To cancel 3 year olds swimming lessons?

[Swimmingisexpensive]

They are very expensive and I’m not sure he’s learning to swim any time soon. However, I’ve seen children really struggle to get back into it.

We only get to go swimming as a family once every few months so without weekly lessons he won’t get in the pool much.

If they’re a big cost for you as a family and there doesn’t seem to be any improvement, then yes I would cancel them.

We did for our 3 year old as he was making some small progress (he doesn’t like water much!) until they closed the pool for ages and changed his teacher to a meek, quiet young girl who had no ability to enthuse them and just then concentrated on the ones who’d been going ages and could do everything.
It just might not be the best time for them as 3 is still really young, and it’s something you can always go back to. Are there any other ways you can get him swimming with yourselves a bit more frequently, I.e. just one person takes him rather than a whole family swim?

Children will progress more quickly if you go to a pool inbetween lessons and try to get them to learn how to float and doggy paddle in the water, to keep themselves up at least and then the swimming teacher can build on that to teach them the proper strokes. Otherwise it does take a long time for them to actually swim.

Mine refused point blank to get in the water for months and months,no amount of trying helped) We gave up for a bit then he got the big when we went on holiday and seen all the other kids swimming so tried again, he is now swimming like a fish and really enjoying his lessons. He started again at 5

Our local pool is actually a big water park with slides and so on so it’s difficult to do much actual swimming! (The lessons are held at a private pool.)

Are you doing lessons at a council pool? They're usually considerably cheaper. Ours were £24pm until our DS hit 3. They are now £30pm as they need a second person to support the instructor in the pool (as parents don't go in after 3yo in our lessons).

Ours are £60 p/m 😭

I wouldn't bother with lessons at that age, just go regularly to the pool so they get confident in the water.

If you can afford it, keep it up. It's an important skill to have. I don't swim particularly well, but I could hold my own in an emergency.
These days, with more public baths either closing, or being full of waterslides and wave machines which involve remortgaging your house for an hour's session, fewer and fewer kids learn to swim. Many schools don't do it either any more (lack of available local pools).
At 3, he will likely still be at the water-confidence stage, which is a great foundation for when he moves on to swimming properly.
In the long run, he will be safer in the sea and at water parks if he is a confident swimmer.

Is he enjoying it? Another good reason to keep it up if he is.

At £60pm, I'd cancel the lessons in your shoes and either look for a council run pool or wait a year and see how they feel then.

You’ve just described our local baths @Utterbunkum

He enjoys it but not massively. I took him since being a baby but he doesn’t seem to be making any real progress which is probably because we don’t really take him enough. I know the children who are progressing are doing so because their parents take them swimming regularly.

Yes, it takes ages for children to learn to swim but it is a life skill. You are going to have to send your child for lessons at some point, best to start early. Also if your child at least learns the basics like how to float if they fall into the water by mistake then you can rest assured that they are less likely to drown.

I started swimming lessons for my first child at 1.5 years and just as she was getting to the stage of independent swimming without floats covid started. She was 3years then. We restarted lessons, when she was 6 years old along with my son who is 3 years. Both kids are learning quickly and well. These are NOT at local leisure centre which charges £60 for 10 sessions. Instead we go for private lessons where he charges £8.50 per lesson and has only 4 kids in a batch. Really happy with the instructor and how fast the kids are picking up skills.

Have a look at your local swimming club they often offer lessons which are cheaper than other venues and the money goes towards subsidising the competitive teams.

Also £60 a month is extortionate, Dd's lessons at the local pool were £7 a week and then swimming club (up to 5 times a week) was £30 a month

It doesn't take ages for children to learn to swim, they just have to go often. DD and I went once a week, she started lessons when she could doggy paddle a length of the pool and jump in from the side, went straight in at stage 4 to learn proper technique and had finished stage 7 within the year.

Having group lessons infrequently and no practice in-between is just money down the drain.

@Swimmingisexpensive ah, I see your problem. And your previous post about cost wasn't visible when I posted. It's a bugger. I do wish this would be treated as an important skill and priced appropriately.

I’m on maternity leave and it’s a lot. Just seems a shame to stop as he’s been going since he was 4 months.

I've got a 3yo and she wouldn't concentrate enough to make it worth it, IMHO. We just take her as often as we can, and we will start formal lessons once she's four and when she starts school.

We did the same with older DC and it worked well.

Could you up the frequency of family swims?

Ouch! Yes definitely cancel. Aim to get council lessons for less than £30/ month. At this point you only want him to enjoy going on the water though and fain some water confidence. I'd plan to just go as a family more regularly.

Forgot to mention it is sometimes better to pay for more expensive lessons where the ratio of children to instructor is better as then the child will pick up skills quicker. I have friends whose kids were at the cheaper council run pool now trying to shift to the more expensive lessons as in the long run it might actually work out cheaper as the kids with the private lessons are learning much faster.

I used to run swim club lessons but we started at 4yo - even then some children aren’t ready for formal lessons as some will struggle to concentrate for 30 minutes.

If you can take him to the local pool and let him splash round and enjoy himself I’d do that for now and reassess in a few months time.

I’d always recommend lessons run by a swim club - they have a vested interest in teaching children to swim and hopefully feed into the competitive squads.

Move to council lessons instead, ours are £18 a month and DC learned to swim very well with them. Swimming is essential skill so I wouldn't cut it out altogether. No need for expensive swim schools though.

I think the error was probably in paying for it since he was 4MO. If money is tight skip the baby lessons with DC2 because they are a bit pointless except if you find it a fun social activity ! As for now with DC1 I think 3-5 is the most important time to do it. 3 was when mine stopped having to have a parent go in with them and they actually learned to swim
as opposed to just ‘water confidence’. By 4 they were no longer a drowning risk around water. At 5 we stopped completely because they go weekly at school which is perfect for building up stamina and perfecting strokes. So personally no I wouldn’t stop if there are other things you could cut back on instead.

I'd stop and let another kid have the spot they are like gold dust

Too young for it to matter! One of ours is in a regional swimming club now but didn't start lessons until school age (and had those paused in lockdown obviously). Perfect age to learn is 6/7 onwards in my limited experience.

If you can swim every week yourself with him, then cancel the lessons for now. But if that isn't possible then id keep up with the lessons, its not just about learning to swim but being confident in the water and that comes with regularly going to the swimming pool.

Many children that missed out on lessons during the covid era, are now struggling to swim due to water confidence

@Swimmingisexpensive presumably you were going in with him when he was 4 months so you can just take him recreationally.
If there are no suitable local pools near you look at private, we have some near us where it's £20 for an hour for up to 6 people. You could go three times a month and get some real play and swim time in, take a bouncer for their younger sibling to sit in.