To think I'm being ripped off?

[FasterMichelin]

My son was 6 in April and has been attending swimming lessons for almost a year. We chose small groups in a private pool in hopes this would expedite the process although this hasn't happened. It's usually just him and another little boy with one or two instructors.

When he started lessons, he was comfortable in the water but used to swimming with armbands and being held. He now is happy swimming around with a noodle but can't swim at all unaided.

On holiday, he couldn't use the pool slides due to the deep water at the end and I can't help but wonder what we're paying (a lot) of money for!

I've checked in with his swim teacher who has said the next two stages of the swim program he's working towards are aided.

WTF? I thought I was paying for him to learn to swim unaided!

Anyway, I was wondering if this is normal or if, at 6, with a years worth of lessons, if he should be swimming without floats now.

He's strong, agile and listens well. Not worried about the water, if that helps.

AIBU to wonder if this swim program is more about taking ages and making money, than it is about teaching kids to swim? Or am I expecting too much?

If you don’t feel he’s progressing move to a different class. Not all swim instructors are good. We’ve had a couple duff ones.

That's what I'm trying to ascertain, if my expectations are realistic. I don't want to move him if it's perfectly normal to take a this long to swim independently.__

Not being able to swim unaided at all after a year is either incompetence on the teacher's part or as you say, coining it.
Sounds ridiculous to me. We were all swimming unaided by six, albeit not necessarily very well - took some of my class a while to get their 25 metre certificate back in the day but no-one was missing out on the slides!

I'd take him out and go swimming with him yourself.
My kids/ Grandkids could all swim confidently before age 6.. underwater without aids.
We took them swimming every week from being babies.
They still love swimming now.. as l do.
Teach them the float survival.
Sounds like a money making scheme.

At age 5 DS had 4 private lessons, 1 to 1, and was swimming unaided by then. I would definitely expect it after a year of lessons. Are they following a set program, regardless of a child's ability? We had that with music lessons. He'd still be on three blind mice rather than Beethoven if we'd stuck with the original lessons. They just were following the plan with each child, not taking into consideration that some picked it up quickly.

Yes I'm getting the feeling that they're following a scheme word for word, much of it seems focused on technique. But we don't expect him to become a world class swimmer with perfect technique, we just want him to be safe and able to swim without armbands or a noodle.

After a year of pretty much 1-1 teaching yes it's a complete piss take from the instructors that he can't swim unaided yet!

Definitely move him, they are either shit instructors or just enjoying the easy passive income.

Dd was scared of water. We tried to take her and she cling onto us and it was very stressful. Took her 1 1/2 to move stages in her swimming lessons but she now happy and confident in the water and loves swimming under water and diving. This from a child who refused to get her face wet. However her teacher was amazing and it wasn't 1:1, although as they knew she struggled although I wasn't paying for 1:1 she had a lot of 1:1 with the center manager to give her confidence. Move swimming teachers if you not happy.

I would expect them to do a lot of work with floats to get good technique, but they should also be doing non aided swimming so a combination of both.

I can't remember where DS2 was after a year, but I think he could swim 5-10m unaided (local council pool lessons).

It sounds weird. Move him.

There is no reason for the instructors to be touching him after all this time, especially if he has buoyancy aids.

After a year I think he should be able to swim at least a very short distance.

Ds3 has never been a 'natural' swimmer and also started lessons at 5. After a year his form still wasn't great but he could at least doggy paddle for a couple of meters and tread water for 20 seconds...enough to get by on holiday for the pools and slides if one of us hovered at the edge.

I'd move him. Sometimes very small groups aren't the best imo, there's no natural 'peer pressure' of watching x kid swimming a width and trying to do it too iyswim. Ds3 is 7 now and in a group of about 6 - when I watch him I can see him watching the other kids and trying to swim as fast as they do which definitely gives him a bit of a kick to put the effort in.

Whatever they are doing isn’t really working for your son. I would try a different class.

We taught a grandchild to swim in three days on holiday.
Yes you're being ripped off.

This is the problem with swimming lessons now. They insist on olympic technique instead of just teaching them to be able to move around and be safe in water.
I took my kids out for similar reasons. Mine are autistic and will not put their faces in water voluntarily and they couldn't progress because they didn't want to swim with their face in the water, but they had to in order to move up.
Yet you don't actually need to put your face in the water to be able to swim!
I taught both of mine on holiday with daily access to a pool. It takes less than a week.

My daughter is 5 and swims unaided in the normal swimming pool (Not kids one) at the local leisure centre in her swimming lessons..I think it's time to move you DS!

I would definitely change classes as he's not making any progress.

My dd is almost 5 and has been swimming since she was 2, she started swimming with my DH in the pool, then just with instructors and noodles, then a shark fin and now unaided.

We also take her to our local pool throughout school holidays to keep on top of the progress she's making

I put my son in 121 because it seemed the only way to actually learn

Are the following swim Emgland learning to swim stage? How long did it take them to complete stage 1?

I agree with Mikunia My DS is autistic and wouldn't put his face in the water or take one foot off the bottom. His instructor allowed him to wear goggles and he was zooming about, even underwater, within an hour.

I'm like a broken record on swimming threads - look for someone Halliwick trained. They don't use floats at all and focus initially on being safe and comfortable with movement in water. Your child will be able to float unaided on their back after the first session, and will quickly learn to roll in all directions, and have breath control in water. As you can imagine, learning the strokes is much easier from this point.

Floats mess with the way the body behaves in water, and create dependency. They're great once you can swim - for strengthening and training purposes. But terrible for learners.

How often do you take him swimming outside of lessons? It's taken my seven year old two years to swim independently without an aid with weekly swimming lessons of 30 minutes long. We saw the most progress when we went on holiday and had access to a pool for ten days. I know he'd progress more quickly if I took him swimming more frequently to practice, but we struggle to make time for that so it doesn't happen.

Find a pool which follows the Swim England stages (assuming you are in England!) www.swimming.org/learntoswim/learn-to-swim-stage-2-award/By the end of stage 2 he should be able to swim 5 metres unaided.

Really, that's amazing! I've no idea how to teach him, is there anything specific you followed?

Honestly very rarely as he has younger siblings so it's hard work.

Can I ask what steps you took on holiday to progress it? Did you push him out of his comfort zone? Remove aids? I think my son would be hesitant to give up the noodle with me, but equally we have tried!