Reply to When to stop swim lessons?

Forum Index » Elementary School-Aged Kids

Reply to "When to stop swim lessons?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]

Actually, it's extremely hard for certain adults to learn to swim.  My mother did not learn to swim as a child and she tried many different times, with many different instructors, as an adult, and was just not able to learn.  As a result, she made sure that all of her kids became good, strong swimmers, because she knew she could never save us.  We also never swam unless a life guard was present. [/quote]
Thank you for this.  I had already decided to stop defending the fact that I don't know how to swim (no oceans for me!) but the fact is that so far I have failed 3 sets of classes as an adult.  It's true that I haven't taken any classes in a while, but at this point my focus is on getting my kids where they need to be.  It's funny that the oldest is now encouraging me to take lessons and I might just do it in a year or two with them or solo but there is no time or money at the present moment for other-than-kid-swim-lessons.  I think I need private lessons and that can't happen right now.  I asked my husband to teach me once, and we almost got divorced that day.  :D [/quote]

OP, no one should judge you for not knowing how to swim. The thing PP's are criticizing is you being the only person to watch your kids while they swim. Even for a well-trained swimmer, it's highly dangerous to save a drowning person. A non-swimmer doesn't stand a chance. And throwing them a pole is not enough. Your not swimming is fine and it's your prerogative. What's decidedly NOT fine is putting your kids at risk by being the only one to watch them. [/quote]
I hate when threads get offtrack, and here I am, contributing to it!  I am not the only one, I am an additional one.  I am the one dedicated to watching them and only them (sometimes pools get crowded or guards get distracted).  If need be, there are lifeguards.  I got chastised for relying on the lifeguard, but I think that's alright.  I am not taking them to the beach (I'm not getting in ocean water!) or hotel pools.  Plus, they are swimming.  They are passing the swim tests mentioned above.  It just doesn't look like what I see as 'strokes' on tv so that was my question, really, should I keep pushing so they can do those lovely strokes.[/quote]

I'm the PP you answered to. I must admit, I misread. As long as there's others who could act in case of emergency, I stand corrected.

To get back on track and answer your question: the goal shouldn't be lovely strokes. As long as your kid can safely remove themselves from the water in an emergency situation, that's all that counts. Aesthetics aren't what determines a good swimmer. Someone can have a perfectly nice stroke but still panic when getting their head underwater. Focus on setting safety goals for him if you want to give him an aim to work towards so he can stop. Tell him things like "you'll have to jump in the deep end, get your head above water and swim around the pool twice without getting tired" instead of "you'll need to lengthen your grasp". His stroke simply doesn't seem efficient enough from how you describe it to allow him to get to safety if need be.

Doesn't the swimming teacher you use do tests with the kids? Ask him/her what his requirements are, then motivate your kid by having him work towards those and only those, who cares if he looks good doing it. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics