Taking children swimming

bestpud

This may be an odd question - dunno if it's just me!

Those of you with children, when you take them swimming, what do you do once you are in the pool?

I tend to think I should spend at least an hour to justify the cost of getting in - not far off £8 for me and dd(6).

For one hour a day they chuck a load of floats and toys etc in the pool for the kids, and it is very hectic then as it's only a small pool. But the rest of the time, it's, water!

DD can't swim yet as she hates putting her face in, so I want to build her confidence over the summer and possibly get her some lessons later in the autumn.

We play about a bit, but tbh I've usually run out of ideas after about half an hour!

So what do you all do?

Please tell me I am not the only one who loses all her imagination on stepping into the pool? I think it's a lot to do with me feeling self-conscious tbh.

RoxieW

Me too! I find half an hour is enough. My little ones like to pretend to be sharks and chase me around, and visa versa. Is there another pool nearby with flumes etc? Mine find those more interesting.
I'd wholeheartedly recommend lessons - DS1 started them 2 months ago and is now swimming without floats! it really brings them on doing it within a group of other children, I think.

onlyroz

My boy (age 3) gets swimming lessons twice a week while at nursery. They give him floats and arm bands, and encourage him to jump in the pool himself, so that he gets used to his face being splashed. They also play with balls, boats and ducks, and are trying to teach him how to kick properly.

I haven't taken him swimming often myself, but we have a fun pool nearby, with water slides and wave machines that he enjoys. Is there anything like that near you? And perhaps some swimming lessons by a professional might be worth while, because they're bound to know more techniques than we do.

sooz

Firstly, that is expensive for just the two of you. Is is a council pool?

Ours has a variety of random hidden tariffs , that you really have to ask about. One I was finally told about was to sign up for free junior membership for my little ones, & then they swim for £1, meaning I only pay £5 rather than £8.

Also, do you eat cereals? It's a little late, but you can look out for the Kellogs packs each with a free swim voucher on them. Check the kellogs site first to see if there is a pool near you participating.

You could always ask your pool if you can use the floats at other times. If not, the 99p store sells a twin pack of floats for 99p, and also a long floating sausage (I'm sure that's not the technical term, but you know what I mean )

If she doesn't like getting her face wet, get some goggles. My eldest's confindence really grew when he didn't get water in his eyes. Try splashing eachother's faces with water too, to get used to it.

Finally, can you arrange to go with the same time as a friend with a child. Even is they are not the same age, they love spending time in the pool with other children. DS1 wanted to learn to swim when he spent a lot of time with a friend one year older who could swim. He copied everything he did, & started to finally put his face under the water, & even got the confidence to jump in (with armbands on)

Penny_Watcher

A little tip for water confidence / putting your face in the water.

About 150 years ago when I was first taking lessons (a diddy 5 year old) the teacher got us to concentrate on blowing a ping pong ball across the width of the baby pool. Not all in one GIANT breath obviously :rolleyes:, but by settling right down into the water with your chin just dipped in. When you're concentrating on something else you can forget a little bit about being scared of being splashed.

bestpud

Thanks all.

DD has had group lessons at school and al our local pool but was put off both times when they expected her to put her face in the water. I then got her some individual lessons but again, it was costing a lot of money and getting her nowhere. I'm sad to say it got to be a bit of an issue between us (bad of me, I know!)

So I've left a gap and now want to start taking her to have fun rather than learn iyswim? She put her head in while we were on holiday last year, no trouble at all, and for quite long times too. But back here she wouldn't.

We have a float and I will take that with us.

She has been saving the cereal packets herself. She is very keen to start going again so I want to strike while the iron is hot so to speak!

Yes, it is a council pool and has one tiny slide (under 3's type) and one big flume but she hates that. It has a deep end and a shallow beach end but tbh it is blimming cold in the shallow bit, plus I feel more self conscious there! There is also a standard rectangular kids pool. The alternative pools are in the market towns around us and are just rectangle pools.

It is expensive because they encourage membership packages, I think.

Yes, I am hoping to arrange to meet a friend there over summer.

