swimming lessons

[Iwanttobeamillionaire]

I have two dc aged 6 and 7 who can both swim 25 metres and are confident. They have a swimming lesson once a week.

My problem is that they joined the club just after october half term (they could swim before they joined) and seem to have slipped backwards. They are in a group where the children are a few years older than them and have a stronger stroke. I think this has disheartened them and now they dont really want to go anymore.

Do I persevere, although they can swim and have therefore achieved what i wanted for them? I dont even know what stage they are at and they havent had a badge since starting there so they must also feel they havent achieved anything. I am thinking of ringing the coach and explaining how they feel to see if she suggests anything, the lessons are expensive.

Sorry for waffling!

[nkf]

What do you want for them? Some people are happy with children being safe in the water. I swam competively as a child and like to see the strokes done properly. I have spent a small fortune on lessons and have kept them going when the children flagged. It's up to you really.

[Iwanttobeamillionaire]

I would like to see them develop their strokes and they are just learning to dive,so it would be a shame to give up now. What I dont want is too push them and shake their confidence that they look back on swimming as a chore.

Maybe they are going through a shaky patch and I may just persevere with them for one more term and then see how they feel.

[kiddiz]

If your aim was for them to be able to swim and it's becoming a chore rather than something they enjoy I'd leave it for a bit. They can always go back later. Have you asked them what they want? Maybe there's another activity they would like to try.

FWIW swimming lessons do seem to stagnate now and again. DD was stuck in the same class doing the same things for months on end. In the end I swapped pools, she got a different teacher who she clicked with and she started to progress again

[bodiddly]

What if you took them swimming after school for a few evenings to reintroduce some fun and get them enjoying it again. You could then help them develop a little yourself and judge how they are doing.

[christywhisty]

Do you have to go to a club for lessons? Does your local council do lessons at the leisure centre?
Sometimes you do have to go backwards in swimming to get better.
I was a very good swimmer as a child, although I never swam competitively. For the last 5 years I have been doing an adult advance class after not swimming for many years. My back stroke seemed to get worse and worse each lesson, but that was because i was concentrating so much on small parts of the stroke, now it's all come together again and my back stroke has really improved.

[Iwanttobeamillionaire]

I took them swimming today at the local pool and we had lots of fun and they swam like fish!

I am going to persevere with the lessons till Easter and then review it.

I think that the problem could be that I stopped taking them to the leisure pool since we moved here and that I expected the teacher to be able to teach them in the lesson. We used to take them all the time in our old place and they had lessons aswell so whatever they learned they put into practice when we all went as a family.

I just need to start taking them for fun again, just like bodiddly said!

[bodiddly]

excellent .. glad they enjoyed it! I think we put so much stress on children learning things that we all forget that if they actually enjoy it they learn so much more and without even realising it!

[deste]

I was also involved with swimming and was going to suggest like some of the others above to take them swimming yourself. A swimming teacher they like also helps.