Anonymous
Post 05/30/2026 20:41     Subject: Re:Kids being bad swimmers
BethesdaMom2014 wrote:This is so dependent on the kid. My older one took to it naturally and was swimming laps by age 6. My younger one is 8 and still won't put her face in the water willingly. We just keep doing lessons every summer and try not to stress about it. They all get there eventually.


Agree with this. Also, One of my kids was so skinny it was harder for him to stay afloat until about age 8 when he filled out a lot and then it was easier.
BethesdaMom2014
Post 05/30/2026 20:39     Subject: Re:Kids being bad swimmers
This is so dependent on the kid. My older one took to it naturally and was swimming laps by age 6. My younger one is 8 and still won't put her face in the water willingly. We just keep doing lessons every summer and try not to stress about it. They all get there eventually.
Anonymous
Post 05/30/2026 20:34     Subject: Kids being bad swimmers
Anonymous wrote:I noticed this at a 7 year old pool party. My kid was the only drop off and it turned out he was the only one who can swim. I think families are either all in with sports (swim team, multiple sports) or not doing sports at all. Like it blows my mind that there are 7 year old in my neighborhood who can’t ride a bike, swim, etc. Most of my kids’ friends are in the total opposite camp of super scheduled sports every season.


You sound really full of yourself
Anonymous
Post 05/30/2026 20:30     Subject: Kids being bad swimmers
Anonymous wrote:I noticed this at a 7 year old pool party. My kid was the only drop off and it turned out he was the only one who can swim. I think families are either all in with sports (swim team, multiple sports) or not doing sports at all. Like it blows my mind that there are 7 year old in my neighborhood who can’t ride a bike, swim, etc. Most of my kids’ friends are in the total opposite camp of super scheduled sports every season.


Some of the most crazy sports parents have kids who never rode bikes because they were too busy with organized sports and not riding bikes around the neighborhood.
Anonymous
Post 05/30/2026 20:24     Subject: Kids being bad swimmers
I noticed this at a 7 year old pool party. My kid was the only drop off and it turned out he was the only one who can swim. I think families are either all in with sports (swim team, multiple sports) or not doing sports at all. Like it blows my mind that there are 7 year old in my neighborhood who can’t ride a bike, swim, etc. Most of my kids’ friends are in the total opposite camp of super scheduled sports every season.
Anonymous
Post 05/30/2026 12:45     Subject: Kids being bad swimmers
We are creating a generation of wussies. Let us pray we never have a war when the draft is reinstated because mommy and daddy will need to accompany their snowflakes into battle to make sure the toy soldiers know how to raise their white flags!
Anonymous
Post 05/29/2026 20:27     Subject: Kids being bad swimmers
We made our kids take swimming lessons because it is an important life skill. We have a pool and they just really don’t like it so much. When I grew up we had a pool club that we could get to and be at alone after like age 12. The whole neighborhood was there and it was great. Now half the kids are in camp all summer and parents have to be there with the kids which is not unreasonable but I think it makes it harder with two income families to spend days at the pool.
Anonymous
Post 05/29/2026 11:57     Subject: Kids being bad swimmers
Anonymous wrote:The bajillions of kids doing summer swim team would beg to differ...


Yeah, I don't agree at all. My seven year old has gross motor issues and is still not able to swim in the deep end (can do freestyle-ish for 5-10 yards) and I feel like he is very much the exception among his peers. This is the circle you run with, not a global trend. Most parents I know are pretty fanatical about water safety, for good reason.
Anonymous
Post 05/29/2026 11:40     Subject: Kids being bad swimmers
Some kids take longer in general. Two of my 3 were competent to be solo in the deep end by age 5. My third was still fighting getting water on her face at that age. All 3 spend a lot of time at the pool in the summer. If a kid doesn't get as much exposure, then it would take even longer.
Anonymous
Post 05/29/2026 11:32     Subject: Kids being bad swimmers
Anonymous wrote:Not everyone learns at the same pace. Neither do we all have access to the country club pool, or even a pool in general. Good swim lessons are expensive.
Typical post of clueless DCUM...


Exactly. I'm older than most here. When I grew up on the upper middle class kids knew how to swim. It was fairly common for people who lived and worked on the water not to know how to swim.
Anonymous
Post 05/29/2026 11:20     Subject: Kids being bad swimmers
My mom grew up in inner city Detroit and didn't learn how to swim until she was an adult.
Anonymous
Post 05/29/2026 11:19     Subject: Kids being bad swimmers
Do you want a cookie? Any uncoordinated kid can learn to swim just like they can learn to ride a bike
Anonymous
Post 05/29/2026 11:18     Subject: Re:Kids being bad swimmers
Anonymous wrote:Aside from the comments about $ and region: most kids that age are in daycare/summer day camp programs etc (many of which will not have regular access to a pool during that time). Most families have both parents working FT and may not have the ability to spend a lot of time at the pool, even during the summer. When I was that age, more of us were cared for by family members or used more casual babysitting arrangements (and often spent a lot of time at the public or neighborhood pool during the day). My grandmother provided summer care of us and took us to the pool a lot. As a teen, I babysat every summer and took the kids to the pool a lot. My own kids are in daycare or summer camps during the day.


You can do lessons and team at a county pool. We do.
Anonymous
Post 05/29/2026 11:17     Subject: Kids being bad swimmers
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote: Mine are 5 & 7, and can both dive and swim across the pool and granted I swam year round for 10 years but no one else I know with kids similar ages can do this yet. And pools are so shallow! Our country club does has a deep end with diving boards (as did mine in the 90s) but are kids just more wary of water now? I feel like it’s not only a safety thing knowing how to swim well…. But it’s also summer fun! You used to get teased if you couldn’t dive by the time you were 7 or 8.


Are they legal in all four strokes?


No but your mum is
Anonymous
Post 05/29/2026 10:56     Subject: Kids being bad swimmers
I actually think fewer kids can dive because there are fewer pools where it's allowed because of newer safety regulations. (Even backyard pools have to be 10 ft to have diving boards in many places whereas my own 7 ft backyard pool did as a kid.)

But basically swimming skills? My kids are 11/9/7 and all of the friends they invited to the pool last summer (when they were 10/8/6) were pool safe. All of the 10 & 8 year olds could swim, swim... and all of the 6 year olds could not drown (and some could really swim). Your kids are a bit younger, so maybe it's just that you're ahead of the curve, but I don't see the trend you do with just slightly older kids.