Re the ping pong ball - she did that in the indivdual lessons she had. She is not at all worried about getting splashed. I'm kind of hoping she was being stubborn and she will do it fine now if play it right!

Carmina_Piranha_3

i think the sausage thing is called a woggle.

i'm the same - husband is much more fun at the pool. i let my 2 year old jump in and i catch him. i also have a race with him to the other side. he gives me a ride if he is able to touch the floor of the pool (it's a moveable floor so sometimes it's a metre, but when it's 86cm he can walk on the floor). i hold onto his waist and i kick my legs while he walks through the water, thinking he is carrying me.

we take a squirty bath toy and that provides a few minutes of amusement if i squirt the water high into the air, it's like a sprinkler for him to avoid.

our old pool used to have steps into the water, so he used to commando crawl along those but the new pool doesn't, so he's a bit bored because it's just a pool. we just went on holiday and the pool had a little slide which he really loved, and it's made me think that rather than take him swimming once a week in the council pool for £4 it would be better to save up and take him to a pool with slides, rapids, sprinklers etc. every 3 weeks.

if we go to the council pool we get out within an hour, but at a play pool we can stay in for more than 3 hours and amid all the sliding etc. they pick up how to swim anyhow, just during their games in the wave pool etc.

in the council pool my eldest is less bored if he has goggles because then he can swim underwater or do handstands, or dive for the locker key.

Spendless

I paid for swimming lessons for mine, though I can swim I was taught by an older child/parent and was never taught the 'correct techniques' eg I still can not bear having my face in water, which is why I preferred to pay for lessons.

As for going swimming with them as a leisure activity and/or to build water confidence I go to the 'fun' pool, that has a slide and other features.

kay41_2

The long thing is sometimes called a noodle and a good game to play is the put it between your legs and use it to paddle along like a bike - helps you get your balance. I swim like a dog with my face out of the water and can't bear my face to get wet. My little girl swims like a fish (years of lessons and £1000s !) and is very confident now. Goggles definitely make a difference and those sticks or toys you can dive for are very good. Most small children, once they learn to hold their breath can swim far better underwater than on top. Blowing bubbles and blowing a toy along (as others have said) is great. We did Aquatots for a year or two and they do lots of face in the water stuff and jumping in, turning round and holding on to the side (a survival technique that tiny children pick up on) which my little girl hated at first, then refused to do, so we went over to normal lessons with armbands. My friend and I belong to an outdoor pool and our kids are so confident now after a couple of months of going up to 5 times a week. Even her 2 year old leaps into the pool with his arms bands on with no fear, and doesn't mind going under the water. All the children (eldest of ours - 8) do tuck jumps and backward flips into the pool and handstands etc. Not much actual swimming goes on (we leave that for lessons!) but we don't worry about them at all. Maybe get a children's swimming book from the library and practise some techniques? At 6 your daughter should be able to hold her breath with practise, and float one her back and front - maybe practise things like that. I loath splashing around in luke warm kid's pools, I always just want to swim! At 6 she should have the strength to hold herself up in the water too. It sounds as if maybe lessons in the autumn would help, but try not to choose a very busy class, as children can get lost in those and not learn much. I've just pulled my daughter out of ASA lessons at the local pool as there were up to 14 kids in the class and she wasn't learning anything. We now have a private lesson with 4 other children and it is much more geared towards their individual needs and strengths (and it costs the same and is in a private pool!)

Gingham_Ribbon

We have 2 pools we go to. One is only pennies to attend so we use it sometimes, but it doesn't have a shallow end and I can only take one of the boys at a time and they need to hang on to me the whole time. The other is quite expensive but has fantastic facilities and lots of space where the water is shallow enough for them to walk around in it unaided. There is a lot of different equipment to play on/in and it's a much nicer experience.

We don't spend long in the first pool. We tend to just go there so we can splash about with friends who go there too. The second, there is so much to do we can be in there over an hour without even noticing.

osian

No advice on the swimming sorry, but have you noticed that Kelloggs cereals have free swim vouchers on them? That may help with the cost if you have a participating pool near you.

http://www.kelloggs.co.uk/whatson/swimming/pool-locator.aspx