Anonymous wrote:I have a 5.5 year old DS who still isn't swimming. I'd like for him to be on swim team (it's a junior swim team that starts at 5, but older siblings will be on the real swim team at the same time) all summer long. He's athletic, smart and not afraid of the water. We taught his older siblings and they caught on quick. DS just isn't getting it. He too wants to be on swim team.

We had him in swim lessons at a big company, but after 2 months he hadn't progressed even a tiny bit. They told me it might take 6 months to move up a level (and a level was like going from nothing to sticking your head in the water). It just felt like they wanted our money and they weren't going to push DS out of his comfort zone.

What can we do to help him? Is there something like infant swim rescue but for big kids? Or a strict coach who doesn't just let him splash around for $75 a lesson.

Unless he is using floaties or some other flotation device all the time, I have to assume that a smart kid who doesn’t know how to swim, is indeed afraid of the water, and rightfully so. Can he comfortably swim underwater and dive to the bottom of the pool on his own? If so, he can learn strokes quickly and I wouldn’t worry too much. If not, kids who are afraid of sinking and being under water are tense and unable to focus on learning strokes because they panic when not upright. Get him comfortable in the water first.

So many posters here know what these swim schools seem not to know. It is actually more worthwhile to spend $75 for an instructor to play with a 4 year old in the pool than try to teach strokes. Maybe we should open a dcum swim school for pre-swim lessons - all we need is a shallow 3 foot pool with all the plastic bday party gift bag toys scattered on the bottom.

If he is 5 and can’t paddle across the pool, has he once a week lessons, is athletic and unafraid of the water…something doesn’t add up. Typically kids can’t get across if they:

Are Afraid or the water or distance; or
Lack the necessary endurance

Im not addressing actually strokes since you said he just needs to paddle across. He’s not as athletic as you think, as unafraid as you think, or he’s an atypical kid in this regard. Once kids are unafraid and can handle the exertion to cross the pool, they should be able to do so…even if imperfectly.

1x/ week group lessons + 1x/week practice (we joined an indoor pool) over a 2-month period did it for my kid last year.

Anonymous wrote:Private lesson 4-5 times per week for 2 weeks. That’s how my then 5 yo learned to swim free style entire length of pool unassisted and without stopping.

Yep, agreed. Whether it's this approach, or the staycation idea (which I love), you need a concentrated block of time.

Private lesson 4-5 times per week for 2 weeks. That’s how my then 5 yo learned to swim free style entire length of pool unassisted and without stopping.

Go to the pool every day if you can to play, and have lessons a few times a week. Just going every day is the quickest way. GL