Swimming lessons for total beginner age 3.5

[Peonyyyy]

Our son is going to be starting swimming lessons soon, he went as a baby with me just to play in the water mostly and has gone in the sea a bit on holiday (just in the UK). Due to cost he hasn’t been to a swimming pool often and classes were too expensive. I also had another baby recently so haven’t been able to take him as I can’t look after both in a pool, and didn’t want to take up weekends swimming with him until now because that’s time that we like to all be together (with my husband as he works in the week).

it transpired today that the class he’s enrolled in just has parents on the side, I thought I would be in the pool with him as he’s a beginner so I queried this and they then said they could put him on a different class where I can be in the water.

I just don’t think he’ll want to be in the water alone until he’s learnt the basics, the pool is not shallow (I can stand up in it at one end but not at the other) I like swimming although haven’t done it much since having the kids (which is fine) but I do want to get to a point where we all enjoy swimming together.

just wondered if anyone else started swimming lessons at this age and was in the water with them, or is that really uncommon?

it's fine, they wouldn't do it if they didn't know what they were doing!

I would imagine there is a teaching pool they use or they have instructors in the water. No swimming instructors are putting kids in a pool where they can't touch the bottom unaccompanied.

If you feel more confident in the water with him then swap classes but personally I've found they pay more attention when it's others in the water with them.

@MiddleAgedDread when I reminded them he was a beginner they moved him to a different class where I can be in the water. Afterwards I just wondered if it’s abnormal that I assumed I’d be in the water with him if he’s a beginner! I don’t get how they could do it with 5 total beginners and one teacher in the pool in water where they can’t touch the bottom..?

My DD is very shy and started at 3. The teachers get in the pool with them until they have passed a couple of stages. She loves it.

@Spies its 5 pupils and one teacher? The water is too deep for children to touch the bottom but they have pool floats, but I don’t think he’d be comfortable

stop projecting your anxiety onto your child!
They use floats and woggles and hold onto the side of the pool. At that age it's about water confidence not learning stroke technique.

@SeptOrganisation was she a beginner when she started? I’m just not sure how one instructor can hold up 5 children 🙃 so it sounds like they are expecting them to have confidence and experience in the water but maybe I’m wrong.

I might just drop them an email to clarify

@MiddleAgedDread i don’t have anxiety…? I love swimming…

just asking how it works, not asking to be attacked

All the swim schools I looked at have children in the water with just the teacher from aged 3 onwards. He would be fine unless he has a fear of water.

My 1st DC started at 3.5 and loved it, I’ll be sending my 2nd as soon as he’s 3.

@Bournetilly at 3 are they expecting them to have more experience though and not be complete beginners would you say?

At all the schools around here she would be in the water with them at that age and they would use floats and the side but also be in a shallower pool. If you don't want that and don't feel comfortable they've offered you a reasonable alternative.

Yeah from 3 kids go in the pool alone, if you want to do the baby classes then you go in with them, but I’m surprised there let a 3.5 year old in and he’d stand out!

My son started just after he was 3 but he had been doing waterbabies since 4 months old. He was obviously the most confident in the water as he’d already been doing it for years, but it was nice to see week on week the other kids getting more confident. Some cried the first week or two, but they are used to handling it, I’m sure your son will be fine!

My DS has been going to parent-and-child classes and we now need to switch him to one where parents are not allowed in, and he's quite worried about it. I reckon if you treat it as normal from the start, you can skip this clingy phase with your DS and he'll probably learn faster. I'd give it a go and then let them swap you into a different class if it's really not working.

Also, I do get that it's nice to spend time together at the weekends, but can't your DH come swimming too in that case with the baby? It's not like you'd need to spend more than about half an hour in the pool so it doesn't need to take up much of the weekend.

No definitely not. My DC had no experience when they started other than swimming on holidays with arm bands and occasionally going to the near by water park.

They started lessons with no arm bands at 3.5 with 4 children in the class.

Yes, she was definitely the least confident. She has just turned 4 and can swim around 5 meters with a woggle and jumps in unaided. At ours they can touch the floor so they stand at the side next to the lifeguard whilst the teacher takes one across at a time. I'd imagine if they can't touch the floor they will wait on the side until their turn.

Having a confident older child I think my DD learned quicker as she listens very carefully whereas DS thought he knew better than the teacher and did his own thing at that age.

