NOW CLOSED Talk to Speedo about children learning to swim and be in with a chance of winning 1 of 3 £50 Speedo vouchers

[TheOtherHelenMumsnet]

As part of the work we're doing with Speedo, we want to find out what you think about all things swimming-related. Here's what Speedo say about what they're doing: "With new research revealing that 40% of British children can't swim, Speedo has teamed up with Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington and her mum Kay to launch a new learn to swim competition, in a bid to empower parents and children to take the plunge, have fun and get in the pool."

We've provided a few questions to get you started but please feel free to add any other comments you have. Everyone who adds their comments here will be entered into a prize draw to win one of three £50 Speedo vouchers to spend in store or online.

This thread is open to all MNers. Please note that your comments may appear (anonymously) on the Speedo pages on Mumsnet, and potentially elsewhere.

~ Do you think it's important to encourage children to learn to swim? If so, what do you think is the right age to start encouraging them? If you don't think it's important, why is that?

~ Who do you think should take the main responsibility for teaching children to swim? Should it be swimming teachers, schools/nurseries, parents/other family members, or the government, or a combination of all of those?

~ If you have a child who has learnt or is learning to swim, have you been helping to teach them? If so, do you feel confident doing this or a bit out of your depth? (no pun intended!) Do you feel your teaching is working?

~ Does/did your child enjoy learning to swim? Does it/has it caused any tension between you and them if they've been frustrated by it? Or has it been an enjoyable experience?

~ Do you ever feel under any pressure to take your child(ren) swimming more often? If so, who/where does the pressure come from?

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!

You can also enter Speedo's competition on Mumsnet here.

MNHQ

Do you think it's important to encourage children to learn to swim? If so, what do you think is the right age to start encouraging them? If you don't think it's important, why is that?
It is very important for children to learn to swim, and they should be started as young as possible, so they are not scared of water and able to use their natural abilities

~ Who do you think should take the main responsibility for teaching children to swim? Should it be swimming teachers, schools/nurseries, parents/other family members, or the government, or a combination of all of those?
Parents initially, and then by taking them to special classes with a swimming instructor and also for "fun" swimming

~ If you have a child who has learnt or is learning to swim, have you been helping to teach them? If so, do you feel confident doing this or a bit out of your depth? (no pun intended!) Do you feel your teaching is working?
Although I was capable teaching my children to swim, having premature twins, I felt I needed support from an expert as well, also, they tended to listen better when taught by someone other than their mum!

~ Does/did your child enjoy learning to swim? Does it/has it caused any tension between you and them if they've been frustrated by it? Or has it been an enjoyable experience? Both my boys LOVE swimming, and they have never not wanted to go.

~ Do you ever feel under any pressure to take your child(ren) swimming more often? If so, who/where does the pressure come from?
Yes! and the pressure comes from the children themselves- they are now beyond ordinary swimming lessons, and the advanced ones were really beyond my budget, but the boys continue to want to go swimming every week, luckily, they are now of an age where I can drop them off at the local pool and collect later, but, unfortunatly, they have to rely on me having use of the car to do so. If they could walk it, or if we had reliable public transport in our village, they would go even more often.

1. It is very important to encourage children to swim. Children need to be confident and secure around water. It can save their lives. My son started swimming lessons through the Waterbabies programme when he was 6 months old. He can't properly swim yet (2.5 years) but he loves going swimming, can pull himself out of the water and has such confidence and enjoyment through it. It is also a great form of exercise.
2. It is a parents resposibility to arrange for the child to swim. It shouldn't necessarily be the parent that teaches them but it should be the parent that instigates the idea of swimming. Govt funded programmes would be great for those families on low incomes.
3. I have been taking my son to the local swimming pool in addition to his lessons. This enables him to have a seperate fun session in addition to his fun but structured lesson. This has increased his love of water and also increased his confidence. Due to his age this mostly consists of fun splashing about but it also helps with his bouyancy and the busyness of local pools also gives a different feel to the water, creating currents that he would not experience during his lesson.
4. My son loves swimming. He would be in theater every day if he could. I imagine that as his lessons get more structured and he is expected to do more swimming then playing that he might get a bit frustrated
5. I do feel under pressure to take him swimming more often but as a aorking single mum it often falls to the weekends which are often full of other jobs that need doing. We do try to go once a week in addition to his weekly 30 minute lesson. I think the pressure comes from me. I want him to do fun stuff and as I know he likes swimming I do try to take him often.

