Swimming lessons - gazing into the abyss

[Carrotsurprise]

My god, how many years does this go on for? My DD started swimming lessons at the start of year 1 now she'll probably be moving up to stage 3 at the end of term. It runs for 50!!!!! weeks of the year. Every bloody Monday evening all year bloody round. And I'm on maternity leave! When I go back to work we'll have the juggling a toddler making sure one person gets home for him and the other goes to swimming. Then one day it'll be time for him to start lessons. Every Monday evening except Christmas, for like ten years? Right? Are swimming lessons really non-negotiable??

I don't just view the lessons as 'lessons'. It's 30mins of exercise each week as well

Is she progressing well? If not, try a different swim school.

My son started at the local leisure centre and although he loved the water, the lessons were poor quality and progress was slow. I moved him to a private swim school, 2 to 1 and he absolutely came on in leaps and bounds.

He could have safely stopped after a few months but he loves swimming so carried on and got his gold and is now a club swimmer (so we are still ferrying him to that 😂).

It can be tricky logistics wise but I would keep going until she can confidently swim a couple of lengths in a recognised stroke.

I started doing laps during DSs lessons. He's now in squad because he wants to do his life saving certificate/medallions etc. He is keen on a part time job as a pool life saver when he is old enough because he heard the money is good. I could just drop him off now but like getting in my own laps.

Ive been doing swimming lessons for around 10 years now between my two. My eldest did squad swimming for a while so we ended up at the pool 4 x per week. I cannot wait until my youngest finishes, she’s almost 10 and wants to give up but I’ve said she has to get to the end of lessons (before squads) and I reckon we’ve got about 6 months to a year max. I will not miss it in the slightest and definitely won’t miss being a constant sweaty mess!

A fiver a lesson 22 years ago is probably the equivalent of the cost of a leisure centre lesson now.

It’s non-negotiable for me because I didn’t learn as a youngster (80s childhood in working class area, no money for lessons not that anybody did) and I’m a shit swimmer who would probably drown if the worst came to the worst. DD will have swimming lessons until she gets to the lifesaving bit, and then I’m throwing her in the local surf school to do sea swimming.

Edited to add: I feel your pain. It fucks our Monday right up.

I've been taking my two DC for 12 years. Only DD does it now. About to go up to the squad level but still wants to go. Thankfully doesn't want to actually compete.

It's extremely important, especially where we live, but I'm soooo over it!

My DS was born during covid lockdown and then we were shielding as a household member was having chemotherapy. He's now 4.5 and still hasn't been swimming. Seems an awkward age now as I can't seem to explain how to hold his breath and he's nervous of water. Anyone got any advice? Had it not been for covid I'd have started him swimming as a baby to get used to being in the water etc. Should I wait until he's a bit older?

I feel like my son is getting more confident and progressing faster by going weekly with me than he was in lessons, which were not 1-2-1. It’s much more fun for me being in the water with him too than watching from the side.

We tried so many bloody lessons. Baby lessons, toddler lessons, child lessons and school lessons. My kid still couldn't swim aged 9.

A friend recommended a local swimming club. Dirt cheap in comparison to lessons and my child was swimming within 6 weeks!

I agree (not swim England but the equivalent). Mine had weekly lessons for 5/7 years. The focus was on having the perfect technique for multiple strokes rather than being able to swim a distance/ tread water and other life saving skills.

No certificates or badges were given out for any distances, or for moving up a group.

My youngest was unable to move up to the group he needed to be in for a whole year because one one was moving up from that one.

There were supposed to be ‘swim in pyjamas’ lifesaving sessions but they never happened as parents weren’t informed/ children didn’t have what they should.

My swimming lessons as a child were very different. Technique wasn’t the main focus, but distance was. We did lots of treading water and lifesaving skills. I did much more in a much shorter length of time.

For me it's none negotiable. DH is a poor swimmer and I can't swim at all. As a kid I was unable to have lessons as I had a few ear operations. When I was given the all clear the school lessons had stopped and my parents couldn't afford to send me. I started lessons as covid hit and now I can't get anything locally that fits around kids and work. I would like the kids to at least not to suffer the humiliation and embarrassment I feel at being unable to. DD6 is half way though stage 4 and we are just over a year in. DS4 is just about to finish stage 1. We have told the kids that they can stop once they are in stage 6 and have done wearing clothes bits. We can work on stamina on distance in family swims.

This is definitely the way to do it. Much better and they progress quicker.

As soon as my 2 were able to confidently do all strokes, dive well and tumble turn I knocked lessons on the head completely as they had no interest in becoming competitive swimmer. I don’t think they had a lesson past age 9 or 10?

Think we did swimming lessons for around 14 years, sitting on that pool side is the 7th circle of hell! I hated every single minute! But it was some of the best money we spent, both are really strong swimmers, loved their lessons dd1 is a casual lifeguard now and dd2 is doing her training in October

Absolutely a life & social skill. The amount of joy our kids get swimming, surfing, pier jumping etc… is immeasurable.

Keep trying family swim sessions. A lot of pools do fun sessions with floats. Or even a fun pool that has a wave machine and spray toys etc. Take the pressure off actually learning but playing and getting rid of the fear of water.

I agree with you. OP would be the first to complain if the child drowned.
I do agree that some of the stuff they seem to do in these lessons looks a bit pointless but I am not the expert and if it encourages water confidence then great. They have to be at a level that they could survive if they ended up in deep water unexpectedly. And the general level of kids' swimming in the UK is crap atm, way worse than it used to be.

To add outside of it being a life skill I didn't want to close the door on opportunities. I want my kids to be able to go to fun pools with their friends as teenagers, water sports and water activities with youth groups etc.

Well MY 9 year old swims 5 times a DAY, every day, sometimes for 9 hours, and so do their 8 siblings, each at a different pool, so you have it easy!

That is how ridiculous you sound.

Taking my kids to swimming lessons was the low point of my week. 8 years of organising the kit, stressful driving to the pool after school, the pain of getting them changed, small talk with the other parents, then getting them changed back again. There was always some drama with one of them dropping their PJs in a puddle or needing a shit half way through the lesson. I mean I’m glad now that they are all decent swimmers but god it was hard going.

I say this as a former lifeguard, swim instructor and competitive swimmer: swimming is a really important safety skill, drowning is high on the list of causes of injury-death in young children but to achieve this, you do not need to have your DC in year round lessons for a decade?! For starters, if they’re not a competent swimmer after a year of weekly swim lessons at the age of 7, I would suggest the lessons you’re going to are shit. Having watched swim lessons at several local pools in the UK I would say is often the case. The groups are too big for the kids to get any real teaching. Where I live (not UK), lessons typically have 6 kids max in the older ages and 4 for under 6s.

If safety is your goal you can also achieve this by other sensible measures, ie, teach your kids to check how deep water is before going in, put them in life jackets (not the bloody arm bands that are incredibly unsafe!!) if they are in open water, keep them in arms reach, don’t swim in pools that aren’t lifeguarded etc. Don’t leave even older children unattended around water if it’s not lifeguarded.

We did weekday lessons when my daughter first moved up from the toddler classes, and I absolutely hated them, it didn’t help that I hated the pool set up and I didn’t rate the teachers, but part of my hatred definitely came from the rush of getting there after school and her being tired and cranky. After 6’weeks we moved to Saturday lessons and it is so much better!

I took both of mine for years, they still loved swimming long after their peers had stopped lessons and are now very good swimmers - my son broke the school record at sports day.
luckily it was term time only and there’s a very nice cafe attached ( I dread to think
how much I spent on coffee and cake over the years🤣)

For us it's been a stage a year. I'm so pleased DD just passed stage 7, age 10! Was the hottest hour of my life sat poolside watching them, on a tiny bench that gives me sciatica... Unfortunately ds is still only in stage 4.

Not read the whole thread but might be worth fast tracking with 1:1 lessons