DS cant swim or ride bike at 7yrs.. am i worrying for nothing?

bigmomma051204

Hi all - have been reading the other thread about kids and clubs etc which has made me post this...didnt want to hijack the other thread!!

My DS is 7yrs (8yrs in November this year) and is in year 2 at first school. Basically, he used to have swimming lessons in a group when he was between 3-4years and was really getting on well. I worked full time as did my partner, so my parents used to take him to their local pool for the sessions. Then, we moved about 25mins drive away from parents and partner had a bad car accident which he had to learn to walk again after (took 3 years) - this prevented parents being able to take DS swimming and obviously partner couldnt.... i cant swim (was never taught etc) and therefore couldnt take him myself ..... long story short - he is now 7years and cannot swim. He will be going swimming with his school in the Autumn term (but only for one term as they no longer do it all school year round) and i am really worried that he will be the only one there who cant swim. I am unsure if the school expects them to be able to swim..... i would have thought that the whole point was to enable those kids whose parents wont/cant take them the opportunity to learn BUT the area we live in is quite affluent (we arent lol) and i know that MOST of the children in his class have been swimming since they went to baby swim classes with their stay-at-home mums and the others all have swimming lessons (the nearest pool is 20mins away in car and a 30min lesson costs £22...they require you to have 1 lesson per week so at £88 per month it is just not possible!!) My OH is now okay again and has tried taking my DS swimming (normal open sessions so not so pricey but still £9 for both of them to swim)....my DS just refuses to listen and wont TRY anything my OH suggests which is frustrating as we know he USED to be able to do it (obviously he has now got the "fear" which he didnt have as a 3yr old).... i wouldnt mind at all paying for them to go each week BUT it always causes an argument as DS just simply will not try (by which i am not being a pushy mother lol...literally, he wont budge from edge of pool, sits and watches other people in the pool but wont get in...once persuaded in, just wont follow instructions etc) and OH gets so frustrated and i cant afford £9 per week when we literally arent getting anywhere!!!!!

I guess it sounds like a silly thing but i am worrying about it! We also have the same issue with not Trying when it comes to riding his bike - we dont have a big garden so he cant do it there, and people drive far too fast on the road we live on.... we have tried taking him to parks etc but he just refuses to TRY and pedal etc.....:o He would love it if he could ride but he just doesnt want to try as he says he is scared....but it honestly isnt him being scared, its him not wanting to bother as he would rather play DS or playstation or watch tv.... and yes, we DO limit these and we have used them as a reward for trying etc but to no avail. Again, all his mates can ride and have done for years!! He will be expected to do his cycling proficiency test in a couple of years......eeeek!!!

I guess i just wanna know - are ANY of your kids the same?? With any of the above?!!?! :cool:

balletshoes

I can reassure you that yes, at 7 my DD was exactly the same. She can swim a little now, after her school lessons in year 3 (plus extra time with me during and since in the pool). She was not, and still isn't, the only child in the pool with her school class who couldn't swim.

She is 11 and still has absolutely no interest in riding a bike. Her school did the cycling proficiency at the start of the school year last year, she knew it was coming at least a year before that, but she just wasn't motivated to learn, so she hasn't taken part in the cycling proficiency.

I do think its important she learns to swim a bit better than she can at the moment, so we're persevering with the swim time together, but I figure if she ever does want to learn to ride a bike, she'll do it in her own time.

SamW

Hi,
I'm a teacher and we've just finished our term of swimming lessons with children in Year 5 (aged 9 and 10). Just wanted to reassure you that it sounds like the children are from similar areas/backgrounds and around half of the children could already swim confidently and capably and half couldn't or were too petrified to swim at all.

Yours will not be the only one! Let me know if there's anything I can do to help,

Sam x

Gigervamp

I didn't learn until I was about 9 and I've never been a good swimmer since then, despite loving the water. I got my 25 yards certificate and that took a lot of effort!

It's been many moons since my kids were young, so I don't know what's available now, but I wonder, as you said that you can't swim, if there is a mum and kids learn to swim classes available.

As you can't swim, you will both be on the same page, so to speak and your DS might take to it better if you're both learning.

Person_one

Are there any pools near you with slides and waterfalls and fun stuff? A bit more expensive but maybe you could go less frequently just to make swimming something he enjoys again.

I do think learning to swim is completely vital, up there with learning to dial 999 or look both ways before crossing the road.

peachyprice

I would persevere with the swimming, it's a potentially life saving skill and it's something he may regret not learning when he gets older. There should be teachers available at the pool who are used to dealing with nervous children and will take things very slowly with him. For me it was important that all my children could swim and made it a priority.

As for riding a bike, my DD has absolutley no desire to ride a bike, she's happy enough on her scooter, there's no way I'm going to make her ride a bike. It's not going to effect her safety so I am quite happy to let it go.

Moomum

My ds is 8, last summer I tried to teach him to ride a bike and he was having none of it, I was worried as I know 4 year olds riding with no stabilisers! We got the bike out last weekend to give another go and he was riding within the hour! Try not to worry!

gingin_2

DD started swimming lessons in Year 3 at the start of this term - more than half were in the beginners group, I really wouldn't worry, he'll get there in time. They go on until year 5 here and if they can't swim by then, which some can't, they get individual lessons until they can, it might be the same for you.

bigmomma051204

SamW wrote: »

Hi,
I'm a teacher and we've just finished our term of swimming lessons with children in Year 5 (aged 9 and 10). Just wanted to reassure you that it sounds like the children are from similar areas/backgrounds and around half of the children could already swim confidently and capably and half couldn't or were too petrified to swim at all.

Yours will not be the only one! Let me know if there's anything I can do to help,

Sam x

I hope he isnt! To be honest, he isnt the most motivated child in the world with anything lol.... he is a typical boy who, having just done his SATS, got above average in science, maths and reading BUT only just scraped through with his writing - he is SO easily distracted and needs alot of prompting ....the knowledge is there (ie spellings etc) but even if he knows a word, he will still stop after each letter practically to "think" about what comes next...... he has had the same teacher for last 2 years - she has been very frustrated with him as he has such great ideas etc but just seems to hit a brick wall when it comes to actually getting it down on paper!! Hoping that the new teacher in year 3 might try something new (god knows what!!) and inspire him.......... :cool:

Valli

Main thing re the school swimming - make sure he can undress himself, organise his clothes, get them all in the locker sensibly and safely and get his swimwear on in a reasonable time. And that he can dry and dress himself, unaided and reasonably quickly, afterwards.
His teacher will love you for it.
Hopefully the fact that he has had some swimming lessons will mean he is confident - don't worry.

(Oh and label all his clothes if it's uniform!)

bigmomma051204

Valli wrote: »

Main thing re the school swimming - make sure he can undress himself, organise his clothes, get them all in the locker sensibly and safely and get his swimwear on in a reasonable time. And that he can dry and dress himself, unaided and reasonably quickly, afterwards.
His teacher will love you for it.
Hopefully the fact that he has had some swimming lessons will mean he is confident - don't worry.

(Oh and label all his clothes if it's uniform!)

Haha - he CAN do those things.....whether he can do them quick enough so that he actually gets into the pool is another matter LOL.....again, its that old lack of concentration and easily distracted element that is the problem! :cool: