advice re swimming with two under threes

[Mummyjoon]

Hi i am hoping that someone will be kind enough to share their tips / experiences as to if it is possible to take my two dds swimming.

DD1 is 3 yrs, DD2 is 10 months.

DD1 has attended lessons and regular trips until i felt too pregnant to manage but she doesn't swim independently and could be quite clingy in the water even wearing arm bands.

I'd love to take my youngest she's never been before.

Any advice? if i can be a bit prepared it will be more manageable

First thing would be to check you're allowed to take 2 so young on your own. Many places won't let you any more, so your first step then would be to find a child-free friend to accompany you and up your ratio.

What Purpleturle said. I doubt anywhere would let you in with 2 under 3s on your own.

Thank you, I logged on thinking it would be too early to see a response!

I'm impressed purpleturtle and MrsKitty!!

I will check first & definately invite a friend along. DH hates swimming in pools..

Thank you again (smile)

I read your title and just thought 'Don't'!!!!

I don't think I could manage it with a 4 year gap - always took my mother to help. Which was OK as she loved it but wasn't free very often, so I had a great excuse...oh how I hate going swimming with kids!

One day it will be fun again.

Hee hee! Just contemplating the handling of two wet children and trying to get them in & out of costumes did strike me as 'a special skill'.

Thought it was just me and that there was just a technique / careful planning that would make it possible!

My DD2 is just so active and needs to use up some energy!!

Thank you for your comment FlightAttendant I don't feel so bad!
I will take DD2 on her own first to get her used to it

I took all three of my children swimming on my own last summer - every week for about eight weeks - they were aged 5, 3 and 8/9 months at the time.

The two older ones wore arm bands and floated around the pool, and I held on to the baby.

I did shout at thel a few times in the changing rooms though because that was a bit stressful!

TBH I felt it was much easier then taking then to the park where I am always worried they will run off!

Hmm I have a feeling in public pools you must have a ratio of 1to1 for children 4 and under.

Desperately frustrating when we were in Uk last summer and DH was unable to take the DC(3 & 4) swimming alone despite the fact that they both swim well without armbands.

Our ratio is 2 kids maximum per adult, any age.

Put their gear in 2 diff carrier bags so its easy to sort out.
Dont take a towel for yourself to save space and hassle.
Hooded towels good to keep warm while you dresseach one a bit at a time . Dont dress one then the other iyswim, do vest foreach, then socks for eac, then top for each etc etc.
Take snacks and a jiuce for the older one whie you finish off the younger one and get your sfuff packed up.
Take 2 locker coind in case there are no big ones free and you need to use two.
Remember armbands/rings.

My DS is 3.5 and DD is 1.5 so slightly out of your age range but here's what I do - I would say up front though that I don't do it very often as it is quite stressfull!!!

DS usually wears one of those float vests and DD is in a floating seat thing. DS can manage with arm bands but when I take both of them, I feel happier having him in the vest which gives just a little bit extra safety factor. DD mainly just floats around in her seat while we watch DS thrash around!

For changing, I take either a hooded towel or dressing gown for DS and he just has to sit with that on til I get DD dressed, then he gets dressed, then I get dressed. My pool has family changing cubicles with little seats on the wall that DD gets strapped into once she's dressed.

I also have a deal with DS that if he is a good boy and sits still/behaves while we are all getting changed, he gets a treat out of the vending machine at the end. This is key to the whole experience being a relatively pleasant one!

Hope this helps.

What you are allowed to do varies from place to place.

Where we are its 1:1 for under 3's, 2:1 for 3-7, then 8 yo can go in on their own.

I used to do swimming with a couple of friends in a private hydrotherapy pool when my oldest two were little - where there weren't the same restrictions. So I took them together from when ds was 8 weeks (so dd1 was 2.2) and as long as I was organised it was ok!

But looks like you will need help for a while - its great now my oldest is over 8 and I can take all 3 on my own, saves moany old dh coming in with us and spoiling the fun! He sits in the cafe and reads the paper instead.

(disclaimer: dh not normally moany. Only in the swimming pool!)

