Swimming lessons??

[dribbleface]

Looking for lessons for DS1 (4 in July), but all the ones with his age group are for the children to go in the pool without me. I know he will freak out over this, he does do swimming but is nervous without me.

Any one had this, do they do classes for this age where you go in?

I would just go to mum and baby swim time stuff tbh if that's how he feels and leave swimming lessons until he's feeling a bit more confident. Presumably he'll be starting school in September?

My DS started lessons in November when he was nearly 5 and has gone from a very nervous swimmer to being massively water confident in six months. But he really wasn't ready before then and I'm glad I waited.

The swim school we go to lets parents go in for a few sessions until they are happier. I have only ever seen people have to go in once or twice and then they see that none of the others have their parents and it's all fine and go from there. My friend's DD had individual lessons with her for half a term to get her confident enough to join a class, but she was older.

we had similar with ds1.... he is now 8 and is very confident in the water but until around 12 months ago he was very freaked out by the idea of going to a lesson on his own.

we taught him ourselves.... using the lessons "plans" here . we printed out the certificates too to give him whenever he achieved the next step. He can now do a front crawl and backstroke..... and more importantly is confident floating/ can tread water.

plus we probably saved a small fortune in lessons :)

Are you sure he won't be ready? My DD will be 4 in Aug, and has been going to these type of lessons since last Oct. It's a small group (around 6 here) and the instructors are fantastic. Some of the children are very nervous at first, but tend to settle quickly. Also, at our pool if the child is really unhappy the carer can get in with them for the first lesson or two, or sit by the edge.

Maybe talk to the swimming teachers and see how they usually deal with anxious children- I expect they're used to it.

I've always taken DC4 swimming since she was tiny. Did lessons at the pool for the best part of two years. Total waste of time and money.

When I took her she wouldn't let go of me and I couldn't teach her to swim. So we did 1:1 lessons, and intensive courses during the holidays (half an hour each day for 5 days). She can swim (in about 3 months she went from nervous non-swimmer to confident able swimmer) but more importantly she absolutely loves it.

I would say take him for fun and do a beginners holiday course in a year or two.

We thought that ds2 would be like this. He had been to swimming lessons where you go in with them, but we changed to leisure centre lessons when he was 4. They go in on there own and I was worried he would back out, BUT, he was fine and infact flourished, doing much better than in the other lessons. we could do a trial month of lessons, so we didnt have to commit to anything,could you do this Sometimes LO's surprise you.

Thanks everyone, might look at the intensive holiday courses.

Thanks for the plans severnofnine, might give that a shot.

I am sure he won't go in without me, he's very clingy and sensitive at times, I'm just a bit worried for him as his school has a pool (starts Sept) and want him to be more confident then. Perhaps just more frequent swimming with me might help.

missmapp - think i need to call around and see whats on offer/speak to instructors.

If he's going to be swimming at school from such a young age, I'd be inclined to get him 3 1:1 lessons.

You may find that without you there, and everyone else doing it, he gets on with it anyway.

I have to admit that swimming is a big thing in my head, having not been taught to swim as a child (so embarrassing all the way through school) so I've done everything possible to make sure they can swim from a young age.

Tbh, I took DS every week without fail but he didn't increase in confidence. His swimming teacher has totally transformed him though. He has lessons with Swimtime - the classes have about 4-5 kids in them and he has made as much progress in 6 months as my friend's DD has in two years so it's well worth paying a bit extra.

I don't think they take children until they're 4 though but I might be wrong about that.

DDs were both quite nervous and I really wanted to get them better to enjoy swimming on holiday as much as anything else. I started taking them every week and after a couple of months they were so much more confident. Then they both did the intensive lessons at half term in Feb. Getting goggles made a HUGE difference for DD1 (who's 4 - DD2 who's 3 won't wear them properly so they leak but do stop the splashes). Goggles let her see that the floor of the pool was there and now she does lessons on her own every week (she's naturally a very shy child - will sit with me for the first hour of parties etc) and loves it. Good luck :)

Hi, we have been with Puddle Ducks, they are a fantastic company and let you stay in with the kids! They are all really lovely people and the classes are fab.

Given the cost of swimming lessons I decided I'd only send my children to them when they could doggy paddle a width on their front and back. Someone else can give them the basic strokes.

ime, swim lessons for under 5s tend to be waste of money, or at least, the money is better spent when they are a bit over 5; they pick it up quickly at that point.

Swimming as a family is good for age 3-5.

I think you need to check what the school does with them at pool, my guess is very little until at least y1.