I did, before he started the lessons to get better technique at age 5. I taught him around age 3. I used those swim pads where you can remove layer by layer as they learn to thread water. Of course he was swimming doggy style but he learned to swim with his head under water too and to retrieve objects from the bottom. We had a pool in our apartment complex and it took one summer.

Anonymous wrote:I never put a floaty on my kids. I was always in the water an arm length away. We did lots of diving toys to practice going under. It was definitely easier for me because my kids are 5 years apart and we went to the pool everyday. For your kids, I’d try to make it as much like play as possible and not feel like lessons.

This was basically my daughter. She’s 5 now. We didn’t go this often but we go a lot. Diving off the side of the pool to fish for toys at the bottom helped a ton. She learned by watching others. She learned to dive today by watching kids dive off the diving board. We haven’t done lessons so she’s mostly taught herself. She absolutely loves it and it’s really fun to go to the pool with her.

No, we tried but until we hired a real pro our kids made little progress.

My kid made a ton of progress going to the pool every day for a weekFrequency matters more than quantity IMO. Lessons have been virtually useless.

One thing that also helped was DD figured out she could float in her bath water and then started working on that at the pool.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well this is one of the dimmer things on DCUM

No OP you do not teach them if you are not certified

You can not watch all three at once and teach them

Swimming takes more than a week

This is so f-ing hilarious

Well, it’s DCUM. People here also send their kids to classes to learn how to ride a bike and tie their shoes (not kidding).

Our DC took a water safety class. One of the requirements was to be able to swim the width of the pool. DC had had professional swimming lessons and used proper technique, as did one other student. The other kids made it, but by “motorboating” with their heads out of the water and sort of a cross between breast stroke and freestyle. The advantage of good technique was very apparent. So I’m with the camp that says to learn the strokes and form from somebody who knows how to teach them, but I also agree that nothing substitutes for pool time once the foundation is laid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well this is one of the dimmer things on DCUM

No OP you do not teach them if you are not certified

You can not watch all three at once and teach them

Swimming takes more than a week

This is so f-ing hilarious

I’d love to laugh about it, but it just makes me sad and a bit anxious about the state of the country.

Anonymous wrote:Well this is one of the dimmer things on DCUM

No OP you do not teach them if you are not certified

You can not watch all three at once and teach them

Swimming takes more than a week

This is so f-ing hilarious

Anonymous wrote:Being comfortable in the water and then having chances to practice practice practice are really the 2 most important factors.

So you have to take them to a pool regularly for it to become a engrained.

This. Exposure is critical.

Certified might be necessary to reach real strokes but life skill swimming doesn’t need an Official Coach.

Anonymous wrote:Well this is one of the dimmer things on DCUM

No OP you do not teach them if you are not certified

You can not watch all three at once and teach them

Swimming takes more than a week

I literally thought this was satire. It’s so frightening to me that there are people like the PP among us.

And to the OP, yes we taught all of our kids to swim. It’s really kind of a natural thing if you spend enough time in the water, just avoid bad habits like putting puddle jumper floats on the kids.

Being comfortable in the water and then having chances to practice practice practice are really the 2 most important factors.

So you have to take them to a pool regularly for it to become a engrained.

You need to do it a few times a week, not just one or a few times.

Anonymous wrote:Well this is one of the dimmer things on DCUM

No OP you do not teach them if you are not certified

You can not watch all three at once and teach them

Swimming takes more than a week

How do you breathe with your head so far up your butt.

Anonymous wrote:Well this is one of the dimmer things on DCUM

No OP you do not teach them if you are not certified

You can not watch all three at once and teach them

Swimming takes more than a week

You are an absolute idiot. You know how many of us grew up poor and “swim lessons” weren’t a thing? I learned to swim from my “uncertified” older sister and learned to be a very good swimmer without lessons.

Did you also have your kids learn to ride a bike by being taught by a “certified” bike trainer?

Have the lessons been private?