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've been taking my Reception aged child to a weekend swimming lesson since Sept. Progress has been very very slow so I feel your pain. But it's a non-negotiable thing for me too. I often watch one of the more advanced classes - I'd guess the kids are around 10-12. They have improved so much in the past few months - they were all swimming beautiful , smooth front crawl last week. Their improvement over the months has inspired me to get some lessons for myself because although I can swim I could definitely improve my technique.

What am I missing? We had 8 lessons paid up front and then he could swim. Why do you need to learn to swim for a year?

My DCs are appalling at learning anything from me (although finally grudgingly accept that I am the magic human who can help with French/ Spanish/ German homework)

It's 14 years since our first swimming lesson and DS1 is finally done (end of stage 8). Slightly cheating to count from Aquababies which was just a variation of parent and baby/ toddler group, but at least it involved wading around tepid water singing nursery rhymes rather than chasing them around a village hall while cliques disapproved. It also meant that DCs were always used to water and no fear/sensory issues to get over.

The Foundation and Stage 1 phase at 4-6 was probably the biggest waste of time, but it was still weekly exercise. Maybe it wouldn't have made a difference if we'd come back at around 6-7 after a break. Progress was slow because DS1 is dyspraxic and autistic. Average progress has been a level per year. It took a year to move up from stage 5 to 6 after reaching 100%... thanks Covid. That autumn I also had the immeasurable joy of not being allowed to stay in the leisure centre and spending the evening shunting in and out of the car/ changing rooms with the DCs.

Having been a teenage non-swimmer then learning at adult lessons where I was at least 50 years younger than anyone in the class (some of them really hated having a teenaged whippersnapper in the pool at the same time) it was important to me to have confident swimmers with decent technique and stamina. Stage 6 is where that really begins to come together and I'm glad that the DCs have done stage 8 as it has boosted their stamina. DS2 might be able to run 5k in less than 23 mins, but he struggled with the shift from 30-45min lessons.

There are faster ways of doung it (DS1 even had holiday boosters in the early stages to nudge him along) but going the slow route has kept them in regular exercise into the secondary years.

School swimming wasn't going to do the job. It boosted DS1 who was around the swimming 25m mark, but DS2 only had about 15 lessons because half of their swimming allocation was given to the year above who lost their year of lessons to Covid restrictions.
I had a heck of a lot more school swimming lessons than my two put together and it didn't teach me anything. DM didn't do swimming because it's cold and wet so that was that.

Pools now have such restricted timetables (as well as being far fewer of them than decades ago) that it's hard to find general sessions to self-teach children. Plus they tend to be chaotic; it's not an easy learning environment.

At least the DCs now have a sport for life with good muscle memory for it. It's a gateway to other sports. And they don't have to suffer the embarrasment and restrictions of being a teenage non-swimmer.

DS2 is now signing up for Rookie Lifeguard so my sacrifices to swelter in Satan's armpit each week continue...

I didn't take mine to weekly swimming, I actually think it is not very effective unless 1-1.. We have always done weekly family swimming together and then intensive courses during the holidays. They are both in a swimming club now and swim competitively and we still go to family swimming every week.

Recommend a small swim school where staff are in the water even in the higher levels with class sizes limited to 4-6.
I did it because dd is deaf and massive classes & pools would have been a struggle for her, bit would def recommend it coz Dd whizzed through in a few terms.
Dd1 I just took swimming a lot and she got the hang of it fine.

My three did daily lessons during school holidays in a private pool ( at an independent school pool hired by an instructor) every day for an hour at a time. They did this during half term for a year or so while also having weekly lessons at the local public pool, aged 5 to 7 ish. They were then very competent swimmers and my daughter went on to swim in a club and represent her county.

It was pretty intensive over the three or four years when they had these lessons, with three children within 4 years I always had a baby in tow but I think it was the quickest way to get then swimming.

After age 7 or so they did not need formal lessons any more and only my daughter continued with swimming training at club level, my boys just enjoyed being able to play confidently in the water on holidays and be able to pass the necessary tests to join a sailing club.

If we had just carried on with one lesson a week in a class of 12 kids, I don’t think they would ever been competent swimmers.

I can never understand why anyone should have to learn butterfly, not unless they’re going to do competitive swimming.

