swimming

[MummyToToby]

when did your child learn to swim without any armbands?

[myermay]

we've never used armbands with ours - they went to aquatots. Ds1 is 3 know and can swim underwater a few metre to his teacher

[myermay]

how old are your children?

[LIZS]

dd(4) is taught at school without armbands. Some of her year can already swim really well.

[Pinotmum]

The beginners class my dd is in started them without armbands. She is now 5.6 and has been going since Sept 2005. Last sunday she swam for he first time without any aids - 5 or 6 strokes .

[MummyToToby]

it's not for me. i am asking on behalf of my cousin. her children are 2 and 3.

[scotlou]

My ds was about 5.5. He didn't really like water, but while swimming with my SIL he decided one day just to take off his armbands and give it a shot! He quickly progressed after that (although as we don't go swimming often he doesn't get as much practice as he should)

[snorkle]

armbands can be great to build a childs confidence in the water, but if used a lot children can easily get dependent on them and it can be difficult to wean them off using them.

The usual recomendation is if you do use them to always take them off for a short time each session.

[myalias]

DS was 4.6 when he learnt to swim. He attended swimming lessons and the instructor encourages children to use a bodybelt rather than armbands. Within a couple of weeks almost all the children could swim without the belt.

[snorkle]

Oh, and when to stop using them altogether depends on all sorts of things like how long the child has been swimming with them, how confident they are, whether the arm bands are actually helping or hindering their swimming development and how much supervision the accompanying adult is prepared to give. So no right or wrong answer there really - but always taking them off for some of the time and gradually increasing the off time would be a step in the right direction.

[NannyL]

my 5.5 year old charge has been larning (ie having swimming lessons every week during term time) for a year now... he can now competantly do about 5 meters.

Some children in his class at school have been very competant swimmers (for 4 / 5 year olds [ie can swim the width of a pool easily, even a length]) since before they started reception class.

I think it depends on the child and how often they go swimming etc!

[GDG]

At our club, swimming lessons can start at 3 (i.e. a lesson with the teacher, not with you in the pool).

Ds1 started at 3 and was fully out of armbands and had done his 25m at just 4.

Ds2 is 3.4 now - he started in January - uses swimming aids for most of the lesson but does 10 mins at the end without armbands.

Their teacher is fabbo.

Swimming sooooooooo important imo.

[GDG]

Agree with NannyL - one of ds1's friends started in his class at 3 but is now still in the same class that ds2 has now joined while ds1 (and a couple of others) has moved up and is swimming with kids of about 7 (he's just 5).

The little boy who hasn't moved on yet is perfectly capable of swimming - he's very good - but he hates teh water on his face so isn't into going under (she has them jumping in and swimming through a hoop at the bottom in ds1's class) and he gets tired easily so struggles to do a length.

[snorkle]

interesting GDG, sounds as though they are doing well. At our club we don't start until 5 and don't use arm bands at all. Agree about children all being different, but other factors like depth of water (e.g. if children are in or out of depth, which is a factor for 2-3 year olds even in the shallow end of many pools) and whether you are there primarily to learn to swim or to have fun also make a difference. Once children are ready to learn correct swimming arm movements arm bands are a problem.

[GDG]

At ours, they use discs - have you seen those? So they might start with 3 on each arm and then you can take them off through the lesson etc to make them work harder!

The pool mine go to doesn't have a shallow end so they can't stand up in any part of the pool.

I think the aim is to learn to swim but the teacher is great and does make it fun - she uses techniques like blowing bubbles on the surface of the water to show them how to breathe out etc.

Actually, I'm not 100% sure how she does it as she prefers parents not to sit and watch as the children don't concentrate on what she's saying - so I take the opportunity to go to the bar for a latte!

[snorkle]

Oh the discs are good, they leave the arms more mobile than the blow up ones and as you say you can gradually reduce them - some support is pretty much essential to begin with when learning out of your depth unless you have one-to-one assistance. Our pool is the total opposite of yours - we have a conventional 25m part and a recreational bit with a beach so you can go as shallow as you like with the beginners. Your teacher sounds good; swimming should always be fun - but when parents take children swimming, (ie not swimming classes, where the emphasis is nearly always about learning technique) often the idea is primarily to have fun and any swimming skills aquired is more incidental.

[louise35]

DD was about 3 I think. The first time I ever took her to the baths though she was pertified and clung to my swimming costume and she pulled it down and exposed my boobs lol. After a while though she really started to enjoy it. I tried to make it as much fun as possible for her before starting to teach her how to swim properly and I let her tell me when she wanted the armbands off. Once they have the confidence and the ability to stay afloat there seems to be no stopping them. She started to swim underwater and was actually better under the water than she was above it. All kids are different though and do it at their own pace. I remember when she started going swimming with her school and there were many children who could not swim and quite alot who had not really had any experience of the swimming baths at all which is a bit of a shame really. I must admit I didn't atart taking DD to swimming baths until she was about 2.5, mainly due to me having a weight problem and lack of confidence but it didn't hold my DD back in the long run.

[hulababy]

DD has just turned 4 and can only swim whilst wearing her swim vest thing, but can swim on her own for as long as she likes with that. I haven't found a pool near me that will take children before 5 years, without me being in the pool. She starts swimming lessons weekly at school in September I think.

[Enid]

never used armbands

used a floatsuit and secretly took floats away

dd1 could swim alone at 3.5
dd2 has four floats left in at 3.5 but can swim on her own if she tries

[fennel]

dd1 was about 5 before swimming without armbands. dd2, 4.5, is close but can't. both went to loads of lessons from age 2+. most of the other children in their classes seemed to learn to well (with those disc-armbands). In constast mine don't seem to be natural swimmers, considering we've taken them almost weekly from 4 months.

[fsmail]

My DS learnt with armbands, taught himself to swim at 3 without them and did 450 metres recently at 5, therefore, I don't think armbands hold them back and in fact it helps their confidence. My dd (21 months) now swims with arm bands confidently.

[GDG]

450 metres at 5 Blimey!! That's brilliant!

[roisin]

DS2 could swim 10m without armbands aged 3 and a bit. DS1 didn't do this until he was 6.5.

But ds1 swam 50m before he was 7, and that's all ds2 has done now (he's almost 7) even though he swam so much earlier!

[eidsvold]

never used them in lessons - but she has one on one..... Dd1 started swimming lessons at about 2 and a bit - now almost 4. Dd2 will start about 2. At the moment dd2 floats around in a chair and dd1 is helped by dh in the toddler pool.

But dd1 is a water baby and dd2 is more tentative so not sure how it will go.

[jellybrain]

What are the disc arm bands that have been mentioned? i'm vcurious. Can any one do me a link.

DS1 (8)can swim a length or so.
ds2 (5) wants to learn but, is so nervous. Hates water on his face etc. We've started going to the pool regularly since New year so am hoping his confidence will build.Put his face in the water on Sunday, picture closed eyes, a finger in each ear, and one up each nostril.

dd (9.5 months) loves the water and has adopted a 'real'swimming position from the word go ie. flat on her front legs and arms going like mad. Also quite happy to stick her face in the water etc.

[Surfermum]

\link{http://www.swimstop.co.uk/product.php?id=1057\Here you go!}

I've opted for the belt with removable floats for dd on the advice of a swimming teacher friend of mine. She said it gets her in the right position for doing the strokes properly.