AIBU - To pause kids swimming lessons in cold weather?

[Wonderchill]

Do you keep sending kids for swimming lessons in cold weather or take a break for a few months? Theses are not school lessons, but paid. We walk DS, 6yrs old to a local pool on Saturday mornings.

Why?

It’s not even that cold yet in most parts of the UK it’s still 13-16 degrees.

Swimming is a life skill so no I didnt stop in in colder weather.

Only if it’s outside in an unheated pool 😂 DS2 is 4 an he goes to swimming lessons on a Friday evening all year round. Just wrap up warm for the walk.

I believe the reason so many young people today have mental health issues is because they lack any resilience, and they lack resilience because they’ve never had to endure even the most trivial hardships, having been cosseted into a form of human jelly by their parents.

Doing things that are uncomfortable, or slightly less pleasant than usual, in support of a goal is actually very good for you. Do not be a wet blanket.

You live in the UK presumably, it is never going to be too cold to walk outside.

No, just dress him for the weather. If you are very concerned about him getting cold then dry his hair before you leave. Most pools have hairdryers available in the changing rooms.

I've been doing swimming lessons with my kids for 11 years now and that thought had never crossed my mind!

Unless you are literally breaking ice to shove them in then no. They are swimming inside, dry them off, blast with hairdryer have an invigorating walk home. This would never ever occur to me.

Mine swam year round. It's potentially harmful to learning to stop as they lose momentum. (At my UK boarding school in the 80s we swam in an outdoor unheated pool from April to December! It was amazing when they installed solar heating when I was in 6th form as it meant the water felt considerably warmer!)

I’d stop if he can swim basics but not if he’s still sinking

😂

Unless you live in the arctic, I don't think there's anything we should stop doing just because it's a few degrees colder whether that be swimming or 'engagement farming'...

It's a life skill
Learning to cope with being in cold water is part of that
I'd keep the lessons going

We had to stop for the icy roads in Nz to get to the pool
Lack of changing rooms and cold weather can make it a less desirable outing...snowflake or not...pathetic comment.

I stopped for my 19m at Xmas as the changing areas were cold and miserable. Now he’s 3 I have him in swim lessons in a nice gym

We go swimming more in winter - ideal activity for when the weather is bad.

Yes. You can drown in any weather

DD is 6, she’s been having lessons at an outdoor pool for 2 years and we still go all the way through the winter. Sometimes she walks through the park to the pool as well - double outside whammy.

Swimming is a great indoor activity for cold and wet months. On particularly stormy weekends it was ds main activity when young.

This kind of thing is why so many kids have no resilience. Kids are stronger than their parents often think. Going swimming in winter is not going to make them unwell. Our winters aren’t even that cold most of the time.

Playing in a warm soft play with lots of other snotty kids probably will though or every day at school with other kids who don’t wash their hands and have poor ventilation in classrooms.

They warm up before they leave the pool building and if not pack something warmer like an oodie and make sure they are fully dry.

Mine learned more in a week of intense lessons that a whole term of classes.. so we just did that. Weekly lessons were painful and in my opinion, not worth it. All three of mine are competent swimmers.

I took ours to a swimming lesson in the middle of winter when our boiler had broken down at home, it was the warmest we were all day!

Whenever I’d stood on the sidelines of a football pitch in the wind & rain, I look back on the Saturday morning swim lessons quite fondly! We often used to do double swimming at a weekend - once for the lesson and then another fun session just so they could get some more exercise in

Think about the adult you want to raise.

Do you want them to cope with (very mild) adversity, and be able to solve problems (eg - if it’s cold wear a coat)? Or do you want them to only cope in the most perfect of conditions?

Keep going of course. The building is tropical temperature, a good coat deals with the walk, and a gap in lessons disrupts learning.