When did your child learn to swim?

[Washandblowdryplease]

Just curious after a conversation. My child is 3.5 and has been having lessons since 2. She absolutely loves it and is making progress. Great. It could be some time before she is properly swimming but that's fine.

My friend's DD is older and the mum was arguing that I was wasting time/ money starting so young.

I won't change my opinion. Not least because I feel my DD was overconfident around water and the lessons have improved her water safety no end.

I was just curious what other people have done and how it worked. So what age did your child learn to swim? And how long were they learning for?

If she likes it and you can afford it then it’s not a waste.

I think people stress out a lot about needing to start very very young, which isn’t really true, but needed and enjoyed/wanted aren’t the same thing.

My DD was 2.5 years old when she could swim unaided about three metres. It wasn't stylish mind! DS was just turned 3yo. Both had swimming lessons, and continue to do so. DD can now swim about 15m at 3.5 years old and does a solid face in the water doggy paddle. DS is 5.5 and working on strokes. I don't think you can start water confidence too early really.

They all started swimming lessons when in reception so 4/5. Older 2 did lessons until they got to the life saving (I think that’s what it was) level at which point they stopped, they would have been about 10 from memory, youngest did swimming lessons for 4 years and stopped at 8, his teacher was leaving and they couldn’t find anyone else to take over.
They can all swim fine, youngest still comes with me to swim regularly in a pool and the older 2 sometimes accompany me at the lake I swim in (but they’re fair weather outdoor swimmers and don’t come through the winter which is fair enough, it does get a little nippy!).
We wanted them to all be able to save themselves if they fell into water unexpectedly and know what to do in an emergency. Never been put to the test thankfully.

DH taught both to swim, but lessons for DC1 didn’t start until age 6 due to lockdown.

DC2 started lessons at 18 months and took to it like a duck to water, was independently swimming a width by age 3

We tried it a couple of times when my son was pre school age. Tried 2 different clubs and with both, felt he wasn't making much progress, it was a bit boring and wasn't teaching him to love swimming (quite the opposite and he has always loved water).

We just took him ourselves to leisure centres and let him splash around, swim with arm bands and generally have a great time.

He's now in Year 1 and has been having lessons since the summer and is progressing really quickly.

I think each child is different and each parent will know what works for their child.

(As a general point, hardly any of the activites we tried pre school were much of a success. I'm not convinced little ones need loads of classes and activities. I feel its a bit of a money spinner, with eager parents wanting to give their children lots of opportunity (nothing wrong with this) and fill up time.)

Not a waste at all, my ds was 3.5 when he started “proper” swimming lessons. He was a pretty competent swimmer by 4 (meaning he could dog paddle a couple of widths and I felt comfortable that he could get to the side if he fell in a swimming pool) and at 14 he’s a very strong, confident swimmer and he absolutely loves it.

I can’t see a downside really if you can afford it and she enjoys it.
it’s good exercise, has huge safety benefits and is a lot of fun.

If you watch levels 1-7 (which sadly I've spent far too many hours doing!), it's unusual to see many children noticeably smaller than the others in each class, despite all the baby/toddler swimming lessons on offer. It seems to largely even out and I'm really not convinced toddler lessons make much difference long term. It's pretty unusual to see a Reception age child in Level 4 or above, for example, though they might be in any of Levels 1-3. I remember reading that swimming competition outcomes for children can be largely predicted by height and weight until about age 10 and I do think size and strength probably plays quite a big part. If you/your child enjoy it then keep going but it might not make as big a difference as you think.

Started swimming lessons in Reception and could swim within a few months. I didn't think there was much point long before that - he would have been unlikely to listen to instructions or behave himself well enough.

I did vaguely think about starting lessons when he was a baby, but Covid put paid to that idea.

I taught my daughter to swim and she was able to manage a width when she was about 4 1/2.

Eldest refused to go in after the first lesson until 7, fine being in the pool, just hated lessons. Youngest was happy to go to lessons from age 3. Both were swimming confidently by the same age (8/9 ish? They’re adults now so I forget). So starting later made little to no difference in my experience.