When my DD started, also in a group at age 3 without parents, they had blocks they put at one end of the pool to make it shallower then the kids took turns swimming from one end to the other with the instructor. It’s a pretty normal age to start. It’s not like the other kids will be experienced swimmers at that age so the school must have a way of dealing with it safely. I’d do a trial to at least see how DC gets on, often they surprise especially when they’re amongst their peers they often just want to copy along. Worst case they don’t like it, pause for 6 months and try again when they’re 4.

This is how my local pool works ... although with up to 8 kids. My DC hadn't swum since I was on maternity leave and started at about 3.5. Unfortunately the first class was a bit hectic and ahe freaked out a bit, so it took her a while to get back into the pool over the next several weeks. She now (at 4.5) loves being g in (and mostly under) the water! they use pool noodles to keep them above the water.

Presumably they'll use armbands or floats? The teacher will take one at a time to swim a length or practice a stroke.

Mine started swimming lessons age 4.5 in a pool he couldn't touch the bottom in. Not super deep, but deep enough - he can only just touch the bottom now at 6. He had armbands on at all times unless the teacher was actively teaching him. Two adults in the pool at all times, sometimes three (I guess there must be a ratio).

In our council lessons, at age 3 they have both parent and child lessons and also lessons without a parent. I opted for parent and child lessons as I quite enjoyed doing lessons with my dd. When I switched to lessons without a parent, we were able to pay for private lessons (one teacher with 2 students) which was more reassuring.

I think if you're concerned, just take the parent and child lessons to start. I think you can give a few week's notice to switch, so if he seems confident enough you can change to the other lessons. I'm sure both options are safe (although I think the group lessons without a parent are less efficient as they rely more on float aids and the children have to spend more time waiting while they all take turns).

I’m a swimming teacher.

Op you would be blown away by the number of parents who hand their - sometimes ready, sometimes no where near ready - just turned 3 yo (so often literally on their actual birthday) over to swimming teachers and wander off to the cafe to look at their phone.

at our pool, and big national company, the depth is deeper than they can stand, and we take up to 8 children from the day they turn 3. This is within Swim England guidelines.

it’s too many, dangerous and I refuse to teach this class.

I’ve been teaching for 20 years and think the guidelines should be updated, because as a cohort 3 yr olds don’t have the core strength they had 20 years ago, and can topple forward even in armbands, as they have zero core. Some can’t even climb out the steps.

well done op for actually considering if your child is ready. I’d say 50% of our new 3 yos aren’t ‘ready’. And by ready I don’t mean swimming ability, I mean listening ability and ability to take instructions. The last class I had after which I refused to do it again, had a child take off their armband at one area, (unable to follow instructions not to take off) and as I rushed over to him, carrying two more kids clinging to me petrified, a further child now behind me started to do the same to his.

and don’t get me started on the ‘Anna can already swimmer without armbands, she doesn’t need them.’ 🤦 ‘rather obviously, how Anna swims with a parent 121 nearby is completely different to a class of 8.’

My experience was that classes when the parents were in the pool were just water play - great for water confidence but you aren’t actually learning to swim - while “proper” swimming lessons only have the teacher. Where my kids went they had various blocks they’d put on the bottom so the kids can stand up, use floats/kickboards, get them used to holding on the side of the pool, etc. Trust them - they know what they are doing!

Maybe do a few sessions of the parent and child class you are now in to see whether they are actually teaching swimming. If not, ask to move to the most junior level if proper swimming lessons.

Thank you everyone, just spoke with a friend who did these classes with their child who is the same age and had the same concerns and ended up with the class were now going to (where you get in the pool with them) they said they found out the ‘3+’ class they were originally put in actually has more like 6+ age in it and was not at all suitable, and the ‘baby’ class actually had 3 and 4 year olds.

@arethereanyleftatall thank you for talking sense! 😊

My daughter and my friends son both started lessons at the same time in two different pools at 3.5. I was in the pool with my daughter and my friends son was in the pool on their own

Until they start school at my pool they can be in the learner pool with parent. The situation in our pool was that the parents sat on the steps and the instructor gave instructions and did the swimming lesson. When necessary the parent stepped in to help their child do the exercises. When a child was new they needed more support as they progressed the parents left them to it working towards being independent by the time they were ready to started stage 1.