Making your kid do it for one year is important for safety and it’s a life skill. Your kid can swim so he doesn’t drown in a pool but unless you practice lap swimming for an extended time like in summer swim you really don’t have the technique or stamina to swim 200 yards to shore if a riptide sucks you out to sea and you need to then swim parallel to the beach and back in. Or if you want to swim to a floating dock in a lake and back to shore.

Anonymous wrote:To each his own. My kids really enjoyed the whole swim team experience. They were not great swimmers necessarily, but they enjoyed practice, meets, the events and making lots and lots of new friends.
As a parent, it was a lot, but I also made some good friends through the experience.

This. We started when my kid was 9 - he is now 18 and in his last year. The first year was hard. He could only swim free/back and other kids in his age group had been swimming for 3-4 years. But he made friends. We made friends. We all built a social network outside of the pool and hung out with them on the off season. And while he doesn't LOVE practice - he hasn't asked/intimated he has wanted to quit in years and has actually been a volunteer coach and is now a team captain. He likes hanging with his friends and cheering on the little kids. DH and I also volunteer a lot - he is a stroke and turn judge or times at every meet and I run snack shack (and yes, DH and I work full time in the office.)

It is all what you and your family make of it. I am sure if my kid heard me grousing about the time commitment/the volunteer requirement/etc he would take my cues and complain too. But for our family it is an activity that we all do together and while we are all ready for a break at the end of July, we always miss it. I can't believe this is our last season....makes me sad to think about.

To each his own. My kids really enjoyed the whole swim team experience. They were not great swimmers necessarily, but they enjoyed practice, meets, the events and making lots and lots of new friends.
As a parent, it was a lot, but I also made some good friends through the experience.

My kids love it. Now that they are older, I do my minimum volunteering and drive to meets separately. After I’m done, I leave. They hang out with friends and go out for Starbucks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My kid joined because his friend joined. The friend’s mom is making her kid do it. My DC thought it would be fun to join but doesn’t like it at all. Neither does his friend. Honestly I am dreading the long Wednesday meets.
But what bugs me is, pretty much every kid is doing a swim team. Why does my kid hate it so much?

You need to expand your social circle OP. There are plenty of kids who aren’t doing summer swim team.

+1. My kids have never been on a swim team and they are both in middle school. They like swimming but not enough to be on a team.

What lead you to a post about summer swim team?

That is a very fair question! 😂

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My kid joined because his friend joined. The friend’s mom is making her kid do it. My DC thought it would be fun to join but doesn’t like it at all. Neither does his friend. Honestly I am dreading the long Wednesday meets.
But what bugs me is, pretty much every kid is doing a swim team. Why does my kid hate it so much?

You need to expand your social circle OP. There are plenty of kids who aren’t doing summer swim team.

+1. My kids have never been on a swim team and they are both in middle school. They like swimming but not enough to be on a team.

What lead you to a post about summer swim team?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My kid joined because his friend joined. The friend’s mom is making her kid do it. My DC thought it would be fun to join but doesn’t like it at all. Neither does his friend. Honestly I am dreading the long Wednesday meets.
But what bugs me is, pretty much every kid is doing a swim team. Why does my kid hate it so much?

You need to expand your social circle OP. There are plenty of kids who aren’t doing summer swim team.

+1. My kids have never been on a swim team and they are both in middle school. They like swimming but not enough to be on a team.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. My kid joined because his friend joined. The friend’s mom is making her kid do it. My DC thought it would be fun to join but doesn’t like it at all. Neither does his friend. Honestly I am dreading the long Wednesday meets.
But what bugs me is, pretty much every kid is doing a swim team. Why does my kid hate it so much?

You need to expand your social circle OP. There are plenty of kids who aren’t doing summer swim team.

Anonymous wrote:We are a summer swim team family. Two kids that swim, two parents that help a lot. We made the kids do it their first two years because we wanted them to become strong swimmers. They stayed well past it because they love it. Not all aspects of it, of course, but so many.

If they want to quit, we will let them. No need to stay if it’s miserable—to what end? Plenty of other activities out there.

