To not bother with swimming lessons for DS yet?

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DS has just turned 4. Had a couple of swimming lessons a few months ago but the teacher left and we couldn't make the alternative time offered (too late in evening).

He's been on a waiting list for weekend lessons since. He's now been offered a place but it's for the 8am class. Sometimes he's awake really early but sometimes he's still asleep at 7, so feel like it would often be a battle and a rush to get there. I also have a baby DD so me or DH would have to take DS, and the other entertain DD at home, meaning neither adult could have a lie in.

But he's 4 and can't swim, so don't know if I should be concerned about this and do whatever it takes to get him into lessons?

Or is it ok not to bother until a more convenient time comes up? Or maybe when he's in school just do some intensive courses? And in the interim just take him swimming for fun?

AIBU to say no to the 8am lesson?

There is no way I would book an 8am slot, DC don’t wake up until after that and on a Saturday neither do I if I can help it.

I would bring the child swimming for fun and join a list for a class at a more civilised time.

I think it's fine to wait a year if needs be.

I would take hike yourselves so he enjoys the water.

ROFL at the expectation of a lie in then you have a four year old and a younger one.

*take him not hike!!

My eldest is just turned 4yo and has been in swimming lessons for 6 months. His confidence has improved, but his actual level of swimming hasn't really since the second week (when he learned to actually kick). The lessons are partially council funded so work out at only £3.20 a week, which is considerably cheaper than DH or me taking him each week so we will continue with it (and take him swimming ourselves when we can!). I wouldn't personally see any value in the same style of group lessons where you pay £8+ a week for such slow progression.

8am on a Saturday is an awful time. I'd hold out for a better slot, honestly - and in the mean time take him yourself!

I don't understand the ROFL if the children have two parents. I have a 4yo and 1yo and one parent has a lie in every Saturday here, other parent supervises Saturday morning Bluey viewing then takes 4yo to dance class (with 1yo - we go for a coffee). Lie in parent is expected to have cooked something yummy for lunch on our return at midday.

I would take it, but also alternate which parent takes him each week. That parent can take the baby too quite easily. Take him swim ready, strip off and into pool while you sit on the side with the baby in pushchair or sling, then quick change into clothes in changing room and home for shower/bath etc

We've done early morming lessons and we do just a banana or something on the way then proper breakfast at home afterwards

I would take it.

Don't get me wrong, I love a lie in. I am definitely not a morning person, but getting up early just goes with the territory of having small dc.
Even I wouldn't (well, didn't) prioritise lying in over taking my dc to activities.
Learning to swim is really important in my book, and plenty of children learn well at 4 yrs old.

Can't you all go as a family?. My Mum took us.. l took my daughters from six weeks old.. they take their sons.. we still go every week now.. they all were swimming without armbands age 3 and under water.. they need to learn the survival float on back like a starfish..

We blitzed it with an intensive course of 1-1 lessons at 7; each lesson was pricy, but we needed few of them, so it cost the same as 2 years of slowly-progressing group lessons and produced the same amount of progress in a very short amount of time. We didn't want every weekend sacrificed to swimming lessons for years on end, so this was an efficient way for us to do things.

Other people, though, enjoy doing the pool each week and meeting the other parents for a chat, so it's fine to start early and do things gradually too if you prefer.

I know different places have different setups but at ours parents go in the pool with the child. So taking the baby wouldn’t work!

DD learnt to swim when she was eight because of waiting lists but it worked out in the end because she accelerated through her badges because of her age. Many of her peers who started much earlier, also took longer to become proficient. I started swimming at 4 and hated it, I just wasn’t ready and never got pleasure from doing it because it was such a chore.

Swimming is an important skill to learn but it shouldn’t be a chore, every child is different.

Id happily wait a year, you're still closely supervising at that age. My DD learnt to swim really well at 7 within a year, her brother was 4 years old when we started and has barely progressed.

I'll be the one to go against the grain.

Children can drown in as little as 5cm of water. They should be in lessons of some sort from when they are babies.

I would make the effort to take the class that I can get until another became available. I wouldn't choose lazing around in bed over my childs life.

I'm not saying this to be dramatic or shame you, i've just seen first hand the consequences of children not being water smart. It's harrowing.

I found the same as a pp. A year of no progress, child hating it. Waited until 6 and did a two week long intensive programme. Lessons every weekday. Worked like a charm.

Swimming is a non-negotiable for me but that's because I live in Sydney where lots of houses have pools and we are close to lakes, beaches and the harbour. So it's a real danger is you can't swim. But when my kids were younger we went out a lots on boats, paddle boarding, kayaking and beaches. So clearly it was a real and present danger!

If these things don't apply to you h the be sure leave it for a bit, but I was adamant mine could swim front a very early age so if the unthinkable happened and they feel in water anywhere they could float and get themselves to the side or at least tread water until help arrived.

Excuse typos!

DS started at 7 and complained all the way up through the grades that he always was in a class with younger children.

He stuck it out and he's a club swimmer now but if you can, I'd try to get your dc started in the next year or two.

Good thing about an early lesson is it gets it out of the way, we had one at 1:30pm which was really awkward because we tend to be a bit slow on weekend mornings, basically those days revolved around swimming. It’s not fun getting out the house that early but it generally means everyones up and dressed and ready to do something else.

We started DD at 2 (4 now) and I’m fairly confident she won’t drown in a swimming pool now. Neither I nor DH are confident swimmers so it was important to me that Dd doesn’t miss out on anything because she can’t swim.

I'm another one who sees swimming as really important. I've heard way too many horror stories of children drowning.

Ds started lessons at 3, but I took him weekly from 1+. He's 12 now and not a great swimmer but definitely can hold his own in water.

I would take the spot.

Take him for a fun swim once a week, get one of those foam noodles and as soon as he is showing signs of being strong enough and confident enough to swim then start lessons. Absolute waste of money until that point. All the dunking them in the water and singing nursery rhymes does is make them feel comfortable in the water which you can do yourself.

Wait for a Bette time slot. You don’t need to start till they are 5 anyway and can take instructions better.

Mine all learnt quickly aged between 7 and 9. I didn't bother when they were tiny as they would just carry on.

I agree. I didn't have patience to do that.

@Essie274 That's my dream, but when does the supervising parent get a shower? What happens her is that the children start screaming or fighting, typically whilst one parent is e.g. in the shower, and then parent trying to have a lie in has to get up. Or give it a couple of years when both have different activities....

You still have to go in with your 4yo?

At 4yo, DCs should be starting the Swim England Learn To Swim programme (or Welsh/Scottish/NI equivalent) which doesn't have parents in the pool with them, although sometimes the teacher will get in with them or there will be a swim assistant. Some pools will have them in without parents at 3yo on the Ducklings (or similar) scheme, but at 4yo they should all be starting level 1 without a parent. Our leisure centre some years ago insisted they had to wait until they started reception unless they were already swimming unaided in their preschool classes, so a September-born may well be just-5, but this has long since changed.