Put the youngest in a fleecy sleepsuit so that you can stick nappy and suit on then she's sorted. oh and snacks.

take extra swim nappy and a couple of wipes to the pool side incase of accidents

Thank you all for taking the time to post!
You've all given me some top tips and advice.

I think i may go first thing and take them in their pyjamas- one less dressing experience to go through!

I'll definately go armed with an extra pair of hands. Both got hooded dressing gowns for xmas so those will be useful too.

I have taken a 5 year old and new baby - the older one had armbands and the baby was in a floaty seat. I also took my Mum who sat in the cafe and then was allowed to come through to collect baby after 15 minutes and got him dressed. This allowed me some one to one time with my older DD.

It wont be easy but will be fun!

I would also get yourself changed into cossie before you leave the house and agree with the idea of having separate bags for the two kids, as if someone else is getting them changed then you can easily get someone else to dress them.

I also got towelling robes for the two kids as they could put them on straight out of the pool.

I need to find one of these pools that allow x2 kids to one person - I honestly didn't think they existed - Poor DS loves swimming but we've not been since I was about 32wks pg (DD 15 wks now!) No friends nearby that I could ask (not without their own toddlers, anyway) and DH not overly keen - he will if I nag him, but there's always so much else to do at the weekend...

MrsKitty, is it possible for DD to sit in car seat in one of those playpen things and watch whilst DS swims with you?

My friend did that with DS2 whilst his mum and i swam with elder DD1s?

Can't remember if 15 weeks is beyond that amount of sitting / sleeping.. also dependent on your child.
My DD2 would be shuffling playpen seat and all over to pool in desperation to join in!

mummyjoon I sincerely doubt she'd go for that these days . I did enquire when she was smaller if we could do that but it's against council policy (health & safety I suppose) so we weren't able to, and the only private pools I'm aware of round here you need to be a in possession of an overpriced gym membership to use.

Will just have to keep nagging DH and go one weekend soon.

Our local sure start run free swimming sessions.
They have a couple of staff in the pool to help any mums who might need it.

I go to a free Surestart swimming session too (well, I've been twice now!), but strictly speaking that is 1 to 1 as well. There's an instructor who gets in the pool, but that's all - no extra adult capacity really.

one to one at our pool for under 6yo

I've done it 1 or 2 times a week since dd2 was 8wks old and dd1 was just 2. They are now almost 2 and almost 4. The key thing is to think about everything in advance. We have a playpen in changing rooms which helps enormously. I tend to sort dd2 out first and whilst dd1 sits in hooded towel with a snack. I then change into my underwear and top, then change dd1 then I can get into my jeans without too much effort cos my legs have dried off . We going during a weekday when its v. quiet and usually have the baby pool to ourselves.
With regards to actual swimming we stay in dd1s depth so she can stand, I used to hold onto to dd2 but now she stands on her own as well. I don't usually use floats and things but most other people use armbands or those float jackets. I tell them beforehand that they must stay near me, not splash other children, don't push, don't run and if I say stop they should do so immediately. I am v. strict in the pool if either of them breaks the 'rules' we leave no arguing even if we have been there 5mins. (I'm not normally this strict but I feel its important in somewhere like a pool)
Sorry for long post hth

I'm surprised at the one to one ratios some pools have - how incapable do they think parents are?

I'm also very strict when it comes to going swimming - absolutely no running, always hold my hand, keep armbands on etc.

purpleturtle, our surestart session is one of the times they also relax the ratio. So they don't need enough staff for the ratio - just to help out mums.

Thank you soooo much for all your posts. I will do the research at the pool- too snowed in to cope with the outing just yet

All the tips are fantastic and i can see that swimming could be possible. I agree, lay down the rules and stick to them, it's not a place to mess around!

I will let you all know how we get on!!

I do think it's a good idea to take your dd2 on her own first and see how she gets on - ds hated swimming until he was about 18 months and you can imagine how frustrating it was to get dd and him ready and then have to get out after 2 minutes because he was screaming.

After ds was 18 months I used to take both dcs swimming together regularly (dd is almost 2 years older) and dd would just swim around with a noodle. I too am surprised by the rules demanding a 1:1 ratio for under 6s. I would have thought parents would be capable of using their own judgement.