My eldest now 11yo didn't have formal swimming lessons until last autumn. We took her to baby swimming and then tried lessons when she was 3 years old but she's had bad experience (teacher grabbed her by her arm and dunked her twice in the water because she was reluctant to jump in - at that point she only had few lessons at this point) and understandably refused to go back after this. We went on family swims from time to time and she's had good water confidence, was able to float and enjoyed diving to retrieve toys etc. She did two terms swimming with school and she actually learnt to swim breaststroke without swimming aids even at the deep end. We then faced year long wait for opening in lessons for suitable age group. She had to start in teaching pool with much younger children which she was embarrassed about but she was immediately placed stage 3 and is now in stage 4 in big pool. But she's still the oldest and although she's still very enthusiastic and making good progress ( after 4 weeks her progress is 45%) I can tell she's a bit deflated that all her peers are so much further along and I feel terribly guilty. Unfortunately money is very tight so individual lessons are not an option. We recently got family membership so dad is taking her and her sister twice a week in addition to weekly lessons. It's just fun swimming but I wonder whether he should take her on her own to lane swimming? Or do you have any other tips on how to help her progress? I can't swim at all, where I grew up there was no school swimming and I was raised by single mum who had fear of water so it's very important for me that my two can swim properly. Not only that but my eldest is not a sporty type at all and swimming is the only physical activity she enjoys. I repeatedly tell her how proud I am of her and her persistence despite being embarrassed of being the oldest etc but just want to pick your brains about anything else we can do to help her along.