Learning to Swim

My son has been taking swim lessons since he was a baby. He had one excellent class and several not-so-great classes. The best class he ever took was in Florida, a program called Swimming for Life. The instructor and class are associated with the US Swim School Association. Anyone who has young children and a pool should definitely try to find a program in their area. We no longer live in Florida so unfortunately my daughter missed out on that class. She has always gone to the YMCA for parent-child lessons. But at Swimming for Life, I watched as my son worked one-on-one with the instructor to learn how to save his own life if he ever fell in a pool. At 15 months, my son was able to float on his back without any assistance. It was a little scary watching him learn this, but the results were amazing. Without any floats, he could jump in the pool and pop back up on his back.


Since then, he also has attended swim classes at the YMCA. Unfortunately, there was a gap between the classes so that by the time he got back in the pool, he had nearly forgotten how to float. Until he turned 3, both he and my daughter were in the same class which was basically just introduction to the water. They played games, learned the basic concept of reach and pull, and practiced kicking. All of this with the assistance of the parent. The main goal is for the kids to become familiar with the water, not to learn how to swim or float. My daughter is quite familiar with the water and loves to “swim,” but she will have to repeat this course several more times since she will not turn 3 until September.

My son is taking his first independent class at the YMCA; parents get to sit back and watch. I had hoped he would get more out of this class but the instructors seem to have a hard time “letting go.” The kids have float devices on and can all keep their heads above water. There are two instructors for six students, plus a lifeguard on duty and numerous spectators. No one is going to drown so I just wish they would let them try to perform on their own. Instead of holding on to them, just let them swim!

At the last class, the instructor had them float on their backs for 15 seconds. As I previously mentioned, my son could do this without a float. Now he has a float on so he should have no trouble at all. But the instructor kept his hands under my son’s back the entire time. I just wanted to scream out, “Please just let him try. He can do it by himself!” But I am not the type of person to interfere so I just sat gritting my teeth and watching, thinking my son is learning nothing about swimming.

And then there’s my daughter. She could just as easily be in the class with her brother. She is mature enough at 29 months to do what he is doing. It is really not that much different from her own class except instead of having me support her, she would use a float. Her only problem would be the downtime. My son seems to sit on the edge of the pool for half of his 30 minute class. I don’t think my daughter has the patience to sit still and watch the other kids have a turn swimming. She would just jump right in!

I wish I could find a swim class nearby that offered the kind of instruction my son had at Swimming for Life. I want them to learn how to swim. And I think that with the right kind of instruction, they could both be good swimmers. They don’t need to be 4 or 5 before they are really taught how to swim. Besides, I want them to be able to swim at grandma and papa’s pool this summer!