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.

Honestly you should learn how to swim OP. My husband never learned to swim until he met me and I forced him to learn because it is such a safety issue. Then you could spend more time at a pool with your son.

Daily private swim classes, emphasis on the daily, for at least two weeks. I will say the summer my kids turned 8 was the summer they and a bunch of their friends finally caught on to swimming and the ones who were just starting out caught up to most of the kids who did casual weekly group lessons. There was a small group of parents that just decided that we'd take our kids to the pool every evening after work.

I wouldn't count on summer camps to teach swimming unless it's a swim specific camp. Otherwiaev there's no teaching going on.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I live in North Potomac area. I don't know if there are any pre team in our area, please let me know if there are any. My kid is 7 year old, and he has taken group swimming lessons for almost 1.5 years, and he still cannot pass the level 1. He goes to summer camps for 2 years that involves daily swim/pool time for 2 years as well. I can't swim, so I don't know what is wrong with him, maybe he is scared of water going into his eyes, noses and ears. He wears googles.

MCSL has pools all over including North Potomac area. For many, you don’t need to live in that community to join (as long as no waitlist). Look around on mcsl.org to find a pool near you and check out their websites to see what the swim team offers. My MCSL team has both pre-team and an option for kids not quite ready for that. FINS is another great option for learn to swim.

You need a better private teacher. Summer swim team does not teach kids how to swim. They don’t even do strike development in any real sense. The kids who get really good at swim team do winter club swim.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I live in North Potomac area. I don't know if there are any pre team in our area, please let me know if there are any. My kid is 7 year old, and he has taken group swimming lessons for almost 1.5 years, and he still cannot pass the level 1. He goes to summer camps for 2 years that involves daily swim/pool time for 2 years as well. I can't swim, so I don't know what is wrong with him, maybe he is scared of water going into his eyes, noses and ears. He wears googles.

1) while pre team may be less expensive, generally you also have to join the pool, so it’s not really inexpensive.

2) one of my kids is like yours. After a year of swim lessons, they can’t swim. However, they have made progress, it’s just progress at their own pace. A few things that have helped recently include more frequent lessons, recreational swim with a parent and friends, and really noticing the incremental progress.

Anonymous wrote:Where do you live? That will help us make suggestions.

Fwiw our community pool does welcome members from out of bound, but the pre-team has already hit its max capacity for the season. And it's "cheap" because we do pay a summer fee to belong to the pool.

Your best bet is to put your kid in goldfish or one of those over the winter and then sign up for the pool next summer and get on the pre team as early as you can. Or join the pool now to enjoy it over the summer and then you'll be ready to go next summer.

Sadly for OP I'm on the VA side but our "early/beginner" group at our pool takes kids who can't swim AT ALL. Its great its basically 30 minutes of daily swim lessons with 2 on 1 coaches in the water with the kids (where they can touch) 5 days a week for the same cost as a 4 classes at the swim schools. Its the daily practice that makes that huge difference. Call around the teams and find out which ones take nonswimmers in their beginning program, I doubt our pool is a unicorn here, we are nothing special

Swim leasons, especially Level 1, often focus on safety things - how to pull yourself up out of the pool, how to doggie paddle to the side, how to float.

I have an 8 yr old who is legal in all 4 strokes who cannot float or tread water for a decent amount of time - these are two different skill sets.

My kids both took weekly lessons - County group lessons, county private lessons, weekly small group at Goldfish, private with a lifeguard at our pool. The thing that finally clicked was daily small group lessons for 30 min, 5 days a week, for 3 weeks straight. The lessons were focused on stroke development and working towards swimming 25m of freestyle and 25m of backstroke. No floating or silly games - just swimming.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. I live in North Potomac area. I don't know if there are any pre team in our area, please let me know if there are any. My kid is 7 year old, and he has taken group swimming lessons for almost 1.5 years, and he still cannot pass the level 1. He goes to summer camps for 2 years that involves daily swim/pool time for 2 years as well. I can't swim, so I don't know what is wrong with him, maybe he is scared of water going into his eyes, noses and ears. He wears googles.

While it could be anxiety holding him back, the fact that he has gotten into the pool repeatedly over the years makes me suspect there’s more to it. My son has motor planning deficits. We tried swimming for many years and he simply couldn’t pick it up in group lessons. We finally used a private instructor at the Rockville Swim Center who was very patient and very hands on. We spent years and had to adjust our expectations, but eventually he swam. He never developed a perfect stroke but it was good enough. I’m sorry I can’t remember her name.

Did you say your kid failed a floating test at 3 months? How old is your kid currently?

Most area pre-teams are aimed at kids no younger than 4 yo. If your kid is younger than 4years, some sort of swim school or private lesson are likely your only options.

Swimming can take a long time to get the hang of. One of my kids (very very skinny, so not naturally buoyant) needed years and years of lessons. Just keep doing them year round.

Your kid really needs lessons every day until they can get it.

Our pool's pre team requires the kids to swim across the diving well by themselves. Your kid needs swim lessons.