For those who say they taught their children themselves - any tips for learning front crawl? I had a few years of lessons as a child - my breast stroke is pretty decent but my front crawl was never good - think I managed one 25m length of it once and that was the pinnacle, enough to tick a box and lessons to end. I found it really difficult. With hindsight I wish I had kept going to lessons for longer. There's a big difference between being able to swim at a basic and more advanced level. And now, decades on, I think my very basic front crawl is non-existent.

If you can't swim, you can't teach your kids, so you need to franchise that bit of parenting out.

I can swim, so I taught my son myself, coupled with watching the swimming classes going on and copying some of the stuff the teacher was saying. Sorry to the parents that were paying for those lessons I copied.

I don't know much about swimming lessons. I do know it doesn't take 100s of lessons to be good enough. Seems like a swizz to me, unless you are paying for an hour of peace- priceless. Surely you'd watch a few lessons, get the idea and do it yourself. Or you can't be bothered/ don't want to, therefore you will need to pay and be at the mercy of whatever the swim school extract from you financially.

My approach worked as my son got caught in a rip tide in Bournemouth and despite it being scary, got on his back immediately, floated and didn't panic or struggle. The other thing that I strongly believe that causes deaths is unsupervised kids. I am meticulous at standing on the shoreline and watching at all times. About 30 kids got taken by this tide. I ran straight into the water, when I noticed trouble and rescued my son and about 4 other kids. I was closely followed by the lifeguards- as I raised the alarm as I ran into the water. Some parents were so involved with their phones their kid had to be taken to them by the lifeguard. That was a fun day at the beach in dripping wet clothes, because I thought I didn't fancy going in the water that day and had no swim stuff on underneath.

I’d just make sure the teacher is good as there are hordes of kids at my (council) pool being taught in a very lackadaisical manner for weeks on end.

Following with interest as I’ve withdrawn my 3 year old from lessons as she hated them and never seemed to learn anything- we had been going weekly since she was six months old but she still hadn’t learnt to float, hated to get her face under the water, barely kicked or moved her arms to doggy paddle. I felt I was paying just to tow her around the pool each week as whenever I got close enough she’d just cling on like a limpet.

She’s not scared of water though, I suppose that’s the only positive thing. She will happily “play” with me at our local pool but hates being told what to do (hence no lessons anymore). I despair that we will ever lose the armbands though, without lessons. Maybe I’ll try again once she’s school age like yours OP and hope it goes better 🤣 I could cope with the drudgery if DC actually made progress amid all the complaining!

Another one here who went through a swimming programme in a different European country. I looked up just now what the English levels involve, and it seems like they're stuffed full of fussy little tests and an emphasis on swimming correct strokes, but for ridiculously short distances. Why on Earth does a small child need to be able to do Butterfly to be a safe swimmer?

The programme I went through involved a big emphasis on safety and on e.g. learning how to rescue people (and when not to rescue people), and the first test I took at age 7 featured being able to swim continuously for 15 minutes, demonstrating 2 recognisable strokes (one on one's front, one on one's back), covering at least 200m (there were other components to the test, but that was the main one). I was among the younger kids in the group, but not by much. Overall, I'd say we had a LOT more stamina than is required in the British levels, and more practical skills that built towards lifeguarding, at a far younger age.

My mum’s friend taught me to swim over a few lessons one summer when I was 6 or 7.
That’s it.
Once I learned to swim, the lessons ended.
But this is California, and there are pools and lakes and beaches everywhere.
Add in the weather, and I imagine it’s very different from the UK.
It’s +100F where I live today.
Swimming is almost a necessity.

The Swim England 7 stages should be achieved on average in 4 years. In ideal situation by the time children get to school swim in year 4 they should already be adequate swimmers and then the big block of swimming get them water competent.

Obviously every child is different and some swim schools are shocking. A good KPI now being brought out by heads of aquatics is of a 30 minute lessons how many minutes is a child actually swimming for....if you don't want to seethe with annoyance don't time your kid.

Yes - forever. We ended up doing a week of accelerated swimming lessons every summer to just move it forward - still ended up for decades doing god damned, mother fucking swimming lessons for about 20 years as one was really good and got selected for some swim squad.

