Learning how to swim - what age before they could?

[LizziePizzie]

I have a 21 month old DD and I have been taking her to swimming lessons since she was 4 months old. My DH keeps asking me if she can swim yet and I reply not yet but she is confident, has a lot of skills licked (holding on to the side, scoupy arms, ok being underwater etc) but if I let her go she would sink like a rock!

Yet I am hearing stories like Soandso could swim before he could walk! (One of them is from my MIL who swears my DH could swim before he could walk. Yet pressed for details says she can't remember! But he could - honest !)

I am accepting an ability to swim being treading water with forward motion, not an ability to do lengths!

So my questions are:

1. What age was your child swimming?
2. Should I be thinking of changing lessons if she has been going for so long and not really advancing? (Just waiting for the 'She'll do it when she is ready' replies!)

She'll do it when she's ready .

My daughter was 3 or 4 I think.

My son was 2, but at the time we were living in a house with a pool and he was swimming 3 times a day.

My eldest three by about 3/4 just let air out of their armbands gradually then one arm band for a while.
Dts are 2.7 and we don't go ad often just started taking them
One a week they can swim across the pool with arm bands will start reducing the air in them soon.

Took DCs to lessons from the age of 6 months dd and 1 yr ds and they were about 3 I would say and swimming across a width about 4. Younger swimming lessons are about safety and learning the basics that later get built on so they can put their strokes together to swim properly.

My two are 14 and 16 and have had lessons nearly all their life. DS stopped once he got his bronze medallion when he was 13 and has since got his life guard qualification. However he said to me not long ago he misses his swimming lessons!

Ds2 could swim a bit from about age 3. Ds1 refused to take his feet off the bottom without a float until he was 7!

Interestingly ds1 became the better swimmer by far.

Around the age of 2 for DD1 - she could just about manage to come up for air rather than sink. We used to live in a hot country and she's been in the pool since she was 2 months old pretty much every day. She was happy to jump in and swim under water, etc, but could not come up to the surface before that age.

DD is six, and still can't swim. Though to be fair, she didn't start learning until a few months ago due to severe eczema when she was younger.

I was 7 yrs old when I first swam / treaded water, and so was my sister. We both went on to become very strong swimmers (and divers... my sister was once an Olympic hopeful, although many years ago).

I have to be honest - I think these 'born to swim' things for babies are stupid, sorry. It is horrible to dunk babies who cannot walk under water, and I can find no scientific (or sensible!) basis for all these stupid money-making franchises who say it helps children to feel confident under water / they can teach 1 yr olds to swim - bollocks!

Until a child is in full control of his/er mental and physical actions, they arent safe in the water.

Both of mine were around the 2 year mark but I had the advantage of being a swimming teacher so swimming featured quite heavily in our lives when they were babies. They have both been competitive swimmers in their time and DD still trains regularly with her club. DS gave up ages ago but misses it.

lucyManga, you have just made me feel a whole lot better about the fact that dd can't yet swim. I don't need her to aspire to the olympics, I just want her to be competent and confident in the water.

My son is 8, and has had between 1 and 3 swimming lessons a week, from the age of 3. He is still in the bottom swimming group at school, (although he can swim about 50 m, I'd say.) He is a bit dyspraxic, and has difficulties with coordination.

Some mothers that you meet are ludicrously competitive on their children's behalf. Don't worry about them.

"I have to be honest - I think these 'born to swim' things for babies are stupid, sorry. It is horrible to dunk babies who cannot walk under water"

Not all baby swimming lessons are like that, my dcsbaby lessons weren't, they were taught by ASA teachers and my DD is being taught her bronze medallion by the teacher who taught her at 6 months old. This teacher has won awards for her work with life saving.

DD has been having lessons since about 8 weeks. she's now 31 months and can swim half a width completely on her own (struggles with the lifting head to breathe) and can bomb around the pool using a woggle all by herself. I think it depends a lot on the child but anatomially they can't realy lift heads out of water properly til 2 at least (clearly swimming with armbands/float suit comes quicker but we have never used either for DD as the swimming teachers we've had strongly discourage their use)

DD is really confident in the water now. We went in the sea for the first time last simmer and when a wave went over her head (granny's error) she found it hilarious rather than being scared

My dd is 4.5 and just about did her first width today! She's been able to swim a bit underwater for a couple of months but had to put her feet down when she needed to breath. She had one block of lessons aged 3.5 but didn't really pay enough attention do we stopped the lessons and just swam for fun. We've just started lessons again and she's making much better progress, now she's listening. I'd say most of the ones who are swimming are 4+.

Ds1 was 7. He hated the water and we wasted a lot of money on swimming lessons. Dh ended up taking him everyday for a week in the summer and by the end he could swim.

Dd was 3. Always loved the water and swimming lessons were great for her.

Ds2 was 2. Again always loved the water but no swimming lessons yet. Will take him about 4.

About 4 or 5 when they could move about a bit without armbands / floats.
Despite this lack of advanced genius, they are all pretty strong swimmers now!

DD1 was 4 when she first swam 5 metres unaided. She took another three years to make it to a full width! (Age 9 now - did 200m yesterday - very proud!)

Her best friend didn't swim at all until she had to go with school at age 5 and was doing a width inside a term.

DD2 is 6.5 and has been having lessons for 18 months. Still nowhere near properly swimming, but making tiny amounts of progress every week!

Thank you for all your responses and it looks like there is a real spread of ages and abilities.

I am sure she'll do it when she is ready! :o

I'm stunned! Your child is 21 months, probably isn't toilet trained and you expect her to be able to swim!

When DD started school I'd say less than half her Reception year could swim once they started going after christmas. DD has had private lessons in addition to original school lessons and would say that she didn't swim confidently until she was about 6.

Colleger - I never said I expected her to be able to swim but she is toilet trained! :o

It will just happen. DS1 was 5 and half. DS2 was just 4. Interestingly, DS2 was way behind his brother on all mobile milestones and didn't walk until 18 months, and hated getting his face wet, but loves swimming.

Both DDs have 15 metre certificates for 4.5 and 25 metre (length of our pool) around their 5 birthdays.
By 5.5 DD would throw herself down adult water park slides.
Both are fish who will swim all day.

My flatmate taught her BF to swim age 20