To think DS5 should be closer to swimming by now?

[greaj]

DS turned 5 in October.

He's been attending weekly, 30 min swimming lessons since April 2023.

I feel he has made barely any progress, he is miles and miles off being able to swim without a float.

The instructors just pull the kids from one side of the pool to the other and give minimal tips or direction.

I have looked at taking him elsewhere, but they are so full that even the waiting list is closed.

Am I expecting too much? What age could your kids swim independently?

How much do you take him inbetween lessons?

My DD2 could swim younger but we went 2 or 3 times a week and practiced.

In swim lessons at school in y4 at least 1/3rd of the class couldn't swim at all, despite there being a pool within walking distance of the school.

One of mine picked it up very quickly at about age 4, the other didn't get the hang of it until about age 9/10 - he hated it and refused to participate in lessons, it was only once there was a bit of peer pressure I think that he started wanting to go.

Mine have half an hour a week and could both swim independently by four, I definitely think the teachers are not doing a good job here at all.

Sounds like not the best swim school, and maybe he's not really ready. I only did half-term crash courses with DD until I could see that she was ready to understand and respond to what the instructor was saying - which wasn't until she was 5. (It wasn't that she didn't try - she just couldn't really relate the instructions to her arms/legs!)

My dd is 5, she started swimming classes in October of last year. Classes are also 30 minutes and there are 3 kids in the session. She can propel herself on her back for a while, float primarily on her back in a couple of positions and put her whole face in the water.

The only time they use floats are for "horse racing" across the pool on noodles.

I don’t think many 5 year olds can properly swim. My 5 and a half year old has just about managed 10m without any floats at all- and towards the end he looks like he is sinking/on the verge ! I think he is a bit above average in comparison to the peers around him as well.
Once they hit 6 and get a bit more strength and are able to take direction more they improve fast. My 7 year old has done her 400 meters and she has been having lessons on and off since about 5 and a half years old.
On child number three now and have been through quite a few teachers and yes a good teacher makes all the difference. You want one that focuses on stroke work as opposed to just doggy paddle that a lot of them seem to. The one we have now is the best yet. She has them swimming on noodles most of the time so they can focus on their arms and legs.

I found swimming lessons in big groups useless to be honest. We did a few private and an intensive week course and they were away. Also lots of swimming as a family inbetween.

DD could swim at 4. She has not long turned 5 and is now on stage 4 and can swim all strokes (albeit her butterfly isn't perfect). As PP has said, he needs to also practice between lessons - I find leaving a week before each session too long, especially when first learning to swim

My 3 dc had lessons from 5 and I think it takes them a while to get going with it. Around 7 they seem to have a leap in upper body strength which helps massively.

Ive found swimming lessons to be a long and often painfully slow process.

Is it a Better centre by any chance? Their lessons are usually pretty rubbish.

I had one learn in groups no issues, the other two needed 1:1 lessons and a pool where they couldn't put their feet down (as they would run across the pool to be first)

My DD is almost 7 and has just got 25 metres after 2 and a half years of lessons! It seems to me that it’s taken ages but she lacks confidence. Her instructor is excellent at technique though so even though she might not have the distances I’d expect she can swim all 4 strokes really well and accurately which is important too. For reference she was rarely given a float, even in the earliest days.
Is your son’s technique good? Could you speak about not using the float as much?

My daughter was in a similar situation but vastly improved when persuaded to practise putting face/head underwater first at home in a tub of water and then in the pool.

The next steps were goals and rewards for jumping in and for keeping feet off the bottom.

She'd been having weekly swimming lessons for getting on for two years before this point, with no obvious progress.

From the point at which we practised head in the water at home and so on, until swimming 5 metres unaided was maybe 5 lessons. And after that she could start working on proper strokes, which we practise with her torso on the ottoman and limbs in the air!

I can't take her to the pool between lessons. But 5 minutes practice three times a week has made a ENORMOUS difference.

My son went to one place for a year and couldn't swim then did 6 weeks of school swimming and could and it made me realise the swim school we were at was not working. They weren't pushing him at all. We went on a wait list at the school one and he has been progressing really well ever since. I would get him signed up on another waitlist.

Find learn to swim lessons offered by a competitive swimming club.

They're better than council / leisure centre lessons. The instructors are usually former / current competitive swimmers.

Or try 1 - 1 classes or intensives over a week or two.

Ds didn't get anywhere in swimming for ages. He had ear problems which didn't help. He didn't have lessons other than school ones at infant level and really didn't particularly enjoy going, so didn't go much.