Swimming is one of the most important safety skills we can teach our children!!! My 2 yr old has been doing lessons since she was 6 wks old (and was in the water at 4wks with us). Our new baby will start lessons at 6 wks as well and was in the pool on Sunday (5wks old).

We swim (either a formal lesson or at the pool with us) at least once per week, two if we can manage. I think it is parents responsibility to encourage their children but think this is often best fine through a combo of formal lessons and parent swimming with them. Children are often better at learning to swim in a proper lesson setting.

I'm an Aussie and have been able to swim since i was v. young and swam competitively. It's a great way to keep fit and is also SO important to stay safe at beaches, pools etc!!

I should stop now as I'm ranting about swimming (can you tell I LOVE swimming!!!)

It is absolutely vital to teach children to swim as early as possible.

I feel that swimming lessons should be compulsory from an earlier age at school and more frequent (at my DCs school for example they only have weekly lessons for one term in each of years 3-6 IIRC). However I appreciate that access to a pool is often difficult for schools

If it can't be fitted into the school timetable then lessons after school should be cheaper and more accessible to all.

There should also be an incentive to encourage parents to take children swimming -at the moment it would cost upto £15 at our local pool for 2 adults and 2 children

I'm afraid to say with shame that we are one of those families with non-swimming children. I think the problem for us is that neither DW nor I are either strong swimmers or even like swimming. I know, I know....that should have made us swing the other way with our DCs.

DW did try to get DS into swimming as a toddler and paid for lessons but he was not at all keen and frankly the battle of the wills wore her down on this subject....as that old expression goes "you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink" - and such was the scenario with our son. I think that by the time DD was a similar age she just had such bad memories that it put her off taking her...

The other thing is that we are really not well situated for swimming pools which are convenient to us and as we don't have a car it's always been a bit of a pain even considering after school lessons etc.... If we'd had one on our doorstep it would probably be different.

DS's secondary school is lucky enough to have its own swimming pool and we did feel a bit sorry for him when he reported back that he was the only one unable to swim properly. I guess we might just have to steel ourselves and go on family swims....

I think the problem for us is that we are of an age when we were all properly taught to swim at school and there wasn't the same expectation for parents to have to fund swimming lessons. DS has literally half a term's worth of swimming lessons at primary school. Thankfully this has now been reviewed and remedied and it seems likely that twixt Years 3/4 DD will get the equivalent of year's worth of swimming tuition which will I hope stand her in good stead....

Buries his head in shame

~ Do you think it's important to encourage children to learn to swim? If so, what do you think is the right age to start encouraging them? If you don't think it's important, why is that?
I do think it is important that children can swim well for both reasons of safety and self confidence. I think they should be encouraged to be confident and safe around water from when they are babies.

~ Who do you think should take the main responsibility for teaching children to swim? Should it be swimming teachers, schools/nurseries, parents/other family members, or the government, or a combination of all of those?
Combination of all these, really.

~ If you have a child who has learnt or is learning to swim, have you been helping to teach them? If so, do you feel confident doing this or a bit out of your depth? (no pun intended!) Do you feel your teaching is working?
I have helped DC1 and 2 learn but I used to teach swimming in a school so have some idea of what to do.

~ Does/did your child enjoy learning to swim? Does it/has it caused any tension between you and them if they've been frustrated by it? Or has it been an enjoyable experience?
DC1 has loved it DC2 has become frustrated through lack of progress but it seems to have clicked recently and he is much happier. The only tension it caused was him saying he didn;t want to go to his lesson and me saying gvie it one more try. He's always absolutely fine when he is there.

~ Do you ever feel under any pressure to take your child(ren) swimming more often? If so, who/where does the pressure come from?
I do. The pressure invariably comes from the children.

