Teaching a toddler to swim

aylesburygirl

Hi
I take my daughter swimming once a week and I am keen to start teacher her to actually swim rather than just go down the slides! I have researched classes and they are expensive and some of them dont have the parents in with them which I am not comfortable with ( she is 3 1/2) I just wondered if anyone had any advise or have seen any links/book on where to start?

Thanks

bylromarha

We used this one

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1409527700/?!!!!!hydra0b-21&hvadid=9556673469&ref=asc_df_1409527700

minimoneysaver

My daughter learnt to swim in a mixed ability class, with several teachers. I wasn't in with her, which was fine by me! Within just one year, she had gained her 50m badge, which I think is fantastic. She started at three years old.

jellyhead

I know it's not what you're asking for, but the lessons for 3 year olds will probably have at least 2 members of staff, one of whom will be in the water with them. They'll wear armbands and the water will be shallow (they put it at 86cm in our pool which means most 3 year old can touch the floor anyway if they weren't wearing armbands, or even if they are in many cases.

She would be safe ... or is the separation you're worried about?

runninglea

Our 2 year old twins are learning - they are kicking their legs, blowing bubbles in water, putting their faces in with goggles

They dont have armbands but have a fin on their back and either a float or a woggle (or both)

aylesburygirl

thanks all, I am just a little uneasy her being in a pool under someone elses watch- there have been incidents at both our local pools in the last few years while children where having lesson- one resulted in a parent having to jump in the pool from the spectators area, perhaps I will have another look at some of the other pools. Thanks

bylromarha

FWIW, my kids had lessons and they did nothing for them. Lots of money for not much progress.

The 1:1 with someone who knew how to encourage, push and cajole in the right way for them was a far better way to learn how to swim

Why not buy a book, give it a go, and if it doesn't work, go to the lessons at other pools in the area?

daska

I understand where you're coming from but I would suggest you take a hard look at your reasoning. Your daughter could be starting school in a little over 6 months, will you be uncomfortable about parents not being allowed in the classroom? Swimming teachers are trained, risk assessments are in place, lifeguards are on duty etc. Obviously none of us know your daughter so we don't know whether there are any special reasons why she couldn't cope without you in the pool but on the face of it this does appear to be your problem rather than hers. Perhaps this would be good practice?

I would suggest that 1:1lessons might be a better bet for you if you're lacking sufficient confidence to let her attend a class without you. She will almost certainly learn faster and a better technique.

Aha, just seen the post you wrote while I was writing mine, try a different pool! Ring your local swimming club to see where they recommend.

aylesburygirl

Its not that my daughter nor myself cant cope with her being in the pool on her own, my concern is being in a pool where the teachers are teaching a group of children and possibly other classes going on in the same pool it becomes a very noisy and disctracting place and a teacher cannot have their eye on every child all the time. As i have said there has been two incidents locally one where a boy tragically lost his life and the other the dad jumped in otherwise who knows what could have happend- these happend in pools with qualified teachers and risk assessments in place, for me at the moment if I can teach her one on one and save money than I think that is they way forward for us- which is why I started the thread- how to teach my toddler to swim.

daska

Yes, but you wrote that while I was posting hence my adding my last comment.

Can you swim? Well enough to teach her a good technique? If you teach her bad techniques it will take longer to train her out of them if she wants to go further than playing in the pool. (Which may have the unintended effect of it costing more.) But what you start with (and you have from the sound of it) is teaching her water confidence and safety, how to float etc.

On a practical level I would recommend a swimfin, these naturally adjust to provide an appropriate level of buoyancy for the learner, brilliant bit of kit.

jellyhead

Yikes, I think I'd be worried of there had been incidents. Our local pool only has 1 class in it at a time, at least until they get up to level 4. They have to swim 10m on front and back before they pass level 3, and under 5's have different lessons and can't start level 1 until they are 5 so they're not going to get into the big pool with multiple lessons until they are almost 6 years old.

It's £10 for a half hour 1-1 session here, so I'd go that route if I wasn't teaching him myself. Mine is having lessons though, in which I have confidence but I've heard lots of mums say they didn't think their under-5's were doing enough.

Here they go swimming with the school in year 3 (age 7) so I wanted mine to have some lessons before then.