When he was 10yo I decided he needed to learn and told him I'd booked 1-2-1 lessons for a crash course in the summer holidays, 30 minutes a day for a week.
I truly expected to spend 30 minutes a day for a week watching him sit on the side refusing to go in.
No.
He swam 2m on the second lesson, and was swimming 5m at the end of the week and begged me for another week of lessons, by the end of which he could swim a length.
The next summer he begged for more lessons and could show he could swim as far as they wanted him to.

He now loves swimming.

What I'm saying is don't worry at the moment. I did with my oldest. She was swimming by 4yo and into the level where they were wanting her to stand up dive by just turned 6yo, when I stopped the lessons. I worried like anything about ds. It was simply that he wasn't ready, and, for him (as well as ear problems he has ADHD and ASD, undiagnosed at the time) the 1-2-1 lessons were far more suited than a group lesson where he couldn't hear a thing and everything was distracting.

Unless your ds is keen, I'd take him out. Take him swimming sometimes as a family if you want, then towards the summer (or possibly the summer after) look for 1-2-1 crash courses and get him on a week of those. He'll learn far quicker in those than he will in the next 6 months of lessons, and get far more confident.

In my experience learning to swim takes ages. Not many 5yo will be confident swimmers.

From the way you describe them, the lessons you’re sending him to sound like a waste of time and money. More like they’re just getting them used to the water rather than teaching them to swim. And you don’t need 9+months of that. He might learn if you find better lessons but I don’t think all 5 year olds are going to learn to swim if they go to good lessons. It’s too young for some.

I used to take my daughters swimming twice a week from being babies.. we did same with Grandsons.. my Mum did it with us..sometimes older sister took us..
I still go at least once a week with daughter and Grandson..
Mine both took arm bands off age 4.
Three eldest Grandsons same.. youngest was three then covid hit and pools were closed .. he soon picked it back up and arm bands were off age 5 and he was swimming under water... we are all water babies.. taught them how to do the star floating survival back swim. In my opinion.
I think all children should learn to swim from a very young age.. even babies.
Do you take your child besides the lessons.. ? Is there any other lessons/ instructors because yes l think the armbands should be ready to come off and more confidence taught.

Just wait a couple of years - they pick it up so much quicker then and are stronger. The younger they are (broadly speaking) the longer it takes. He might just not be ready.

My 5 year old can do 50m unaided front and back, but he goes to a swim school that doesn't follow swim England guidance/grades so it's doggy paddle/back kick. That's made all the difference I think- he's learned to be confident in the water, and now he's starting to learn front crawl, back crawl and breast stroke. He can do about 5 metres in each stroke, but it's pretty sloppy.

My ASD/ADHD 7 year old did the same process can do 250m back stroke (if not further tbh, she ran out of time last distance day!) and breast stroke, 100m front crawl, 25m butterfly and dive/hold the dive/glide for 7 metres.

where I am formal swimming instruction doesnt start until 5, and then the wsiting list is quite long. the preschool/toddler lessons are all about putting face in water, floating and moving through water/games. But not actual proper swimming techniques. I’ve paid a few private 1:1 lessons during holidays and they have been a bit better with learning to use floats/kick legs etc. My DC has not long turned 4 and is only beginning to a point where she understands and can follow proper instruction and handle a more intensive 30 min lesson. I think swimming before age 5 or being competent at 5 is quite rare, at least in the areas where I live. I wish I had the chance for proper lessons at 4 though, instead of just parent/child ‘classes’ where it’s more just entertainment and engaging, at awkward times drunk the work week (I work full time). The 1:1 lessons i’ve paid for are £25-30 for 30 mins so gets expensive fast. I’m not the greatest swimmer and don’t really know where to start with teaching her myself, but will try harder this year now she (sometimes) listens to me 😆

DD has just turned seven. We have ben having lessons (albeit not weekly) since she was about six months old.

She can swim independently - just. She can get from one end of the pool to the other but panics in the middle and grabs the side/ me.

We have a local pool that we spend the entire summer in too. It is slow going but she absolutely loves it. I think this summer we'll be on the final stretch!

Both my kids started lessons at 4, and started recognisably swimming at 5 (swimming a length with an attempt at front crawl style arms). The transition between not swimming and swimming was abrupt rather than gradual. At 5 I mostly want them happy to go swimming, which they were.

I think the group lessons are rubbish. 4kids, 30 minutes equate to about 7 minutes per child per week. They’re going to take an awful long time unless they have access to a pool where they can play around and get water confidence. We’ve stopped lessons for 5 yo. Just wasn’t achieving anything - especially from his point of view. Hav3 been fortunate to buy an above ground pool and in a few weeks, confidence is so much better. No he can’t swim but that’ll come in time