How old were your DC's when you started taking them swimming?

[CJ2010]

DD is 2 yrs old, should I start now?

dd was about 18 months and ds was about 3 months old. Start whenever you like really.

I started taking my dc at a few months old so there's no reason not to take her. Hope she has fun!

Six months - thoroughly recommend it.

I started all mine at around 3 months,they all swam before they were 2.
You may need to go softly softly at her age to start with.

I think about 8 weeks, after the first set of jabs and then weekly after that. He then started swimming 'lessons' (well, more like water confidence) which are run by the local council, at 9 months.

Oh no have I left it too late?

I started DS at 12 weeks.

He's now 1 and just started to get 'the fear'. So even if you start them early they will go through developmental stages anyway. Don't worry, i'm sure your DD will love it if you do!

x

As seona said anytime is good! It's all about getting used to the water rather than actually learning how to swim in the early days. I took DS so early as it broke up maternity leave having swimming once a week with mum chums! His lessons are now on a Sat AM so DP & I take turns to take him meaning the other has a couple of hours of chill out time every other Saturday!

They were 4 months old, each of them. Week after week. Other children started lessons at 6 and overtook my dc, swimming-wise, within a term or so. I do feel that all those shivering times in the toddler pool and damp changing room experiences were a bit of a waste of time. My dc can swim OK now, but no better than many who started much later.

6 years, I mean the other children started, not 6 months.

We started our son at 4 months as an activity for him to do with his Dad that was just for the two of them. He is now 3 and 3/4 and has been going the whole time during that period. He mainly loves water and is keen to throw himself into the pool now so we are glad we did! He has had phases of being hesitant though too. Never too late to learn water confidence.

I have another DC, aged 6 months and tbh I just haven't got round to it! Someone made a comment along the lines of 'shame on you' for not taking DD swimming and it's wound me up a bit! Made me wonder if I've missed my opportunity to get her in the pool and enjoying it without fear.

No, they go through phases of fear at different times anyway. Go for it when you can. Do they' do it at school? Doing it with peers might avoid the fear. Our swimming teacher advised that we should just support him in whatever way made him feel safe and t passed eventually ( he had a phase of suddenly wanting to be held in the water so we did and after a while he felt ok to going back in without hanging onto someone). We didn't want it to become a big thing that prevented him getting in the water. Partly because he had previously been good at swimming independently and enjoyed it, partly because the lessons weren't cheap!

as I said we didnt take dd until she was 18 months and she had no fear of the water at all. When ds was born we started going to the pool as a family at the weekend (mainly because there is a ratio of 1 adult to 1 child under the age of 4 at our local pool) so he started a bit earlier than she did. They both started proper lessons around the age of 4.

Ds1 was 5 before we started going regularly. Ds2 was about 8 weeks!

Sorry OP, I've just realised that your DC is 2, don't know why I'm talking about school! I have a bug that makes me stupid.

It will be fine, honest. DD is 3, I haven't taken her since she was 6mths or so. I didn't learn to swim until I was 10!

Our local pool (and the one where we used to live) is heinously expensive, plus because I now have 2 non-swimmers we have to go at the weekend when it's packed with people and floats.

4 months.

By the time she was 7 months she could hold on to the side of the pool all by herself for a minute or so at a time, which is one of the first things they teach so that they know what to do in case of an emergency. Incredible, really.

Thanks for your messages! X

Started trying in (very expensive £10 a session) special heated hyrotherapy warm pool at 5 months till about 7 months but LO hated it so after the course of ten weeks finished we stopped. Tried again in local baby pool at around 9 months, but she still hated it. Tried again at local pool at 12 months and she still hated it then so havent bothered since. LO is 19 months now. May try again soon but dont want my only day off with her each week to be spent doing something she hates so have been putting it off for a bit.

About 4 weeks.

18 months now and can climb out, jump in, and can swim a little with armbands on.

About 6 weels with DS and 6 months with DD.

2 years. She's been twice and loves it :-)

I took DS1 to expensive baby swimming lessons when he was around 8mo for nearly 6 months - he hated it and we never made any progress!

When he was 2 I had DS2, so like you it was difficult to take them both swimming regularly. DP would ocassionally take DS1 but very infrequently. However as they have both got older it is possible to take them together with just one adult (our local pool has a decent size toddler pool which they can both stand in. We try to go every week but dont always make it.

DS1 is now 4 and I am starting to think about lessons. The local authority ones are oversubscribed and the private ones v expensive so not sure what we'll do. There are short courses in the summer which might be an option, but asking around it seems that a lot of children dont start until they have lessons with school in yr1 and they pretty much all catch up quickly anyway.

Dont worry too much, there are much worse things you can do as a parent than not take them swimming!!

Around 8 weeks and he's always loved it :)