7 year old can’t swim after lots of lessons
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Anonymous
| DD took lessons for years and still can't swim exactly but has gotten more comfortable in the water with a noodle. She's old enough that she knows how to be safe. She could probably swim if she really needed to. Eventually they get taller and more mature. It's other kids getting in their way I worry more about. |
Anonymous
| It literally took years for my daughter to learn to swim. Give him some time. I agree that peer pressure is a good thing for this. |
Anonymous
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Keep the lessons going.
It really helps when your DC has a friend that is swimming. |
Anonymous
This really, really helps. |
Anonymous
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My 7 year old DS is the same. We did weekly swimming lessons for about nine months (after previous lessons sporadically over the past year or two). DS1 (age 9) got proficient very quickly and moved through multiple levels. DS2 (7) is stuck in more or less the same place and couldn't swim across the pool if he tried. I think it just takes longer to click for some kids and I think group lessons just didn't work for our DS2 so we are going to try private lessons and see if that helps.
FWIW we took a two week vacation last month and the kids spent time in the pool almost every day. My DS2 actually made more progress in those two weeks trying to keep up with his big brother than he did over the previous 9 months of lessons. He still can't swim with a real stroke, but he is at least blowing bubbles and able to propel himself forward by kicking. Baby steps. DS2 also has had some motor delays so I think he's just not as coordinated as his brother and will need more time to figure it out. All that to say OP, you're definitely not alone in this... |
Anonymous
Terrible advice that can result in a drowning. |
Anonymous
You need year round swim lessons at this point. Have you tried Goldfish swim school? Also, look into private lessons that are for months on end, not just for a few weeks. |
Anonymous
| What worked for us was daily visits to the pool and one of those swim things where you remove one foam thing at a time. I can’t explain well but it’s on amazon. So basically there are like 5 foam layers and you can remove one at a time. We did it so my son had all of the for a couple days, swimming around, then slowly took them away over the course of a week or two. By the end he was swimming independently. Not strong yet but enough where I knew he could get to the side of the pool. That was huge. |
Anonymous
A parent is with them, dodo. |
Anonymous
| Sometimes you have to wait until they’re ready. My kid wouldn’t do anything, was afraid of the pool, wouldn’t follow the instructor, etc. Had him in the water since he was four. Then one day when he was nine, he just hopped in the pool and swam across it. |
Anonymous
It's this. They use them at Big Blue swim school, as well, which is how we first learned of them. They are great for kids in that tricky phase where they are *this* close to swimming on their own but still need to practice specific skills (kicking, back float, swim strokes). It doesn't prevent the kid's head from going in the water so it's not a safety device, but putting your face/head in the water is an essential part of learning to swim so that's good. It just helps with teaching skills, so your kid can practice stuff like kicks and back stroke until they have the coordination down, and then you can remove the belt and just offer maybe a little help with your hand, and then you can remove that. https://www.amazon.com/Children-Adjustable-Comfortable-Waterproof-Floaties/dp/B07VCHVFT8/ref=sr_1_3_sspa I also recommend using a swim bar for them to practice getting their body in a level position with strong kicking and their face in the water. It gets their arms out in front of them and offers them some security while getting comfortable with swimming with their face in the water. It's better for positioning than a kick board, which is what a lot of coaches used to use (and some still do). That was really helpful for making the idea of swimming with your head in the water "click" for my DD, who started out not wanting her face anywhere near the water. Also getting a pair of good fitting, comfortable goggles. Check out Frogglez -- they have a comfort strap that really stays in place on little kid heads so that kids don't constantly feel like they have to adjust it. |
Anonymous
Definitely this! |
Anonymous
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Both of mine did some lesson, but didn’t learn from them.
They both learned on vacation—a week at a resort pool with mom and dad in the pool with them for hours a day. Had them stand in the water on the steps and push off to glide to me. Then had them add kicking and paddling. Also held their hand and swam beside them so we were “swimming together.” Worked for both-swimming by 5 and 6. |
Anonymous
| My kid also took many years of lessons to no avail. I then realized we will get nowhere until the kid is comfortable floating on her back in the water. We stopped paying for lessons and took her to the pool every weekend, and then during the summer we were able to go daily. This helped but she was still afraid of putting her head in the water because of water getting in her nose. At that point, my DH decided he had to be very tough about it—he’d had enough. Being tough (like a drill sergeant) is not for everybody, but it worked for us. And now she enjoys swimming. |
Anonymous
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Do you have a neighborhood pool that you join for the summer?
Our pool had swimming lessons that the teens from the swim team taught. Having friends in that class, plus the cool teens really helped him. He went from not putting his face in the water at the beginning of the summer, to jumping off the diving board at the end of the summer. |