Just a note on cost too - a few people have mentioned this as a barrier and whilst i'd love it to be cheaper, swimming is still actually a reasonably priced family activity - there can't be that many things that a family can do for an morning/afternoon that cost less than £15 in most cases. I know £15 can be a lot for people but it is easy to spend that on rubbish.

~ Do you think it's important to encourage children to learn to swim? If so, what do you think is the right age to start encouraging them? If you don't think it's important, why is that?

I think it is vital children should be able to swim. You never know when it may save their life (or they might be able to help save someone else's). It also opens up a number of other activities to them for which they need to be able to swim - sailing, surfing, windsurfing, waterskiing and many others. I love swimming so have been taking DD since she was a few months old, initially to classes and now just as and when we can fit it in. At the age of 2.11, she is a complete waterbaby and happy to go underwater. We are trying to work on the kicking and moving her arms and soon might think about proper lessons again.

~ Who do you think should take the main responsibility for teaching children to swim? Should it be swimming teachers, schools/nurseries, parents/other family members, or the government, or a combination of all of those?

I think it is a combination. Hopefully parents will take the lead, but not everyone is water confident or likes swimming, so it would be useful for schools to get involved where there are resources and facilities available to make sure children don't slip through the net.

~ If you have a child who has learnt or is learning to swim, have you been helping to teach them? If so, do you feel confident doing this or a bit out of your depth? (no pun intended!) Do you feel your teaching is working?

I am a keen but ungainly swimmer so DH and I are trying to give DD the basics - getting her to kick and use her arms and swim to an hold onto the side of the pool. I hope we can get her started but we will get her lessons to learn the strokes properly.

~ Does/did your child enjoy learning to swim? Does it/has it caused any tension between you and them if they've been frustrated by it? Or has it been an enjoyable experience?

It is early days for us with respect to actual swimming, but in terms of water confidence, DD loves it and we love taking her. Getting her to leave the pool is usually the problem.

~ Do you ever feel under any pressure to take your child(ren) swimming more often? If so, who/where does the pressure come from?

No actual pressure, no, although I would like to take her more often than I do (every couple of weeks at the moment roughly, unless we are on holiday). Ideally, I would like to take her weekly.

Oh, and in terms of the right age to start them off, I don't think you can start too early. If they are used to being in the water as babies, they are more likely to be confident.

Both my boys have gone swimming from very early. DS1 has lessons because although DH could teach him, he learns better from an outside person. DS2 will have lessons when he is 4. DS1 will have swimming lessons at school when he reaches Y4, but I don't really expect them to achieve much - happy for it to be fun and exercise for him, and useful for those children who haven't already had the opportunity to learn to swim. I'm not really sure that it should be part of the school curriculum - it's a good thing, but the school timetable is so crammed.

Both boys love swimming. We don't go as often as they'd like, for a multitude of reasons. When we do go, DS1 likes diving for rings with DH, while I try to keep DS2 out the deep end (he wears a float jacket so is quite independent).
DS1 also likes racing me or DH doing lengths - he can't beat me yet, but my technique is fairly rubbish, so it probably won't be that long. I've tried teaching DS1 to dive, but I'm not great at diving or teaching, so it hasn't been very successful.

amck5700, that's partly true, but actually, not all families have £60 a month in the budget for swimming. Plus, when the water is cold, or sessions are running, then that morning's entertainment is only an hour.

Berry, they don't have to go every week, even once a month would make a lot of difference - most pools allow under 5s for free and even if you are only spending an hour in the pool - when you go swimming with young kids that can still takea whole morning :o

You could take a flask of hot chocolate for an after swim treat so you don't spend anything else.

Do you think it's important to encourage children to learn to swim? If so, what do you think is the right age to start encouraging them? If you don't think it's important, why is that?
Extremely important. Not only is it an enjoyable leisure activity (for most), it's potentially a life survival skill. Even if DD hated swimming I'd teach her how to float and get to the edge.
I was swimming in the sea with DD1 from about 3 months & took her to baby lessons (waste of time really - didn't do this for DD2) and have been taking her to the pool properly since about 18 months. She still can't swim properly but is getting more and more confident.

