My non swimming child went under during swimming lesson

[Mamabear256]

DS is 4.5 years old and has just started swimming lessons, stage 1 at his local leisure centre. It’s 8 children per class, one instructor and a lifeguard watching 2 classes in the pool.

He’s naturally quite a shy reserved boy and he doesn’t like going under water, he doesn't love going but he does need to learn to swim.

Last week he had a trial, whereby he used floats the whole time. However yesterday, the first thing the instructor got to do was all of the children to doggy paddle across the width of the pool (a small-ish pool) without any aids or support. The instructor was standing a few metres in front whilst all 8 children doggy paddled at the same time. DS can barely touch the floor and he doesn’t even know what a doggy paddle is. It was inevitable he was going to go under, and he did. The instructor wasn’t too near my DS so I started to run around to get him. After a few seconds one of the mums shouted towards me ‘it’s ok he’s back up!’ I looked and the instructor had him.

Now I genuinely do not believe he should have been asked to do that without any floats. If the children went one by one doing it with the teacher next to them then I get that. But not all 8 at the same time, with the instructor not close to him, and especially as he is a non swimmer and can barely touch the floor.

I want to complain but just wanted to check if this is normal or not.

AIBU in thinking this isn’t right and to complain?

We went swimming as a family today at a fun float session at the same pool he has his lessons. It helped put me at ease and I could actually see that when he stood up the water was up to the top of his chest, we did practice going under which he didn’t like but I kept reiterating for him to put his feet on the floor and stand up if he goes under, as I’m aware that even though he can stand up he may not in panic.

I have put him on a waiting list for 2-1 sessions which they said is only a months waiting time. I think I’d feel better with that. Until then, I’m not sure whether to continue his classes or not. But he enjoyed today.

@Mamabear256 also was the alarm pressed? The instructor rescued DS so the lifeguard should have activated the alarm. Then forms should have been filled out.

The Lifeguard was a few metres in front id say. I admit I didn’t give it long enough I just saw him go under and started going towards the pool. However the instructor did get him. I’m not sure of the instructors experience. It’s just our local councils leisure centre classes

No alarm was pressed. It was probably only 5-10 seconds of being under in reality.

It’s hard to understand really as my children have all been to swimming lessons since they were 4-5 weeks old, and going under the water straight away. But I think probably it's perfectly normal for the children learning to go under the water at times, as it’s actually impossible to swim properly with your head above the water all the time. If they gave him floats or armbands it would take him an awful lot longer to learn to swim. My children go to a competitive swimming club but before their training sessions there is a load of leisure centre lessons going on and none of the children are wearing any sort of floats (they look to be aged 3-11 ish in the different groups). So I would say it’s normal for them not to use floatation devices as it would hinder their teaching.

if you have a bath at home, get him to practise laying on his tummy and blowing bubbles in the water to get used to the water on his face bit by bit.

Maybe get him 1 to 1 lessons. That's what I did for my daughters. They were getting nowhere in classes. At first I got a teacher for both of them together but then one of them was off sick and the other one had a 1 to 1. And the difference it made was astonishing.

Atm your instructor is following a curriculum. He isn't tailoring it to the children. If someone isn't keeping up, tough. That's how classes work.

Look into a few 1 to 1 sessions.

If you can get lessons on a lower ratio then there's probably not a huge point to keeping him in just for the sake of it.

He'll learn much quicker in those.

It sounds like there was a degree of panic on your part but that this set up doesn't suit him right now (and is arguably not the best or safest way to do things).

I'd just take him a few times yourself to let him have fun rather than put him off. Ultimately four weeks of very basic swimming lessons is going to make very little difference to his progress overall but might have a negative impact on confidence which is harder and can take longer to overcome.

You need to take him swimming yourself. Regularly. Where you van supervise closely until he's used go going under water

We have been taking our children swimming for about 2 years now and whenever my youngest moves up the teacher always goes next to him until she knows how capable he is. My daughter once slipped off a noodle when learning to swim and the swim teacher was facing the opposite way so I had to shout her but luckily my daughter had managed to grab the side when she had reached her but it terrified her and swimming was really difficult for a few months after that as she was so scared. I think you’re doing the right thing taking him to family sessions to get him more comfortable with swimming.

If you can get him more comfortable each week with his face in the water at bathtime & in the pool with you, that will make a massive difference.

As others have said, he won't learn to swim with armbands or floats - they put the body in the wrong position anyway.

My youngest learnt to swim basically under the water full stop. She'd push off from the side & swim as many breaststroke pulls as she could towards one of us, then pop her head up to breathe & we'd grab her. It meant she was swimming before she was big enough to actually float/swim on top of the water effectively. But it built up her confidence with moving through the water.

If you can take him deep enough he CAN'T stand & practice this with him, he'll get his body in a better position far sooner that if he's always trying to put his feet down.

Obviously he needs to be comfortable with face in water first though. Do you demonstrate that to him when you go in the pool with him? It helps kids to trust it's ok if you're modelling to them regularly what you're encouraging them to do (even if you don't particularly like having your face in the water yourself!)

Good luck, he'll get there!

Surely after two years of lessons he should be able to swim unaided?

He can now but as I said whenever he’s moved up the teacher has been near him until she knows how capable / confident he is.

I think 5-10 seconds under water is a long time considering the instructor was in the pool and the instructor knew DS was new.

