Hi all, I'm really not sure which way to go with this. Dd is 4 next month. She's due to start Preschool swimming lessons on Friday. She will be with a small group of friends, with two instructors. No parents in the pool. Dd's got very low water confidence. We've taken her swimming sporadically her whole life, including a few courses of lessons when she was younger. In the build up to the preschool lessons I've taken her swimming every weekend all summer. She's got a bit better, but won't really let go of me. I struggle to persuade her to let go of my neck. She will hold onto a noodle or ball to play but nearly always has one or two limbs hanging onto me. It's amazing how she can twist a foot around me! The best she's ever done is when we bump into a friend at the pool, when she'll let go of me and do some independent doggy paddle with her noodle under her arms. Height wise she can't touch the bottom of the pool.
So do I carry on with lessons and hope she copies her friends, her instructors give her more confidence, and that she's actually better without me there?
Or do I risk putting her off?
Do I cancel and take her swimming more myself for now and just focus on having fun in the water?
Outside of the pool she talks about swimming all the time and cries to stay when we get out of the pool. But she's only just twigged that I won't be in the pool with her during her lessons and was upset.