Embarrassed and nervous about inability to swim

[Anonymous]

I cant swim either...I've decided next summer I'm signing up for classes and also enrolling my daughter.

[Anonymous]

I never learned how to swim, but daughter took swim lessons and just joined swim team.

I have a 3 yo, too, who will be taking lessons next year.

I've never had a problem. She stayed in the shallow end until I was sure she could handle herself, and now she's totally on her own - deep end, diving board, you name it.

[Anonymous]

Definitely take lessons. I taught both group and private lessons for adult non swimmers for years and taught all ages those in their 20's to people in their 70's. It is never too late to learn how to swim. Being able to swim is both a safety thing (being in boas, pool, beaches) and a social thing as many activities revolve around water.
Many adults felt self conscious when they started lessons - often apologizing for not knowing how to swim - you shouldn't feel that way at all. There is no shame in learning a new skill or sport at any age. Sign up and enjoy!

[Anonymous]

Definitely take swim lessons. And if you're embarrassed, you could take them at a rec center further away where no one knows you. That is a good idea about private lessons, they work much better.

[Anonymous]

15:04 here. You'll feel better knowing how to swim when your child charges over to the deep end during a pool party, or at a water park, pool, etc. -- basically every summer you'll deal with this.

Good luck! You can do it! I love swimming and hopefully you will too.

[Anonymous]

OP, I don't know where you are but if you are in MoCo, I just saw that the county's Fall Lesson/Class schedule has been released. I took the adult classes last year at the Bethesda Indoor Pool, I could swim but not well. They are usually in the evenings and one class gets the whole pool (there were 6 people in ours and that was considered large). The small pool is closed then and the deep pool was being used for water polo. Point being, the center is very quiet and everyone in your class will be in the same position. I can imagine being intimidated if the pool was crowded with people of all ages but it was just us adults, all in the same boat. Go for lessons, you will be forever grateful and your children will be too! We are at the pool every weekend this summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, there are lots of adults who just never got around to learning to ride a bike or swim.

If you want to get used to going under water, practice in the bathtub. You can wear goggles and put earplugs in your ears or wear a swim cap so you don't have the feel of water going in your ears, and you can plug your nose if that's what scares you. But the more you can overcome your fear of putting your face/head in the water on your own, the better you will feel at swim lessons.

OP, one of my best friend's husband (43) just took a class for adults to learn to swim. He loved it and is taking the nest class.

I went to a private boarding school and learned to swim, ride horses, tennis, but no bikes were allowed so I do not know how to ride a bike (I'm 43) and I probably will never learn as I have bad knees now. My children laugh and tell me they can teach me. I can ride a tricycle, however.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I cant swim either...I've decided next summer I'm signing up for classes and also enrolling my daughter.

Next summer? No time like the present.

[Anonymous]

OP, I was in your shoes a year and half ago - along with my husband. We realized that neither of us had ever learned to swim, and I was terrified of water.

I actually really enjoyed taking a group class, as opposed to private lessons at first. The fact that there are often waitlists for adult beginners is a great reminder that you're not alone! the first couple classes were all water acclimation, actually - learning to be comfortable with your head below water, learning to float, etc.

The first time the instructor wanted me to go past the 5' deep water, I thought she was bonkers, and she ended up swimming/treading next to me. Not six months later, we went snorkeling in Hawaii, and I am perfectly comfortable in super deep water. I never thought I'd happily plunge into fifteen feet of water and not panic. I had even taken swim lessons as a child, never learned, and lost confidence and was even MORE scared as a result. You can do it!

[Anonymous]

You can start by going to a pool that has no deep end. Just bounce around and start playing with your movements. You'll find that it will happen quite naturally.

I've taught all 3 of my children to swim this way. As long as you've got the comfort of knowing that you can stand up at any point to get a breath, you'll do great. Go have some fun!!

[Anonymous]

My DH learned how to swim in law school. Took classes through the school and learned. My mother never learned to swim and still doesn't (she's terrified of the water). When I was in first grade, she put me in private swim lessons and always emphasized how important it was to learn how to swim. I pulled her out from a pull once when I was in junior high.

If you have the time, join an adult swim class. Or, sign up for private lessons to start. It's truly a skill for which there is no substitute and I do believe it's something everyone can do.

[Anonymous]

I also took swimming lessons as an adult with Mont Co and I highly recommend them. The classes I took were composed of all sorts of people, all ages. What you will see at the pool is that swimming is the one exercise (well, except maybe yoga) that you can do till you're 100. I could swim decently but not fluidly and wanted to learn to swim well enough to do it for exercise and to feel more comfortable snorkeling on vacations. The Mo Co classes helped me do that and I swim regularly at my gym now. Don't be embarrassed--doing new things as you age is what keeps you young.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I also took swimming lessons as an adult with Mont Co and I highly recommend them. The classes I took were composed of all sorts of people, all ages. What you will see at the pool is that swimming is the one exercise (well, except maybe yoga) that you can do till you're 100. I could swim decently but not fluidly and wanted to learn to swim well enough to do it for exercise and to feel more comfortable snorkeling on vacations. The Mo Co classes helped me do that and I swim regularly at my gym now. Don't be embarrassed--doing new things as you age is what keeps you young.

DH took classes with Fairfax County, and they were great too. It is an important skill to have, and it was important that DH knew how to swim before we had kids. He's not a champion swimmer now, but he can swim. He was embarrassed at first too, but really proud once he could do it. Good luck to you!

[Anonymous]

OP, I used to teach kids and adults to swim as a college student. It's been almost 20 years but working with adult swim students has been some of the most rewarding work I've ever done. I'm just one person but I can tell you I always had enormous respect for these adult learners. We all have things we never learned and not knowing how to swim is definitely one of them. FWIW, I'd say it was 50/50 on getting swimmers (adults) to put their heads in the water but for a long time, I don't even ask them to try. I see that as a layer to add later. What I'd do with a student like you is teach you first to tread water where the water is right below your chin (if you were comfortable with that). This gives remarkable courage to new swimmers. I'm willing to bet that a lot of your fears about putting your face in the water is more to do with a loss of control and truly being "out of your depth" issue than anything else. While you may not be able to put your face into a bathtub (many people cannot) this is because the fear has grown. But once you master some basic techniques your courage often multiplies. that said, I've had many adult swimmers "graduate" from my classes without ever putting their face in. There absolutely ARE skills you can learn without putting your face in. A story I used to tell my new adult students was that as a kid I was afraid to put my face in and taught myself to swim (in my sweet above ground pool, ha ha) without it. I stayed in the shallow end but could very easily swim in the deep, as well. I became a really fast swimmer that way and wanted to try out for swim team in middle school. I put my face in the water for the first time during try outs. Your story may or may not end in your putting your face in the water but you can most certainly learn to swim without doing so. Good luck to you and don't be afraid to get some lessons. Swimming can and should be fun for you - low pressure environments will make the "fun" more likely and you may be surprised at yourself. Hoping you will report back once you sign up for lessons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never learned how to swim and now that my young babies are getting older I've realized that I really have to learn otherwise I will be unable to take them to the beach or pool. I just feel so self conscious about this and I would love to hear from others who successfully learned to swim as an adult and how they did so. Also, this is probably a really stupid question but can I learn a basic swimming technique without actually having to go fully under the water(which scares me).

So if one of your children is at the bottom of the pool drowning, are you just planning on waiting on someone else to fish them out, while you stand helpless watching?