One of my rescues was a similar scenario, the instructor decided to not use floats with pre-schoolers who couldn’t swim. Instructor was also in the water and the kid who was furthest away got into difficulties. I jumped in and rescued the child. The instructor was experienced but didn’t know the kids because she wasn’t their usual teacher.

My daughter's school had its own pool and the children all had lessons every week from year 2 to year 6 and still some of them could not swim by the end of it. My nephew was one of them. His mum also paid for private lessons and school organised additional lessons for those who couldn't do it. No use. My nephew is now a PE teacher but he absolutely cannot swim. I don't quite understand why he can't do but my husband is hopeless too.

It's is a false concept that children will not learn to swim with floats. My daughter had private lessons from age 4 and started with arm floats which were gradually reduced until she was able to swim unaided- she learnt well and went on to join a club and swim in competitive galas.

I go to swimming lessons with my primary school and the non-swimmers wear floats initially, including shark fins and arm floats until the children are confident enough to swim independently. They learn and practice technique wearing floats and also use a handheld float. They do learn to swim and have to contintue until they can swim 25m without aids. All but the very least able mange this (believe it or not there quite a few children aged 9 and 10 who have never been taken swimming and are terrified)

If children couldn't learn to swim with floats on they would only start learning when they were taken off- but of course that isn't how it works at all. If they learn to swim without floats on then an adult has to support them instead which requires one to one lessons.

I take it that was waterbabies?

Let the instructor do their job and try not to transmit your anxiety to your DC.

my little one does water babies and has been going under water since 3 months old however i am in the pool with her

For goodness sake. You are putting pressure on your son, the instructor and yourself. You are actually teaching your son to be afraid of water. The instructor doesn't need a parent like you panicking around his class. You are upsetting yourself when there is no need. How many children has the instructor managed to drown, to date?
I would take the child out of the class, and take him with you swimming as often as I could. Get him to enjoy the water and grow in confidence. He'll soon be jumping in and splashing around. You can either teach him, or take him back to class.
When I was a kid we didn't have lessons, parents taught us, or our friends.

I'm a qualified swimming teacher and lifeguard, a few opinions I've seen on this post are baffling. Firstly arm bands are essential for the majority of children as they create buoyancy and place the body horizontally, allowing them to focus on what their arms and legs need to do. If a child can't move through water with buoyancy aids, then without them, they're not gonna get far. Stage 1 is a beginner and a completely non-swimmer, therefore should never be in the water without buoyancy aids, depending on which of the 2 different England swim guides the swim school go by, it's typical for kids to have an aid until stage 3. The children shouldn't be tested like the op describes until stage 2 is nearly completed, obviously it's okay to get water in the child's face (and should be encouraged) but a stage 1 should never be attempting to swim with no aid. Just to add there are strict protocols now in place to avoid incidents like this due to a few drownings in the past 5 years across the country. For those that don't think it's a big deal, people in this profession can potentially be prosecuted for drownings that have occurred in these types of situations.

@Cerealkiller4U yes it was. Still stand by having the lessons. Yes, they were expensive, but gave me confidence that DS was safer around water and him the confidence to be in/under water.

I did baby swimming classes and the first time we did them at six months and every time afterwards part of the lesson is putting them under the water for brief periods. As long as the swimming instructor is there and watching it isn’t dangerous.

DD's lessons don't use swim aids, but it's a 3 or 2:1 ratio so the teacher is always physically supporting them in the water and when it's not their turn they are standing on the underwater bench with a hand on the side of the pool.

I can't imagine how on earth it could be safe having 8 kids with no swim aids with vastly differing abilities. It's not just OP's job to make sure the lessons are the correct level, the teacher and the pool have a duty of care that they aren't putting children into potentially dangerous or at least upsetting situations. It's their job to know what kids can and can't do and if they don't know, to ensure the kids are safe and have the proper aids until they do know.

And all the comments about how he has to go under the water to swim. Sure, but do you really think that an anxious kid sinking and ingesting water and being scared is going to encourage him to go under the water again?! That kind of 'tough' love (not sure there's much love in it either) is not a good way to get children to enjoy and be comfortable doing something.

Anecdotally, I've seen very little difference anyway between the kids who have done the expensive Waterbabies stuff and kids starting lessons at 4/5. Within a couple of weeks of proper lessons they all seem much of a muchness.

So you let go of your baby without warning and they ingested water and came up coughing and spluttering and crying on their first lesson? Like what happened to OP's son?

I'm going to assume not as that would be incredibly cruel, so that's totally different.

I used to be a swimming teacher and taught all ages from 5 week babies up to adults, trained in both UK and Australian methods. Nothing wrong with "going under", we encourage face in water immediately, but not in the uncontrolled way described here.

The red flag for me was when you said they were doing "doggy paddle". We sometimes do this as a training exercise with swimmers because it's basically a workout for the muscles (it's a struggle! Like treading water) but I've never done that as a learning exercise! It sounds like they don't know what they're doing.. yes they had enough cover to make sure the child didn't drown (!) but they actually created that risk unnecessarily, and whilst doing a stupid exercise that doesn't even help them to learn to swim. A child could be traumatised by that. Terrible for water confidence.

I agree with a lot of what fellow teacher @yingyanglife said although it's not ideal to use arm bands, as they don't allow learners to use their arms properly , for little ones I prefer float suits with removable floats which allow more mobility and you can reduce the aid as they get stronger.

In short OP, well done for responding how you did (I've known of children's lives being saved by parents in similar situations at bad swimming schools) and I'd have a look for a more competent swimming school ASAP.