Ditto this. We made our kids do it at 6 and 7 because we go to the beach and wanted them to be strong swimmers. Both ended up being top swimmers in their age groups and have done divisionals and all star relays…but at 12 and 10 they are losing interest.

We are fine with them being done next year if they want to be done. DD has another sport that requires a week long competition out of state in July and DS main sport starts early August now.

If your kid isn’t enjoying it, definitely don’t push it because it’s so parent volunteer heavy you will be miserable too if he isn’t having fun.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is assuming there are objectively correct answers for questions of opinion. Activities hit differently for different kids. I don’t think any sport is universally boring or universally awesome. Nor are all the teams and leagues the same in terms of goals and experience.

OP, it sounds that you have learned something about your kid, which is great. perhaps they don’t like sports judged by only times. Or they need extra attention transitioning to a sport to feel comfortable. Or maybe they don’t like individual sports (not saying any of these but possible lessons).

Anyway, just a reminder not to take this board too seriously. It is great for specific questions, imo, but wouldn’t put too much stock in blanket opinions of strangers.

I think this thread is largely about people wanting to complain while putting others down, which is common on DCUM. Loathe summer swim? Great! Don’t do it. There’s no need to crap on something other people enjoy. And there’s no need to seek approval from internet strangers for anything.

100 percent. Well said.

We are a summer swim team family. Two kids that swim, two parents that help a lot. We made the kids do it their first two years because we wanted them to become strong swimmers. They stayed well past it because they love it. Not all aspects of it, of course, but so many.

If they want to quit, we will let them. No need to stay if it’s miserable—to what end? Plenty of other activities out there.

Anonymous wrote:This whole thread is assuming there are objectively correct answers for questions of opinion. Activities hit differently for different kids. I don’t think any sport is universally boring or universally awesome. Nor are all the teams and leagues the same in terms of goals and experience.

OP, it sounds that you have learned something about your kid, which is great. perhaps they don’t like sports judged by only times. Or they need extra attention transitioning to a sport to feel comfortable. Or maybe they don’t like individual sports (not saying any of these but possible lessons).

Anyway, just a reminder not to take this board too seriously. It is great for specific questions, imo, but wouldn’t put too much stock in blanket opinions of strangers.

I think this thread is largely about people wanting to complain while putting others down, which is common on DCUM. Loathe summer swim? Great! Don’t do it. There’s no need to crap on something other people enjoy. And there’s no need to seek approval from internet strangers for anything.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old? How is he doing swim wise? Is he improving? Maybe he doesn’t like it bc it is tiring, does not have a lot of friends doing it, is not very good at it, sees other kids are better, etc.

I’d evaluate all of those possibilities and see if there is a real reason to quit. Are there other factors making it unlikeable?

If you want him to learn to swim, then he learns to swim.

He knows how to swim. I don’t understand your comment about me wanting him to learn to swim. He can swim which is why he can be on the team.
Now the question is, does he really need to know all the techniques really well and compete which i think is the point of a swim team.. i don’t think he does.

I think most people have their kids engage in activity because they see a benefit in it. If you believe your kid can already “swim” and doesn’t need to learn the techniques of swim well, then your particular child should not be on the team. You will feed off each other as to why this isn’t a great activity.

It’s rough on some kids. It’s very early and some kids need a break from the grind. It’s not for all. It plays into vacations and other choices of daily activities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How old? How is he doing swim wise? Is he improving? Maybe he doesn’t like it bc it is tiring, does not have a lot of friends doing it, is not very good at it, sees other kids are better, etc.

I’d evaluate all of those possibilities and see if there is a real reason to quit. Are there other factors making it unlikeable?

If you want him to learn to swim, then he learns to swim.

He knows how to swim. I don’t understand your comment about me wanting him to learn to swim. He can swim which is why he can be on the team.
Now the question is, does he really need to know all the techniques really well and compete which i think is the point of a swim team.. i don’t think he does.

No he absolutely doesn’t! I’d let him quit asap. We found the whole swim team scene to be very strange / it takes over and these families revolve their summer around it. One of my kids never wanted to try it, which was fine. 2 did and one ended up being surprisingly good, but I still let them quit the second they asked to. Inthink one lasted 2 summers and one 3 summers. The one who was very good quit bc she found the practices so boring