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

thehappybutterfly

Ha! I'm 43 and still can't swim or ride a bike. I can do a feeble front crawl and a wibbly-wobbly bike ride but that's it. I also can't whistle :whistle:or wink (without Emoticons).

Could I swim to save my life? I very much doubt it hence the reason I don't like boats or deep water.

Maybe when your son wants to go swimming with his mates and he's not allowed until he can swim, he'll take lessons?

Spendless

My DD's school takes them swimming from Easter of yr4 till Easter of yr 5 and that is earlier than most other schools in the borough that take them thru-out yr 5. There are several in her class who can't swim yet as was the case when my son went on his school swimming classes 3 years ago.

Re bike riding. I think my DD was 7 when she learnt to ride a bike. She didn't want to do it in the traditional way - where you hold them till they feel confident for you to let go, so instead spent a full day getting off and falling off her bike in our front garden till she acheived it and the thing that had inspired her was a class data chart about who could ride a 2 wheel bike.

I really wouldn't worry for the age your child is.

Gigervamp

I think learning to swim is important, learning to ride a bike is a nice skill to have, but not important, so I'd focus on the swimming.

adouglasmhor

My GF can't swim or ride a bike aged 46. She has a job and qualifications though. Swimming her dad and mum couldn't swim and the PE teacher at their school was a bullying type who made her scared of the water. Bike I think she just panicked when learning.

CH27

Could you take him swimming & see if you have more joy?

dragonette

Try to not worry too much, the school might be able to help with the swimming. As for riding a bike, does it really matter? Neither myself, my mum nor OH can ride a bike. And it has not been detrimental to us in any way. A friend actually tried to force me to learn, I nearly punched her.

Lots of kids seem to drift with their heads in the clouds. I'm sure the teachers are used to it

lika_86

If you can't swim why do you expect your son to be motivated to learn? You say he won't try, but what about you? Do you go and sit on the side and watch or do you get in as well?

lika_86

Also, he won't learn to swim at school, none of the non-swimming kids at my school ever graduated beyond the shallow end to doing lanes, just like I never learnt to sew at school even though we had textiles lessons, if you want him to swim then it'll have to be a home effort I think, make it fun though, don't get mad at him, he'll just resent it.

balletshoes

lika_86 wrote: »

Also, he won't learn to swim at school, none of the non-swimming kids at my school ever graduated beyond the shallow end to doing lanes, just like I never learnt to sew at school even though we had textiles lessons, if you want him to swim then it'll have to be a home effort I think, make it fun though, don't get mad at him, he'll just resent it.

i think kids can and do learn both to swim, and to sew, at school. I did (neither of my parents can swim so it was totally down to the school to teach me, and I went on to swim competitively until I started work). I vividly remember the primary school teacher who taught me to thread a needle and sew too.

bigmomma051204

lika_86 wrote: »

If you can't swim why do you expect your son to be motivated to learn? You say he won't try, but what about you? Do you go and sit on the side and watch or do you get in as well?

I cant swim as i never learnt...i had numerous operations as a child that meant i never had the opportunity to learn amongst my peers. I also had a skin condition which meant i wasnt allowed to swim due to the chlorine. My parents, despite always going on about how myself and my OH should do x,y and z with my DS, never took an interest in me as a child and i had a nanny who i spent most of my childhood with. She was in her 70s then and we didnt do much physical stuff - did tons of playing though and as such, my imagination has always been wild and vast!! As a teen and in my 20's, i had FAR better things to do than learn to swim...... :A
I am now 30 in November this year, i possibly could try to learn, but i work full time hours (which dont fit around our local small leisure centres general adult swim times which are all during the day apart from on a Thursday evening - i work thurs and fri evenings) and due to my age and embarassment at not being able to swim i wouldnt want to be swimming in the childrens/teen hour....and putting that aside, as i mentioned before, i have a skin condition which flares up if i practically SMELL chlorine :eek:

So, unfortunately i cannot set a "good example"...... though i dont see why me not being able to swim should hinder my DS - i also cannot play basketball but he seems to love that... i am not a whiz on the playstation or DS but again, he seems to get on fine with those.......
On the positive side, i LOVE to read and he is now reading at a level above his expected age so i take some credit for that....he also has a huge love of music and is learning to play the guitar - this probably comes from me and OH as we both play instruments and adore music. I guess we arent the awful parents that you seem to imply just because ONE of us cannot do something we would like our child to be able to do........

Oh and yes, i DO go and watch from the sidelines as i believe that it is better to at least show an interest in him than to sit at home and not bother at all.