My 2.5yr old DS has been taken swimming since being a baby but probably only once a month or so on average. He likes going, likes splashing about, can get in and out at the side independently, but now does not like floating, even when supported. He is tall so the small pool is mostly within his depth. He has in the past held on to a float and done some kicking or copied us kicking but recently not so keen and likes feet firmly on the pool floor.
My MIL tried to take him swimming and put a float and armbands thing on him- he screamed the place down and they only lasted 5 minutes in there. This has now become a huge problem that something must be done about. She says her boys could swim long before they started lessons, that we haven't taken him swimming enough, and he should be tolerating floats and close to swimming by now. It really made me feel I'd let DS down. We were waiting until he is 3 to start the council lessons as that's the age they start from, the baby lessons were £17 each which I felt was a bit much. DH feels his mum is misremembering and actually thinks they learnt to swim more like early primary age.
However now I've googled and loads of websites insist 18 month olds can swim and now I feel really guilty. We could drive him to another pool in a different borough where they do lessons for 2 year olds, but I'm a bit worried that at the moment he might not want to do the tasks or take part and I don't want to put him off the pool totally by forcing a structured activity on him. At the same time I obviously want to make it easiest on him to learn and don't want it to be harder later!
I was looking for experiences and advice!