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[quote=Anonymous]I applaud OP for wanting DC to learn to swim for all of the good reasons others have recommended here.

In my experience...

...pre-team is not a series of swimming lessons.  Our team gently guides non-swimmers back into lessons if they cannot handle pre-team.  Pre-team means being in the water, complying with behavior expectations, following directions on how to move and position their body, working on floating (without inflatables or foam-insert suits), putting their face in, kicking on command, etc.  The oldest pre-team members I see are 8-9 and not numerous; the youngest are more like 3-4.  Peak age looks about 5-6.  In a pool like ours, this DC could feel "old" on a pre-team anyway.

...some kids learn to swim _really_ slowly, as PPs have noted.  Many humans can spend years (and years) playing around in the water without ever really learning to swim, and that includes both kids and adults.  The catch is that this can produce what feels like a good, even fun, relationship with the water - but without any kind of real safety.  OP, some of the others have suggested that it would be great for you to learn to swim too, if you can.  You might even be able to find a program that would take both you and DC (at different times) so that you could challenge each other to learn together.

...OP and PPs are right that DC might have a particular aversion to one or more parts of the swimming experience that are holding them back.  Water in face can be one of the things; so can the vaguely claustrophobic experience of being submerged, or the surrender of control when you start to float and take your feet off the bottom.  A good private teacher can figure those things out one at a time, and sometimes even one lesson can create breakthroughs.

Good luck, OP, and keep persevering.  My DC took years to learn to swim.  Each kid at their own speed.[/quote]

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