Who do you think should take the main responsibility for teaching children to swim? Should it be swimming teachers, schools/nurseries, parents/other family members, or the government, or a combination of all of those?
Probably a combination, though ultimately it's down to the parents. I had swimming lessons at school (in NZ) though I don't think that happens here (central London)? I also recall my Dad teaching me & going to swimming club.
Lessons are expensive - it would be great if they were subsidised or even free. It's an important life skill.

If you have a child who has learnt or is learning to swim, have you been helping to teach them? If so, do you feel confident doing this or a bit out of your depth? (no pun intended!) Do you feel your teaching is working?
I'm teaching DD1 slowly - she needed to build her confidence. Think she would make better progress in a class, but they are very expensive - £125 or more for a term.
I think my teaching is working, but she would pay better attention to a teacher in class than me. But we are getting there. I don't feel out of my depth, but I am just making it up and being very patient.

Does/did your child enjoy learning to swim? Does it/has it caused any tension between you and them if they've been frustrated by it? Or has it been an enjoyable experience?
She loves it, I love it though I am jealous that I don't get a proper swim while we are at the pool.

Do you ever feel under any pressure to take your child(ren) swimming more often? If so, who/where does the pressure come from?
From DD - she would love to go every week at least once. It's just a matter of finding the time.

If they are used to being in the water as babies, they are more likely to be confident.

I thought this too - until DD1 proved me wrong. She was swimming and loving water from 3 months. From 3-5 months she "swam" most days. Then we did 'baby swimming lessons'. She still can't swim at nearly 5 & about age 2.5 became very timid in water. We've moved on from there but she still won't take water wings off unless her feet are on the floor. Still there are improvements with every visit to the pool.

DP rarely comes swimming with us - he finds it way too cold.

Under 5s for free !? Where?!

Costs £7 to take me + 4yo DS. > £4 for me alone. As if I get any swimming done while supervising him.

I had similar with DD, HipHop. Several times a month swimming from 5 months old. Very confident clinging to us or with a floatie in her hands. Utterly terrified to get her face wet or to take her feet off the bottom without a flotation aid until she was nearly 6yo. Cried hysterically thru her first lot of swim lessons.

Swims like a fish now (11yo, Level 8). Best swimmer of the lot.

lljkk - Stirling sports village - pre school under 5s free - family swim 12 pound, Uni pool family swim 10.90 but pay for 4 and over - Sessions don't apply unless the pool are doing a fun session and then they sometimes limit time if it's busy to let everyone get a turn of the inflatables.

Grangemouth is only 8 pound for a family swim but not sure what age a juvenile is - would assume over 5

~ Do you think it's important to encourage children to learn to swim? If so, what do you think is the right age to start encouraging them? If you don't think it's important, why is that?
Yes it is important. They should be encouraged to be confident in the water as early as possible, but actual swimming lessons should be left until they are more able, say around 5-6yrs depending the child. When watching ds's lessons I have noticed children younger than this take a long time to progress, can be in group lessons for years so get demotived with the lack of progress. They also tend to drop out before they reach the higher badges.

~ Who do you think should take the main responsibility for teaching children to swim? Should it be swimming teachers, schools/nurseries, parents/other family members, or the government, or a combination of all of those?
The parents are responsible to ensure the child gets the right teaching that suits them. For my ds it was a mixture of 1-2-1 and group lessons.

~ If you have a child who has learnt or is learning to swim, have you been helping to teach them? If so, do you feel confident doing this or a bit out of your depth? (no pun intended!) Do you feel your teaching is working?
I couldnt teach my ds to swim as I can't myself. I have watched every lesson he has went to and discussed them with him and followed up with parts he was struggling with by looking on youtube or internet for videos to watch which he found useful.

~ Does/did your child enjoy learning to swim? Does it/has it caused any tension between you and them if they've been frustrated by it? Or has it been an enjoyable experience?
He loves the lessons. Wouldnt have enjoyed so much with me as he can be quite stubborn with his mum sometimes!!!!!!

~ Do you ever feel under any pressure to take your child(ren) swimming more often? If so, who/where does the pressure come from?
No, he goes at least once a week for a lesson and is in for 30 minutes beforehand just playing around himself or with his other classmates who arrive early. He is now very confident in the water and especially enjoys the deep end of the pool.

