Is it worth bothering with Swimming Lessons?

[rhubarb84]

Posting in Scotsnet as this kind of relates to the Scottish Swimming set up.
Pre-COVID I had my 2 DC in swim lessons. One had been in the same class for all of P1 and half of P2, and was still a long way off finishing Swim Skills 1.

As I remember, to finish Swim Skills 1 and move up to the next level, they had to have mastered some kind of backcrawl. My DS was hopeless at this, he just couldn't float on his back. (Skinny boy, not much body fat). So he was stuck in this level of class and getting pretty bored.
The swimming lessons are finally starting up again and I'm wondering what to do. I do really want my kids to learn to swim!

But 18 months on, DS is even skinnier with even less body fat, I really don't see that he's going to be able to float and swim on his back.
Any experiences or suggestions?

Are there swimming teachers / lessons in Scotland that don't follow the really rigid Scottish Swimming framework?
(I do get that being able to float and/or swim on your back is a pretty helpful skill to survive in the water!)

Not a Scottish response but I found that ds, though he quite enjoyed swimming lessons in theory, hardly progressed at all. We then had a week's holiday in a holiday camp place with a pool, he swam with me every day for a week, and by the end he could swim a length. We never worried about it again.

Maybe the lessons gave him a bit of background, but tbh I wish we hadn't bothered. We used to have a row every time as well because it exhausted him.

I don't think that him being skinny has anything to do with him not being able to float on his back. He just needs more practice at it. I wouldn't stop with swimming lessons as they are a very important life skill

Do they still do the star float?
Lie on back with arms and legs open in a star shape and try and stick their bum up as far as possible. If you're in the pool with them then use your hand to help get their bum into position. That's what helps them float

Get private lessons where they are 1:1 or maybe up to four in a class. Mine progressed much quicker like this and I wish I'd done it earlier. The Scottish swimming levels are quite rigid, imho no-one needs to learn butterfly unless they are in a club and the club could teach it. Find a swim school that isn't just a franchise but has really passionate experienced teachers.

Being on your back is learning how to tread water safely,its a good life skill

Floating on your back has very little to do with body fat. Is he tipping his head right back aim for the water to be on his hairline. This will bring his legs up and if he does gentle kicks that will help too. Kids often panic and tuck their chin in which stops them from floating.

Being skinny has nothing to do with being able to float on your back.

Maybe try and inteiave course for your ds rather than weekly lessons? Or small group private lessons, although these are mor expensive he might learn quicker so overall it will balance out.

I do think this cohort of children will be set back and take longer to be competent swimmers as there's been so much disruption to their lessons. Also they haven't had as much chance to go 'fun' swimming as all the pools have been closed. My ds1 had completed the Scottish Swimming framework by 6 and a half. My ds2 is 7yrs and is still on swim skills 1b.

I has similar scenario with DC1.
Progressed quite well 1st term and then got stuck.
After a year I took her out of the lessons and gave her a break for few months.
Then we rejoined classes at different pool/ teacher and she came on leaps and bounds.

We didn't do the classes the whole way up the levels. Packed them in when they could swim a length easily and we just went swimming as a family, loads on time in pool on holiday.

Get private lessons if you can afford them. My middle child was nearly swimming by himself at 3 when the lockdown happened. He has just started back again and should be swimming properly within a few weeks (he is 4). My toddler will be swimming independently by 2.5 years old if he carries on with private lessons (which he will). My 9 year old took years to learn to swim and it took private lessons eventually to get him swimming.

I found Becky adlington swimstars good because to a certain level they are in the pool with them. My son moved from council lessons when he was 8 or 9 and greatly improved after being stuck at same level for 2 years.

Better results with more intensive or private lessons - every day in the holidays or a week rather than 20 mins once a week. Mine did swimming lessons for a couple of years, 20 mins a week and hardly any progress and I wish I'd switched sooner to something more effective for us.

I'm in Scotland. Out lessons went back the first week of the summer holidays.

Both my kids were swim skills 2, and they've gone back into swim skills 2 but I can see that they've regressed a bit so probably going to be there longer than they would have. I'm going to keep going with it though as it is a very important life skill.

Floating and back crawl have nothing to do with how thin he is. Its skill. He needs to learn it. I'm guessing he just messes about and isnt trying since he feels he is "stuck" and you're at home telling him that he cant do it because he is too skinny. That's not why. He needs to work on his technique; that's a perfectly good reason to keep him in the level he is.

@mapleleavesreturn

Better results with more intensive or private lessons - every day in the holidays or a week rather than 20 mins once a week. Mine did swimming lessons for a couple of years, 20 mins a week and hardly any progress and I wish I'd switched sooner to something more effective for us.

If it is the same all round Scotland then lessons are 40 minutes, not 20.

