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Working Moms
blushingbride_08
member
XP swim lessons
blushingbride_08
member
in Working Moms
My LO is 14 months old. What is a good age for starting swim lessons? I personally feel like he is too young to understand if I tell him to blow bubbles or kick his legs. Classes are a bit expensive so I would like to take him when he will learn the most. Right now he is content playing in the bathtub lol. What is the ideal age to start swim lessons when it will not be a waste of money since I'm on a tight budget?
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Re: XP swim lessons
IMO, if you are tight on money, I would wait a year and then start with a mommy and me next summer.
But, if you have a pool at your house or are frequently near large bodies of water, you may want to start now.
we are pretty land locked so we waited till about three to start.
I of course don't think they are learning any specific swimming skills at that age but I do think it really helps them to learn to not be afraid latter on.
They get used to splashing getting water on the head in their eyes etc and seems to make an easier transition to "real" swim lessons. Plus lots of fun and good bonding time.
If money is right I would start maybe at 2.
We don't do every session. Just when the mood strikes but often enough that they are familiar.
We made sure to get our kids in pools regularly with us starting the summer after they were born to get them comfortable in the water (so they were like 10 months) but tried the classes w/ parents one time when they were maybe around 2 but found them a waste of time for us b/c they were about getting kids comfortable in the water, not learning any skills & our kids were fine in the water...
So I guess it depends on what you're hoping to accomplish. If you have a pool you can take LO to with you and get her/him comfortable and playing, submerging his/her body, ok w/ getting water on his/her face, etc I'd definitely do taht before paying for lessons and try lessons closer to 3.
What are you hoping to get out of the lessons?
At 14 months a lot of LOs can blow bubbles and kick. The can learn to float too. Probably most importantly they can learn to wait for an adult before going in the water and how to climb out of a pool on their own. Group lessons are a nice time to socialize with other parents and have the kids interact with their peers too. Also, the longer you wait the more likely a LO will be scared of the water.
There's a bunch of water around here so I'm a big believer in lessons from an early age but it doesn't mean a family member can't teach them.
If you want to wait for your LO to be more independent before sending them to 'organized' lessons check at what age they can attend lessons independently. Here it's at 24 months if I remember correctly.
The swim instructor takes them as young as 6 months. I will wait until next spring to take DS2 though, around 15 months.
That's really awesome. If the instructors around here were that good, I would totally do it as young as possible.
My neighbors all swear by this guy and now I do too!! He is so amazing with the kids! And it's nice to have a confident 3yo who swims, especially being in FL. We don't have a pool at our house yet but we spend a lot of time at our community pool bc he loves it as do we, and its right around the corner from us.
I start all my kids at 2 years old, and we go to "mommy and me" class. It focus' on being comfortable in the water, water safety, learning to be comfortable with a teacher instead of the parent, putting their face in the water, floating on their back etc. After parent and tot they go to a 4:1 ratio class with an instructor and move up from there. By around 3-3 1/2 my kids could safely swim in the water, after that they work on stroke development etc. We go to an indoor pool so lessons are year round, if it was just a "summer thing" I would wait, unless they are in the water every week they aren't going to hold on to what they learned at 2 years old from one summer to the next.
If I was tight on money I would wait a little longer, but knowing how to swim is very important to me, so it is pretty high on the budget of importance, I think we would get rid of cable etc, before swim lessons.
I expect ds to be swimming reliably on his own by the end of this summer.
I think a year old is a good time to start bc the one yr olds I see in classes seem to have the most fun!
E is 18 months, and we just started 'mommy and me' classes. If we had a pool in our backyard, I would absolutely do those infant survival swimming lessons. Right now, we're only at the pool a couple times a summer, so the classes are more for social interaction and because E loves the water.
Our school runs sessions for 6 weeks, and it is a 30 min class. We do lots of blowing bubbles, floating, kicking and other activities that get kids comfortable with the water.