Swim class question

[Anonymous]

My athletic (he rides a bike without training wheels) 4 year old has been in weekly swim lessons for almost 6 months. Is it crazy of me to have expected him to move up classes even once??? He’s still on the basic non swimmer level with no skills. He’s never even been in the water without his floatie. He does what they ask but he doesn’t really get what they want. The other kids in the class are the same. Basically they just want him to float and blow bubbles. He does it.

Im pretty upset and think they don’t push the kids at all or try to teach them. My mom said my expectations are too high and it takes years to learn how to swim.

[Anonymous]

Where are you taking lessons? We had a similar experience through the moco lessons and saw incredible improvement once we moved to goldfish. After a couple months my 4 year old is swimming independently.

[Anonymous]

I may be reading your post wrong, but if he takes swim lessons with a floatie on, find another place ASAP. I’m a former swim coach and taught lessons for years, and that’s absolutely unnecessary and just plain wrong.

[Anonymous]

yes try Goldfish - Im annoyed my 5 year old hasn't moved up to the next level, because he still working on tap tap rollover, but he can swim! This happened after about 2 -3 months of weekly swim classes. My 3 year old started in March and she is not swimming yet- we'll see what happens with her.

[Anonymous]

We switched to private lessons. They cost more but my kid learned a lot quicker so we saved that way.

[Anonymous]

He shouldn’t wear a floatie for swim lessons. Never seen this done. My kid was comfortable in the water and could bubble etc at her first lesson at age 3.5. It too a year and a half of lessons for her to master all the strokes and do them well.

[Anonymous]

My kids went to Goldfish and it still took them years to learn. They still are not safe in a pool by themselves at 6 and 7. I like Goldfish a lot, but it just takes a lot of time. I do think their classes are too short though. They don't get to swim much since they take turns.

[Anonymous]

Switch to private lessons! We spent three years in group lessons without any success.

Once we switched our 6 yr old to half hour private lessons, he was doggy paddling and is now working on freestyle.

The individualized attention really makes a difference!

[Anonymous]

Kids shouldn’t be wearing floaties. But 4 is young and they are not very coordinated so improvement is slow. We started DC at 4 and 1/2 and it wasn’t until mid/late 5 when we saw much more improvement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We switched to private lessons. They cost more but my kid learned a lot quicker so we saved that way.

I agree with this. I had my kids in DPR lessons for quite a few seasons where they didn't get much. Private lessons over one summer did it. It was expensive, but worth it.

[Anonymous]

We used to go to Goldfish and now go to Foss, and the kids don’t wear floaties at any level.

[Anonymous]

I don't feel like DD is learning much of anything at Goldfish, but at least they're not in floaties.

[Anonymous]

My kids take lessons at Big Blue and the kids wear a floaty that snaps around their waist. It’s to keep them safe when the teacher doesn’t have their hands on them. They take it off to float or doggy paddle .

My kids get “stuck” on a level sometimes and I have to ask for them to be evaluated. Magically they always pass that skill when I check in.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the system. We went to a place that had like six levels between “baby” and “dives on and swims butterfly legally,” so each level took a while.

But swim lessons in a floatie seems off.

[Anonymous]

That’s way too slow. Is it like a British swim school? We did that as a baby but it’s really best for getting used to being in the water. Where are you located? We love SwimLabs but they are pretty far out.