Swim Lessons - such slow progress....

auburnbride2be · June 2012

DD has been consistently taking swim lessons 1x per week for about 8 months. I am anxious for her to know more just for safety reasons. I don't push too hard and neither does her swim teacher. Does anyone else feel inpatient about progress with swimming? DD is 4 and is not scared of the water, but when she is pushed, she shuts down. I'm debating on trying a different teacher or trying lessons somewhere else. Or, maybe I just need to relax and wait til she's ready. I've heard of a type of lessons where they teach them to get to the side of the pool and float on their back if they were to fall in. I feel like our place just focuses on the same couple skills and I don't see much progress.

KathrynMD · June 2012

you know, we did lessons just recently and DD was OK w/ it, but not really great. I felt safe for her to be in the wading pool w/o me hovering over her, but that was about it. She wouldn't put her face in the water or take a stroke at the lessons w/o some serious wheedling. However. .. she had pool day @ daycare yesterday - guess who came home super excited about putting her face in the water?? And showed me how to do it approximately 5x in teh bath tub last night? I think there was a lot of positive peer pressure at the pool w/ her friends to keep up, etc. I'm not going to leave her alone in the pool tomorrow or anything, but for one day vs. the 8 weeks of swim lessons we just finished, I'm pretty impressed! Maybe see if you can get her to the pool w/ some better swimmers and see how she does?

AZ123 · June 2012

It probably is the teacher and the school, to be honest. You should change teachers or schools. We are now on our third school and DS1 is finally really learning. He's gone 3 weeks (1x per week) and has now advanced to swimming to the bottom of the 3.5 ft area and fetching a ring! I can tell that the current school is way better based on the teachers techniques and how he communicates with the kids. He also has them doing pretty challenging stuff and pushes them (to an extent) in a short period of like 20 minutes. The last 10 minutes are just playing with him in the water, which the kids like .
Another thing to try is semi-private lessons but I think at nearly age 4 you should be seeing progress each week.

The last thing you mentioned is the program where they go every day for 6 weeks straight or something and they have a 10 minute lesson where they're basically thrown in the pool and taught to float and swim to the side. I haven't tried it but know people who have and say that it works but your DD might be too old for it and it might scare the crap out of her.

roxy_jj · June 2012

Would it be possible to do lessons more than one day a week? I've heard that kids often progress much more quickly when they have lessons more than once a week. I just started my kids with lessons 2x per week, up from their usual once a week.

I have found that my kids did respond to some teachers better than others, so I would say switching teachers is worth a try.

If you aren't happy with the school, then I would definitely switch. At the school where my kids go (which I'm very happy with) they do focus on most of the same skills, but I understand their reasoning behind it. The kids need to master those skills to move onto the next level. They do go over a lot of safety skills too.

If your child shuts down when she's pushed, she probably isn't ready to move on. If you try and give her skills that she isn't ready for, she may shut down even more, which is definitely not what you want.

auburnbride2be · June 2012

We go to the pool almost every weekend to practice. With my work schedule and the pool schedule, we can't get in during the week at all.

howleyshell · June 2012

Random question - is she using goggles?

Made all the difference in the world for us.

So did getting their faces wet on a regular basis in the bath tub or even encouraging them to get face and belly down in the bath water.

I'm in the "don't push it" camp because she will learn to swim. Chance are she's not highly motivated right now.

I think it's worth changing teachers - make sure she's in a WARM pool. Cold pools for my kids = "I hate swim lessons" and frankly I don't blame them.

But if she's still pushing back I'd let it go and just focus on making pool time fun. Once she sees her peers being able to go places and do things in the pool that she can't she's more likely to push her boundaries.

VTbride05 · June 2012

My son is hesitant in the water too.

This year we signed up for swim lessons with his best friend, who is more confident in the water. I think this bit of peer pressure will make a big difference.

Or try having someone else take her to her lesson, like a grandparent or a nanny.... kids often will do more for someone other than their parent.

Ciarrai · June 2012

I disagree with the whole "it's only one time a week" but I agree that it's the school. My girls are just-turned-6 and almost-4-and-a-half and they're on a swim team. Their swim old school was/is really big on - get to the side if they fall in/jump in and what to do if they have trouble or get tired (float on their back). At almost-2-and-a-half, DS can jump off the side, turn around and get back to the side or to the stairs if they're close enough. He took one lesson per week from January through May. We do have a pool in our backyard and that's a huge thing because they're in it all the time from early-May/mid-April through late-Septemberish.

Both my girls are doing amazing on swim team. They swam over 350 meters of "freestyle" yesterday at practice. DD2 turned 4 in February and she does this combination of freestyle and underwater, but she made it and did it. Neither of the girls have ever gone more than once a week and DD2 has only been in two classes once a week from January through May both last year and this year. She was in the pool all the time last summer and is again this summer plus swim team practice every morning for an hour, but she could swim the full 25m length of the pool before May when they started swim team. Look for another program that does better/more for your DD. Or find a different teacher in the same school. We've had trouble with certain teachers and had a better experience with others... Keep looking for the right program.

Andrewsgal · June 2012

My kids have never done lessons more than once a week, and my five year old is on swim team swimming three different strokes. My three year old can swim both freestyle and backstroke and will do swim team next year. IMO it has more to do with the quality of lessons than the quantity.

paprika28 · June 2012

I disagree with the 'one time a week isn't enough' idea. I taught swimming lessons for 5 years, and sometimes, it's a mixture of things. If you notice the teacher does/says the exact same thing with each student, it's worth bringing it up to the director. We were always taught to pay attention to each child's learning skills- some learned by watching, some learned by doing, some learned by both. Some also would be in the same class for a year or so at a time. It's nothing against your child, I promise. The classes we taught had a certain set of standards, and if I didn't feel a child was showing confidence in each skill, (to an extent) they wouldn't move up until I felt confident moving them up. (it's not only a safety thing, but also not wanting to scare the child.)

The next session, really watch what goes on. You make the ultimate decision on your child's education, whether in school, swimming, etc. Watch for the little things that people don't always think to look at- If the child wears a 'backpack', how many floats are on it? (Starter is 4, then as they progress, the teacher will have a 3 or a 2, or even a 1 pack ready for them.) When I started teaching, I never realized that, and it looked like all the kids were on the same level. I had never realized that 1 in the class might have a 3 pack on, and 'learning' the same things over again, but gaining the strength needed to go to the next level. Also, how the child is holding a barbell/kickboard. Arms extended is a more advanced state, which is awesome. When your child does backfloating, watch to see if their head is relaxed, or if they're still stiff. The more relaxed, the better. (there's nothing a teacher can really do to relax a student besides talk to them in soothing tones and gain trust.)

If you're interested in working with your child when they're not in lessons, try to use the same words as the teacher, so the child isn't confused.

Oh- one more thing- if possible, skip Saturday swimming lessons. They were always more rushed, no matter what. Tuesday and Wednesday nights were the best nights to teach on, because it just felt like we had more time with the kids.

GL!

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Swim Lessons - such slow progress....

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