I sympathise with you. Mine did swimming lessons with school, no parental involvement - thank goodness!!! So did everyone else we knew. Is this a new thing?

They don’t need lessons for that long. Just take them until you are happy they can swim then take them recreationally. They don’t need to be Olympic swimmers! Just safe in water. I think my DS went for a couple of years until he was confident. His was also only term time which was much better/more practical. Can you find term time lessons anywhere?

I don't like all these reports of kids getting stuck at certain levels for ages 😬 DD got stuck at stage 1 because they wouldn't let her progress if she wouldn't put her head underwater even though that isn't on the checklist, so stage 1 took her from September through to February. And she's been stuck at stage 2 because she won't jump in to the big pool, which is 5cm less than her height. She will jump in to the teaching pool that they actually learn in though but they judge her too tall for that to count. So we'll have to take her swimming in our own time so she can nail that just like we had to do for the underwater thing. Sounds like butterfly, somersaults or handstands might be our next nemesis!

You seem irrationally upset.

Who told you there was a correlation between attending swimming lessons and future salary, home ownership or travel opportunities?

Nobody is suggesting it makes someone a bad parent if their children don't attend swimming lessons. But learning to swim is a skill and could be critical for survival.

Butterfly is a bastard, and long-term won't be used for recreational swimmers. That really wouldn't go down well in a lunchtime lanes swim!

The other water skills are useful for building up to skills like tumble turns or just general core strength. It's amazed me in the later stages how many children struggle to lift themselves out of the water up the sides. In the event of falling into water such as a river, that upper body strength could be vital in climbing back out.

I wanted mine to have good swimming stamina, not just stop at 25-50m. The standards are faffy and it can take ages to get up to stage 4-5 when that comes together, but beyond that when you've nailed a good technique, it stays with you for life and the stamina comes quicker because the stroke is inefficient.

Go to any lanes session and there's a lot of bad, inefficient, splashy technique out there.

It took 4 months to go from non-swimmer to 25m and a year to a mile, but I was older (16!) and basically had a 1:1 instructor in the water for that first part. My bodily awareness was good from years of dancing (badly) and I wasn't afraid, just totally lacking in technique. Many younger children take a long time to get through those subtle skills to the actual swimming part.

These days I go open water swimming... statistically I'm at higher risk of drowning when running than on a planned, risk assessed swim!

We live south coast, so I felt it was vital my DC learnt to swim properly. I have probably done around 10 years. Thing is there's a difference between being able to swim,and things like life saving. I can't swim very well. My Dad and I went every week ,but I struggled. He sadly died and that put me off really.DS went to Thailand and swam to the boat .Didn't have to but all his mates did. He has been to the beach for most of his life.Somewhere I read that around half of primary school kids can't swim well at 11.COL crisis.hopefully won't become a MC thing with poorer kids left behind

My eldest loved swimming lessons and did them from age 3 to 9 (with a Covid gap) and can swim confidently. My 8 year old hated lessons with a passion and just stood in the corner looking sad. We have taught him, he’s physically able but a very nervous child and he is just properly picking it up now. We try and take him swimming weekly. He’ll do school lessons which has also helped him.

One child eldest I did it myself. Weekly swimming for both of us and she clung on like a limpet and then one day let go and then had a few lessons 1:1 with a local highly recommended teacher. She swam a mile before she was 10.

Youngest had very very expensive lessons and then kept on having lessons school and other and he just would no let go. Or go out of his depth. Years of it. Lessons finished.

Then came year 6 camp sign up and water sports but you had to swim 50 m unaided or his friends could sign the form - I refused to sign the form. He wanted to go. I wasn’t lying so he begged to go to the local swimming outdoor pool and prove her could he swam 2 lengths. I said it wasn’t enough for me to tick the confident swimmer box so the next day he got back in and did 20 lengths back to back. That was enough. Now swims a mile every weekend.

50 weeks a year is a bit intense. DD5 goes for 8 week blocks at the local leisure centre in line with the school term so in school holidays. It’s annoying but at least there are breaks. She’s only early stages but as far as i know the older stages work the same schedule wise.

*so none in school holidays (except 1:1s if you wanna pay for it or swim camp type stuff)