back to back it’s just a long wait to use it.

it’s a 30 minute drive back home so my concern was getting car seats damp so will look into covers.

would anyone recommend any of the ponchos that are a bit longer so they’re completely covered up after taking off swimwear?

really appreciate everyone’s help, thanks so much

Ours wear dressing gowns and flip flops/sliders. Then shower and home. The others appear to do the same.

Sorry, shower at home!

People keep wearing those dryrobe things around here but I guess that's more for outdoor stuff.

They had Dryrobes in Primark the other week, like a long coat with towelling on the inside and waterproof fabric on the outside. They just go on over your swimwear for the journey home.

Alternatively look at decathlon they have long sleeved full length poncho type towels

One of these. www.bombura.com/collections/kids

We (DH,DS and I) all have them for the beach and they are so warm as super thick as soon as you put them on. They also fold up into a backpack thing which sort of makes it easier to carry around, but also makes the bum area have extra fabric and so avoids the damp car seat issue.