~ Do you think it's important to encourage children to learn to swim? If so, what do you think is the right age to start encouraging them? If you don't think it's important, why is that?
it's vital that they learn to swim, could be a lifesaver one day

~ Who do you think should take the main responsibility for teaching children to swim? Should it be swimming teachers, schools/nurseries, parents/other family members, or the government, or a combination of all of those?
it should be a combiation -school swimming lessons are fairly pointless starting at 8 as a fear of water has developed in some, and some will have been having formal swimming lessons for 4 yrs+ so just put the distance in
however swimming lessons should be made easier to access and more affordable -our council runs a system where children that have been in the system since babyhood are prioritised for school age classes -this benefits the SAHMs who have the time to take their babies to classes but penalises working parents as all the baby classes are during the week. Once existing children have been enrolled, enrollment is open t everyone else for 1 day only and you go and queue -people go 4 hours early to get to the front of the queue and again this is in the daytime on a weekday
once you get your child into lessons, the latest after school lesson is at 4.45, again impossible for working parents, so you are left with saturdays where places rarely come up
getting my children into formal lessons was a nightmare!

~ If you have a child who has learnt or is learning to swim, have you been helping to teach them? If so, do you feel confident doing this or a bit out of your depth? (no pun intended!) Do you feel your teaching is working?
my children want to play when I take them so do not listen to instructions (but we do races and floating)

~ Does/did your child enjoy learning to swim? Does it/has it caused any tension between you and them if they've been frustrated by it? Or has it been an enjoyable experience?
they get frustrated as the pool is split into 5 sections (25m pool) with 10 children in each group, they get very little swimming time and are often bumping into each other

~ Do you ever feel under any pressure to take your child(ren) swimming more often? If so, who/where does the pressure come from?
yes the children love to go but pool opening times are fairly restrictive

All the pools around here start charging child rate at 3yrs (Cornwall)

I know you don't have to go every week, but it's the consistency of it being a regular thing is what helps very young children with their water confidence, which is why I think that the cost is prohibitive to learning to swim.

Our local leisure centre allows you to set up a swim membership on a monthly direct debit, but that's quite a tie. Great for me, I adore swimming, but it wouldn't encourage more reluctant parents in.

:)

I pay our swimming lessons by Direct Debit - 12.40 a month each child for a 1 a week 40 minute lesson - each lesson is over 4 pound so I guess they even out the cost on the months when they don't have 4 - and you don't pay for a couple of months in the holidays when there are no lessons either.

I live in the east riding of yorkshire and the standard of school swimming lessons here is diabolical.

The children only have 10 weeks of lessons per year and the standard of lessons is just poor.

It is so bad that I pay nearly £20 per week for my son to have one to one lessons. He has just been signed off grade 6 swimming.

The school swimming teacher asks them all to use floats, hold on to the side. Now I understand that the range of childrens ability is all different but she should be able to separate the children into ability groups surely.

My son hates swimming with school but loves his strict disciplined one to one lessons.

Things really have to improve for future generations.

Do you think it's important to encourage children to learn to swim? If so, what do you think is the right age to start encouraging them? If you don't think it's important, why is that?

I think it is really important to encourage children to learn to swim. Not sure when is a good age

~ Who do you think should take the main responsibility for teaching children to swim? Should it be swimming teachers, schools/nurseries, parents/other family members, or the government, or a combination of all of those?

More funding for schools to take children to swimming lessons would be good.

~ If you have a child who has learnt or is learning to swim, have you been helping to teach them? If so, do you feel confident doing this or a bit out of your depth? (no pun intended!) Do you feel your teaching is working?

We currently can't afford swimming lessons but take children occasionally to build their confidence.

~ Does/did your child enjoy learning to swim? Does it/has it caused any tension between you and them if they've been frustrated by it? Or has it been an enjoyable experience?

N/A

~ Do you ever feel under any pressure to take your child(ren) swimming more often? If so, who/where does the pressure come from?