Both mine did baby swimming lessons, it was one of the best thing we ever did for them, they then moved onto main swimming lessons, they've always really enjoyed swimming, when they both turned 16 they did life guard training and now work as casual lifeguards

My dd has had swimming classes/ lessons since 6months. She’s 15 now and on the national squad in her club. I can’t rem when she actually started properly swimming but I’d say around age 3,5/4. Keep at it. It’s such an important skill. I wish I’d had lessons when I was a kid.

I used to take DGD to toddler lessons (where you go in with them) until Covid put paid to it when she was about 2.5. She then started again with level 1 lessons when she was 4. DGS never went to toddler lessons due to Covid restrictions and also started level 1 when he was 4. He has actually gone through the levels quicker than she did and has almost caught her up although he is 3 years younger. I don't know about other pools, but at the one they went/go to none of the children start the proper lessons until age 4. Before that the classes are for mum (or in our case grandmother) to go in with them and are just for fun and to get them confident/used to the water - they are not really teaching them to swim at all. DGD used to absolutely love it but it obviously didn't give her any advantage once she got to the actual lessons so I guess the usefulness of toddler classes depends on what is actually on offer and what you are looking for.

I put all of mine into swimming lessons around 3. Vital skill IMO.

We used to take ours swimming, just playing, from when they were babies, but we didn't start lessons until they were 4, because they are just not developmentally ready to be able to follow instructions from a swimming instructor before then.
Ours started learning at a swimming club, and had (volunteer) teenagers from the club in the water with a swim teacher (in charge) on the side. Even with that wonderful addition, they wouldn't start them before they were 4.
In terms of 'when they could swim' that depends a bit on your definition of 'swim', how far / how many strokes / what other skills you mean.

DS went swimming from birth. By about 2 he could swim a few metres (under water). By 5 he could do a length. He loved the water and it was the one thing that would get him to sleep - would shower him and put him in PJs on the way home, he would have milk in the car and be falling asleep when we arrived home. Without swimming he was impossible!

My kids are 6 and nearly 3 and neither have had a single swimming lesson. But both have had fairly recent ops to have grommets in which is why.

Also have had issues with both of them being absolutely freezing going swimming despite me getting them shorty wetsuits.

My youngest could go off a springboard into 12 feet of water and swim to the side by age 5. Which she would do repeatedly! She started lessons around 3.5 and could swim short distances unaided by 4.

My older kids were 7 and 5. They started later.

Interesting variety of experiences. I am not really doing the lessons to get DD swimming earlier. It doesn't bother me. More for fun (she loves it) and because she is safer. She can get back to parent or edge by herself over a short distance.

Before we started lessons she was frustrated by needing help in the water.

Mine all did baby swimming classes but mainly as a fun activity, not really to get them swimming earlier. Having said that they were all young - DD was 2y10m to jump in and swim without aids, both DSs were 3yo - so maybe it did help. They all started swimming on holiday rather than in a swimming class. I think because swimming every day for a week helped them to gain confidence.

My DD started at 4 in private lessons and is still going at 9. She is a good swimmer and confident in all 4 strokes. I keep the lessons up as it’s such an important life skill and it’s still affordable. If lessons stopped I know she can swim but I don’t have the time to take her regularly outside of lessons and I’d rather she kept going regularly to keep up confidence.

At our primary the DC had lessons in y4 so age 8-9.
They walked to the swimming pool (shows how close it was).
I accompanied for a few years.

Roughly speaking 1/3 were complete non swimmers, 1/3 could do a bit, and 1/3 were reasonable and could do a length or more. Only about 3 each time were 'MN standard'.

If your child enjoys it then there's no harm in it. Personally both of us can't swim at all so we were really hardcore about our daughter learning so she went from 6 months and all through Covid on and off. Not going to lie it was tough as at some points she wasn't really enjoying it but at some point it just clicked with her and she never looked back.

She got her 1000m badge at 7 and swims with her club twice a week. She's by no means the fastest (as another poster says height and weight is probably the best predictor of speed until the variation in sizes evens out) but she's got good technique and will keep at it as it's one of the activities she enjoys the most.

Both times mine have started the term after their 4th birthday, however, pool safety and swimming rules etc are hammered into them from when they are tiny as my parents have a swimming pool in their garden.

My first could dive in and swim a length by age 4. My youngest can swim about half a width at 2.5. My nieces and nephews could swim a length by age 3-4. I thought this was about normal