Our winter was so mild this year that I wasn’t in a hurry to rush through spring. Much to my delight, spring turned quickly into summer! We’ve been enjoying long days at the beach and are looking forward to pool time, too! In my spare time this week (tee hee hee), I chatted with the moms of the Mommy Mindset about teaching our children to swim.
Leila: My kids have been swimming since they were babies. They are now 4 and 6 and swim with floaties on. We are hoping to sign them up for swimming lessons eventually, but it’s so darn expensive down here!
Emily: My son started swimming lessons when he was 6 months old. It was important to me that he learn to swim right at an early age because we live so close to the water. He is a bit reluctant when it comes to “big waves” but loves the water! He’ll be turning three in a few weeks and I’m happy with is comfort level around the water.
Sarah: My daughter loves the water but she has not had formal swimming lessons. Our hope was to start her this summer (she’ll be 3 in August). I am not the best swimmer in the world so I want her to learn from someone who actually knows what they are doing.
LaVonne: My daughter learned to swim when she was 3. My husband taught her. She is a little fish – loves the water so much. This summer, she is 4, and we are thinking of putting her into swimming lessons. We want her to learn her strokes and be able to swim better above the water. We just aren’t sure if we want to put her in a private lesson or a group lesson.
Mary: My six year old started lessons when he was three (going on four) but the instructors were college kids who thought he was funny. They struggled to really teach him because they were distracted by him! He did learn the basic though and absolutely loves the water now as well as the lessons. Baby girl (two years old) will be taking lessons with her brother staring in July. Her day care provider has a pool and she feels very comfortable around water (including holding her breath and going under) but since we go so often now (between the public pool, beach and day care) I think lessons are necessary. I tried to teach my son but even though his instructors were more his buddy he still learned more from them.
Emily: In my opinion, lessons are necessary because trained professionals are going to teach lifesaving skills that little ones need when they’re around the water. I just found a group toddler class that is beginning at the end of July and I’m thinking of enrolling The Boy. I’ll be excited to watch him swim while receiving instruction, his prior lessons were water babies with me. Although he has lessons at school during the summer months, I can’t help but feel that more is better.
Ghada: I was in swimming lessons with my 4 .5 year old when he was a baby, about 6 months and we did 2 rounds and then we stopped. We were living 2 minutes from the beach at the time so he was always in the water. He got spooked after falling off a boogie board with his Dad and was a bit weary for awhile but he’s back into the water again. I am not having as much luck finding lessons with my 8 month old. But I definitely think professional lessons are key – if nothing else, it teaches us the parents tricks we would have never known.
How old were your children when they first started swimming? Did you teach them yourself or enroll them in lessons?
Thanks to Leila of Life as Leels, Sarah of East 9th Street, LaVonne of Long Wait For Isabella, Mary of iNeed a Playdate, and Ghada of Mama goes BAM for using your free time to talk about this very important safety issue!
Jenn says
I was just working on this same subject!! My girls are 4 and 6. My 6yr old can swim, no floatation, above, and under water no problem. The 4yr old can swim under the water, no flotation, but she has trouble above water…silly I know. Every time we are at Nana and Pappy’s pool I just work with them in hopes that they will get better. I would like them to have formal lessons, but it is expensive, so right now it’s the best we can do! 🙂
Beth R says
We have done formal lessons as much for the social aspect as the learning. Our 4 year old loves the water and has no problems swimming under water and has almost mastered swimming above as well. We are lucky since our city offers swimming lessons to the residents for a reasonable price, otherwise we wouldn’t be able to afford them
judi says
In our community if you don’t get your child swim lessons by around age 10 there aren’t any resources for swim lessons. We found that out the hard way when our son needed swim lessons for Scouts. We couldn’t find anyplace that took 12 year olds. A fellow scout finally taught him enough to get his First Class rank but it really held him back. Now we’re working on getting the younger kids swimming before they get too old.