Is it 'alright' to stop swimming lessons

[Monvelo]

At this point? DD is just turned 10, she's in stage 6 of the swim England scheme. She's had 6yrs of swimming lessons, give or take. She's had either 30 or even 40 lessons at stage 6. I don't know if she'll pass this time or not, find out later today. She doesn't want to go anymore so it's a struggle of nagging and arguments to get her there, although she's generally fine when she's there. If I 'let' her stop now, she's got lessons with the school in the spring and I will see about doing the lifeguard skills courses starting with bronze in the summer. Is this 'enough'?! I'm looking for validation to stop flogging this! DH wants her to keep it up. But he doesn't take her.

Yes it's OK to stop. DS stopped at stage 5. He just couldn't pass any more and was hating it. DH & I both said if he could swim a length, which he can, and save himself if he were to fall into water then that was good enough.

He's 15 now, and swims from time to time, is strong and confident.

yes of course. We are having the same convo as both of mine start stage 6 next week. After that we are wrapping up and they can swim for fun.
Most kids are done by now unless they want to swim competitively. Ask the teacher what they recommend. ☺️

What for though?
Why do they need to be able to do all that?

One of mine couldn't pass an earlier stage as she couldn't do a log roll. We pulled them both out vowing to go ourselves weekly, this was early March 2020! Obviously swimming was on hold and they actually didn't swim again til a holiday early 2022. Many holidays later, spending all day every day for a week in the pool, they're both very competent swimmers.

I'd say, if she can swim decently just save the money

I think you should stop when you want to. What about all the kids that can't swim as their parents can't afford to pay for lessons or take them swimming.

That’s partly why we switched to rookie lifeguarding!

I agree. I said no stopping until you’ve done the swimming in clothes!

We stopped near end of stage 6 - but mine were older as we started later in secondary already but they'd been kept down levels due to place shortages and we weren't given option of stopping and waiting.

They just had enough - and it was expensive and they could swim - we did free lessons they did here in holidays and were often more skilled than younger kids at higher levels. They also had better skills than most of their peers. Eldest did river based adventure trip and had her skills assessed for that - and she was one of the better ones and very safe.

I think I'd have like them to do a bit longer but they were done and it was costing a lot.

So she can do 50m of decent crawl, and I'd guess more than that of breast stroke /back stroke? Those are the ones you'd use for 'safety' swimming, not crawl and certainly not butterfly (no one 'needs' to learn that).

50 m functional swimming is enough to allow them to do other watersports like sailing. So for anyone who doesn't want to be a competitive swimmer, that and water safety training is job done imo.

Making her carry on when she doesn't want to may put her off swimming for fun/exercise when she's older.

DD does swimming in secondary as her school has a pool, unusually. She says half of the kids in her class can’t swim, @Iloveeverycat. She’s in year 9 and they’ve had a term of swimming every year since year 7 and before that at primary.

So it is worth kids learning to swim when they can since they don’t necessarily seem to learn later. We stopped when ours got their 200m badge but 100m is probably fine. Each child has gone swimming with friends in secondary but it does seem to have tailed off now - youngest 13. They also swim safely in the sea on holiday.

If DH wants to keep her at it, then DH can be the "swim dad" and take over full responsibility for the swimming.

Pack the swim bag, nag the child, bring her to the pool, get her dried and dressed and hair brushed, bring her home, wash and dry togs and towel, pack bag, nag the child, and do it all again next week and the week after that and the week after that... And don't forget signing her up and paying for the next session before the deadline.

A lot of men like to organise the time of other people. Someone must have told them once that delegation is the mark of a good manager. It's the mark of a poor partner.

she can pick it up later if she changes her mind, it's not like there's an age limit and she obviously knows enough already to be safe.

Well said. I agree.

I'd add some basic first aid, and safety around bodies of water - what is a rip tide and what to do if caught in one, for example.

If she doesn’t want to go anymore then just stop. She won’t be progressing, so you’re just spending money and driving her around for nothing.
This applies to all activities, btw.
She can swim. Probably better than many kids actually can. Leave it there and maybe find a different activity that she would like to try instead. Swimming is dull.

I don't think you can force her. But swimming is an important skill and I wouldn't be happy with a child who struggled to do 'a couple of lengths' before she ran out of breath tbh.

Swimming pools are static - no tide and really the churn from other lanes is quite minimal when they're that young and if there are effective ropes in place - so she should be able to do far more by ten. That being said, this sounds more like a fitness issue than anything else so if she's got her technique, maybe switch her to a sport she does enjoy?

I don't say that to be nasty but by ten years old I would expect a child of average fitness who has been swimming for six years to be able to do far more than two lengths before she got out of breath.

I'd let her stop. I put my eldest 4 through swimming lessons. Not one of them has been near a pool for 15 years plus!

My 5th - as soon as she could swim, we let her stop. She was about 6. She's 17 now and never goes swimming.

If you are a very sporty family and your dd is athletic and interested in sports generally, maybe break rather than stop.

One word of warning though - it is important to let your child push through some things. When i was a kid my mum had me at piano lessons for years, brownies and guides. I really hated all three. But i wasn't allowed to leave and i think it did me good as an adult. To learn to stick at things.

Because of my experience, i went the other way with my own kids and one in particular (adult now) cannot stick at anything. He never stuck long at anything as a kid. So, just be sure to see she hasn't just hit a bit of a block and needs support to push through, before pulling her out.

But swimming is an important skill and I wouldn't be happy with a child who struggled to do 'a couple of lengths' before she ran out of breath tbh.

The op didn't say the child couldn't do more of other strokes. I think it's not at all uncommon to not be able to swim more than a length or two of crawl at a time but to be able keep going with a steady breast or back stroke. I'd guess many people are likewise. It's like running fast vs jogging.

Because as they get older, and they go swimming without adults present and/or in places that aren't as safe as the local recreation centre, they need to be confident and competent. Children learning to swim at a lovely safe calm pool need to be strong swimmers otherewise they don't stand a chance when they're teenagers hitting the beach with their friends. Particularly as teenagers all think they're tougher and more competent than they really are and can too easily get into trouble.

They have to know how to push their own boundaries and conserve their strength etc whiel also what their own boundaries are.

My eldest DD did one term of lessons but hated them, my youngest has never had a lesson. They can both swim as well as they need to (we taught them), which given how often we go swimming (primarily on holiday) is not much.

Many teens who drown in open water are strong swimmers, but that doesn’t save anyone from cold water shock or strong currents.

Recent statistics show that 71% of child drowning deaths between ages 13-17 were swimmers. https://www.rlss.org.uk.

I grew to hate swimming lessons as a child, and to this day would not choose it as a form of exercise.

I would want mine to me able to do 400m strong front crawl without stopping, be able to float and swim on their backs with pretty minimal effort and be able to tread water for a long period without getting tired.
2 lengths and then needing a rest won’t cut it if you get caught in a rip.

That’s really sad some of them can’t swim at that age. Have they not learnt after all those lessons?!

I think if you rely on school swimming lessons it’s just not enough to learn, @fashionqueen0123

I think this is a good guide but also need to factor in age - the ops dc is year 6 so older and has the benefit of that. Whereas my dc have both been able to tick these off well by the time they were 6-7 years old so if I stopped their lessons at that point they would lose so much due to being younger.

Yeah I would too for the one term for the national curriculum, but not for kids doing it every week for years. What are they doing!