How old were your dc when they could swim?

[Greencordpinkflower]

Just wondering how old children tend to be when they can swim independently (I don’t mean you’d let them in the pool alone but when you don’t have to hold onto them!)

Both mine had their 5m badge at around 4. They got it at the end of 'baby' swimming classes before going into classes without parents in the water.

Mine were four and five.

I’ve never held onto them except as babies. We used armbands from 1, DD started lessons at 3.5, we still used the armbands outside of swimming lessons for a bit but by 5 she was swimming well enough to ditch them.

DD was about 5. DS is nearly 6 and still has to/wants to be held onto in the pool most of the time but is starting to attempt to swim by himself a bit, can swim maybe 3 or 4 metres now so long as I catch him at the end.

Thanks, I was starting to worry we were very behind but maybe not!

About 5 or 6 if you mean being able to swim more than a couple of metres and turn to the side or onto their backs to breathe.

Independent by 3, swim club by 5.
i had access to a pool from day 1.
3 kids in under 3 years I had to act quickly.

Older one a bit over 5

Younger one pushing 6 and can doggy paddle a bit but not confident yet.

Those konfidence jackets where you take the floats out 1-2 at a time are good, though I think I ditched it a little early for younger child.

DS is 4.5 and did his 5 metres about 6 months ago. He still wears a swim vest at waterparks but if we’re at the local pool he’s independent (with us close by in the pool as well of course)

My daughter could swim really really early. She was about 1. She didn't walk until 18 months but swam like a fish. I took her couple times a week to leisure centre swimming- and during summer we had a pool nearby we could use whenever we wanted so took her in every day. She was absolutely tiny for her age too so used to look so weird swimming without arm bands or woggle etc. she's now 13 and still part mermaid 😂

MN kids tend to be younger than kids I've observed in real life. All the kids in stage 1 at our leisure centre are about 5ish, and the Stage 3s are top end of 6 or 7. I woule say the stage 3s are the first stage really swimming independently. A lot of older kids couldn't swim until 7 or older too, because of lessons being interrupted by covid.

Thanks, I was reading a thread where people acted surprised a 3 yo couldn’t swim!

4 for DD1, I think DD2 will swim earlier. Both did Water Babies.

Mine is nearly 7 and neither he nor several in his class can swim. Maybe an event of covid?

DS has been in the water for lessons without me from 3, he's 4 nearly 5 now and can swim a width unaided , but there are older children in his class who can't. He's had swimming classes from 12 weeks, there are others just starting lessons now at 4/5

I think they were 6. Maybe 5 going on 6. That was with quite a lot of water time.

Mine could all swim 5m unaided by the time they were 3 because we did baby swimming (I can swim but am not happy in the water so wanted them to be confident in the pool - learning to swim was a bonus!)

Thanks, I was reading a thread where people acted surprised a 3 yo couldn’t swim!

That's ridiculous! I mean, mine could swim by 3 but I recognise that it's unusual!

We did baby swimming too @SoupDragon so maybe he should be … don’t know.

Covid really affected swimming lessons obviously. Then there were huge waiting lists. I think 5/6 would have been an average age before but lots of kids 7/8 can't swim because they lost a couple of years.

Eldest by 4/5 but then the others were younger with each child as they got dragged along with older ones to the pool.

A lot of luck with circumstances isn't it?

A few years back I used to go with the primary school to school swimming lessons y4, so age 8/9.
At least 1/3rd of the class generally couldn't swim at all at the start, another 1/3rd could swim a bit but not do a length. Final 1/3rd were competent/good. This is in a small town with a pool you could walk to from the school.

What age children learn to swim is very dependent on demographics.

My DD was 5 and both DS's were 6. By then they could swim 25 meters. Which is what I consider swimming rather than struggling a few metres.

I really think it's not worth worrying about. Unless you have particular circumstances where swimming is essential, the whole "life skill"
malarkey is just marketing for insanely expensive swimming lessons.

My daughter is 4.5 and has attended swimming since she was 2 months old. (She did have breaks for Covid but both times it was the bare minimum as it was a private pool so the second lockdown was lifted we were back.) She still can’t swim unaided (can swim a width with a noodle or float) and is only just about to start lessons without a parent in the pool. However the other 2 kids who were with her since the beginning did move in to non parent classes months ago and one of them I know was swimming unaided by 4 so maybe my daughter is just particularly unteachable! I think she will be swimming unaided by 5 though.

I agree kids on mumsnet swim earlier than real life kids. It’s massively demographic dependent as swimming usually isn’t cheap. I used to teach y4 in a fairly deprived area and as above, around 1/3 could swim competently in the first lesson, 1/3 could swim a little bit and 1/3 couldn’t swim at all - and some never had been in a pool until school lessons at 8/9! I now work in a private school though and there is only 1 child in the whole of y3-6 who can’t swim a couple of lengths, and she didn’t join us until y4. All the ones who have been with us since reception can swim by y2 at the absolute latest.

Soupdragon..... are you the original
Soup dragon??? ❤️