I put pressure on myself to take children swimming more often and to pay for swimming lessons but with little money and time it is difficult

I do think it is a GOOD thing to encourage children to learn to swim, but I am not convinced it is an ESSENTIAL skill for everyone. In particular I am not entirely convinced that everyone needs to be able to swim "to protect them against drowning", as especially with small children, I wonder whether thinking they can swim might actually make them more likely to get themselves into dangerous situations. (I especially wonder this about some of the baby-swimming classes where they are encouraged to just jump into the water - not great if they decided to do this when no adult is around, and maybe in a more dangerous situation...) I also have the impression that in a lot of drowning or near-drowning situations, being able to swim a little (in swimwear in a heated pool) doesn't necessarily help much - as a real-life situation is likely to involve other factors such as strong currents, waves or rocks, clothing and shoes, freezing water or ice, or obstructions like weeds in the water. I would be interested in seeing some figures on the number of "swimmers" vs. non-swimmers who actually drown.

On the other hand I do think it is a good skill to have in other respects, great for keeping fit and having fun with friends, and there are certainly some scenarios where it is useful and may help keep you safe.

We took DS to baby swimming sessions for a while, but he hated having to go underwater and got more and more agitated as they went on, so we stopped. Now we just go occasionally as a family and he is quite happy to splash around with armbands and can do a passable doggypaddle like that. We'll probably think about lessons again sometime when he's a little older. But until he's old enough to swim independently without the armbands (from the physical point of view) I don't see any rush.

DD on the other hand is a little waterbaby and I think would have loved baby swimming, but couldn't go due to the practical issues of having two! But maybe in future we'll manage to do something with them both together, and I'm sure she would love that.

I took my daughter to the swimming baths from the age of 3 weeks. As a small child I was terrified of even having water splashed in my face and I knew from the start I didn't want this to happen to my daughter and whenever she had a bath at home I would gentl splash water in her face to get her used to it. When I took her swimming I used a baby swim seat until she could float with armbands but i always took her out and let her have time in the water with just me holding Onto her. She's now two and loves it. She uses armbands and wherever I can I encourage her to float in the water without me holding on to her ( obviously being only inches away) I once took her into water where she cd only
Just touch the floor and was astounded to see that her natural instinct was to doggy paddle and she can now do this rather well I encourage her by being just an inch out of arms reach, as she moves towards em I step back and that's how we do it! I honestly thought it wouldn't work but it does and it's so easy! There are also slides for toddlers plotted around the pool on in particular is in the bigger pool where she cannot touch the floor. I really try and encourage her to use it as I don't want her to be afraid of swimming just because theres nothing underneath her feet. I pop her on the side and let her get on an slide down it on her own ( it is only a lil baby slide and I can see her all the time) also I don't catch her get before she dips under, but make sure I'm there when she surfaces. Then like usual she doggy paddles over to me with big smile!! I often get disgusted looks from
Other parents often because I'm
Not clinging onto my child like them. But I want her to be very independent in the water and believe she will learn better this way! She always has her armbands on and I am always in reaching distance to her!! Not afraid to let her explore what she might be able
To do, so rather than use baby swim classes or follow a certain regime I just pop her floats on put her in the water and see what she does!! Children really are amazing and I think it won't be long before she's fully established how to swim with armbands on!

~ Do you think it's important to encourage children to learn to swim? If so, what do you think is the right age to start encouraging them? If you don't think it's important, why is that?

Vitally important, it is a life skill. Several of my family work offshore in the oil industry. If you can't swim, you can't go!

~ Who do you think should take the main responsibility for teaching children to swim? Should it be swimming teachers, schools/nurseries, parents/other family members, or the government, or a combination of all of those?

I think it should be done via school in an ideal world, but ultimately I think it is the parents' responsibility to ensure that it is done.

~ If you have a child who has learnt or is learning to swim, have you been helping to teach them? If so, do you feel confident doing this or a bit out of your depth? (no pun intended!) Do you feel your teaching is working?

He takes classes. I only repeat what he does in the class.

~ Does/did your child enjoy learning to swim? Does it/has it caused any tension between you and them if they've been frustrated by it? Or has it been an enjoyable experience?

Dad more inclined to shout if he feels DC not concentratin

~ Do you ever feel under any pressure to take your child(ren) swimming more often? If so, who/where does the pressure come from?

Yes. The pressure comes from the kids. They're mad keen.