Can your five year old swim?

[Anonymous]

Yes. Can pass a swim test the length of the pool and just started diving head first off the 1m. Form is pretty atrocious for both but she gets it done. Was swimming on her own last summer, though admittedly in a way that constantly made people think she couldn't swim.

She has had weekly lessons the last 2 years, but the big jumps in ability happened because her swim facility insists that kids first do a 2 week every day session before they can do weekly and also focuses on drowning prevention so lessons with little kids are focused on teaching them to roll over and float. *their* swim test is to throw the kids in full clothed and they need to float /swim until they either reach the side or have floated for X min. She did 2 of the every day session (so 4 weeks in a row) in late summer 2013 at just past 3 and was floating by the end of it. She then did weekly during the school year and a 2 week 'refresher' at the beginning of summer 2014.

It's very possible they would have learned on their own just from going to the neighborhood pool, but my youngest was the kid who at 2 slipped off into the pool while surrounded by friends without anyone noticing immediately. We caught it quickly and I jumped in to get her but it scared the shit out of me, so it was really important to me that my kids learn to swim well enough to not drown easily.

[Anonymous]

14:49 again. We also live further south now where pools are more common which probably impacts things, but I'd say most of the 5 year olds I know are decent swimmers, though not all.

[Anonymous]

It's pretty dangerous to have a 5 year old who can't swim.

[Anonymous]

Yes. He dislikes most other sports, so he swims often and therefore well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't you hate when it turns into a brag thread. Years ago, I posted a similar topic on a parenting board just to have everyone tell me about their kids who were swimming since birth.

My twin boys could not swim at age 5 and had just started swim lessons. By the time they were 7, they could just barely make it across the pool. They are about to turn 11 and they just passed the boy scout swim test with flying colors (100 yards). My youngest son is about to turn 8 and he can just barely doggy paddle across the pool so I have signed him up for some more lessons this summer.

I am a TERRIBLE swimmer. I always was despite many swim lessons as a kid. I got to the point where I wouldn't drown in the deep end and could make it across the pool. DH has been instrumental in getting the kids to practice good swimming form. I need him to work more with boy #3.

She asked people answered, how is that a brag?

Because people who claim that their three year old can swim like a fish are not the norm. Physically and developmentally it is unusual for a kid to be a competent swimmer before six or seven.

physically and developmentally kids can swim at 5. most don't because they just haven't been exposed to it enough or had lessons. Not judging kid who can't swim or haven't been taught, But with lessons and time in the pool most 5 yr olds are capable of swimming. now if you throw your kid in the pool with a puddle jumper on and never let them try, then yes they will not be too quick to learn.

[Anonymous]

My 5.5 yo can swim, but she's been taking weekly lessons for 2 years. She can approximate a few strokes (crawl and back crawl) and can make it across the pool and back. She just started a camp with daily lessons today, so I'd guess her strokes will improve over the coming weeks. (I honestly don't care how she looks but am glad that she can safely and happily move around in the water.)

About half of the kids in her class are at her level, and the other half are comfortable in the water but can't really propel themselves across the pool. (I've seen a few swim parties.) I'm sure there are athletic kids with more experience who can swim neat strokes at that age, but the norm seems to be a mix of some fearful, some just not there yet, some ready to swim, and some naturally/by practice really advanced. Like anything else, right?

[Anonymous]

My eldest son could not swim at age 5. We had him in swimming lessons since he was a toddler, but he is a very anxious kid and would not put his head under water.

He is swimming reasonably well at age 6 and will probably not be a strong swimmer before age 7.

My twin boys are swimming at age 4.

[Anonymous]

She can make one length of a normal sized pool and jump in off the sides, surface and swim. Her swimming is crude, but she's taking lessons this July so hopefully that will help. She took one set of group less just after she turned 3 and nothing since.

[Anonymous]

No. And he can't wipe his own butt either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's pretty dangerous to have a 5 year old who can't swim.

I have to agree with this. While your son does not need to be swim team ready at this point, it's good that he has some basic skills that can help him navigate in the water.

My son just turned five and can kick across the pool and float on his back and front. His form isn't great but I feel more confident in his ability to safely play in the pool. I also think he appreciates more that its dangerous to just go jumping into the pool and that you have to be careful.

Invest in swim lessons. It's worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's pretty dangerous to have a 5 year old who can't swim.

No, it's pretty dangerous to have a 5 year old whose parents think that swimming skills are protective. Those are the parents who do risky things like reducing supervision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My eldest son could not swim at age 5. We had him in swimming lessons since he was a toddler, but he is a very anxious kid and would not put his head under water.

He is swimming reasonably well at age 6 and will probably not be a strong swimmer before age 7.

My twin boys are swimming at age 4.

This is mine too though he seems to be finally coming out of it.

[Anonymous]

I would just like to interject here that at the Bethesda outdoor county pool, where we are regulars, most 5 years olds cannot swim one length of the pool independently - or one width, for that matter! The situation may be different in gym pools or private swimming clubs.

As per usual, asking that type of question on DCUM is self-selective. Parents who have been proactive about their children's swimming will be more motivated to answer.

[Anonymous]

My kid could swim like a fish from about 2. No lessons, he just figured it out on his own within weeks of getting in the pool for the first time in his life. It was his "thing", the way some other kids read early or ride a bike early or can talk your ear off at 2. He was sort of late on all of those things.

In our experience, at 2, and 3 he was usually the only swimmer his age at the pool. Between 4 and 6 the other kids gradually began to pick it up. When I say gradually, I mean that there was a gradual shift between the majority of the kids not swimming and the majority of the kids swimming. For individual kids, however, the transition seems like it's pretty sudden. Kids would spend a long time working on floating or kicking their feet, or putting their head in the water (either in lessons, or working with a parent, or just exploring those activities on their own) and then one day it would all come together and they'd be a swimmer although with far from perfect form.

I will also say that my kid who loved the pool from about 2 - 8, and wanted to be in the water every minute, never had any interest in lessons or team. He did take some lessons because they were required by camp, but the other kids quickly passed him in levels because he wasn't motivated to develop his strokes in anyway. Now as a teenager he really has no interest in the pool, and his strokes are awful. So, early swimming is not really predictive of anything, at least based on my anecdotal evidence of one kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's pretty dangerous to have a 5 year old who can't swim.

No, it's pretty dangerous to have a 5 year old whose parents think that swimming skills are protective. Those are the parents who do risky things like reducing supervision.

I think both are dangerous. They need to swim as soon as possible in case they find themselves in a situation where they need it, and at the same time you as the parent must continue to be vigilant. This is one area (like motor vehicle safety) where parental freakouts about safety is warranted.