Children need to learn to swim. I see too many children drowning and a lot of children been left alone on the beach while their friends have a whale of the time swimming in the sea. I wouldn't want my child to be either of those. As you say, it might just actually save their life if they should fall into water one day.

That's not to say they necessarily need to have formal lessons, although they are good if you want them to be strong swimmers and have good form (I wanted mine to because we live very close to the beach); you can teach him yourself. Or do a combination. But do get him taught.

The floating thing sounds like a confidence issue, not a body composition issue. He needs to be able to relax in the water and put his 'belly to the sky'. You can spend time in the water with him getting him to do this while playing with toys and joking around. this way, it doesn't feel arduous. Once he has confidence, he will progress.

I was the skinniest child and back crawl was my "thing" so I'd say his build is a red herring.

He needs to learn to float (head back, tummy up, bottom down). If he gets the position right then it's almost impossible for it not to work - if his tummy starts to cave back down and his chin tips forwards he'll start to sink.

Once he's got floating sorted then back crawl is the same sort of arched back, tummy, head position. Kick legs and you're moving whether you use your arms or not. Use arms and you're going faster.

If you are in Edinburgh or Glasgow I would take a look at Swimeasy. They do group classes (teachers in the water with beginners) and teach right up to club ready level. The framework of their program is very good and they have a sticker system which my children found motivating. I don’t think body fat has a huge amount to do with it. My kids were both very skinny and progressed ok.

Thanks all.
OK, maybe it's not a build issue meaning he can't float. (Think I'd seen it mentioned as a possible issue on previous posts about swimming). It doesn't really matter what the reason is, it could be confidence or concentration or whatever.

He's watched all the RNLI programmes so he knows floating is important!
I will definitely look into private / intensive lessons, the weekly council group class really doesn't seem to be the best format, especially once a child is stuck and making no progress.

I always failed at swimming lessons too and never progressed because I don't float. I don't even float in the sea. Not when I was wee and not now.
But I am a really good swimmer - crawl, breaststroke and backstroke. I just can't float, I have to keep at least my legs or arms sculling at all times. I had to learn myself in the end.
Could you try another teacher/pool? Forget about the class progression and focus on your dc learning to be a better swimmer, whatever that means for him? Or if the teachers only do the specific classes, can you teach him yourself? Backstroke does not require you to be able to float on your back so long as you are moving then the propulsion keeps you on the surface. How about trying to learn the arms while holding a float between feet, and vice versa?

Council classes can be a hit or a miss at times depending on the teacher and who else is in the class. I once had mine assessed as passing a level at the end of a term and then at the end of the next term they said how well they'd done and gave them a certificate for the same level again....

In the main I just stuck with it. The lessons are comparatively cheap, it was a bit of exercise every week and they could swim pretty soon after starting even if it took time to get the techniques to the standard.

Mine started as toddlers and I think were about 14 when they'd finished all levels plus all the life-guard levels but no idea now what level at what age - they seemed to be in class with kids around a year older and a year younger so probably age appropriate progress.

I don't swim well - but I'm an amazing floater! Never had any lessons, a bit afraid of the water. Dh swims pretty well and is confident but he learned by himself in the river. I guess for me I wanted them to have confidence and skill and for DH he wanted them to know the strokes well so as to make swimming enjoyable.

I don't regret the years of lessons. I'd stick with it OP. Just tell him he can't quit until he's finished so he'd better make the effort to progress.

@Dentistlakes

If you are in Edinburgh or Glasgow I would take a look at Swimeasy. They do group classes (teachers in the water with beginners) and teach right up to club ready level. The framework of their program is very good and they have a sticker system which my children found motivating. I don’t think body fat has a huge amount to do with it. My kids were both very skinny and progressed ok.

I am, thanks for the suggestion, looks great!

I would recommend Mighty Swimmers in the central area.

Hi OP - I was going to come on and recommend swim easy but I see that someone has already done this. We started with to Council run lessons pre-school and it was OK getting him used to water but that was about it. DS didn't learn particularly well with the instructor shouting from poolside. DS eventually switched to 1 to 2 lessons with Swimeasy and my god the difference - the focus on intensive support and the swim instructor actually being in the water has made a world of difference.

We paid for an intensive course,couldn't be fecked trailing along every week for years
They learned the basics then swam a lot on holidays

In our experience when ds got 'stuck' and wasn't progressing at all (he'd actually regressed quite badly), we paid for 1 to 1 lessons and the intensive nature of it led to loads more progress than messing about in the pool for half an hour once a week. We also now as a family go 'fun' swimming a couple of times a week on top of the lessons to get practice in which seems to help.

I’d also recommend SwimEasy. Mine made so much progress with them, really quickly. Small classes, lovely teachers. They also did classes at the same time for my different age/level children.