Swimming instruction - Page 2

[Evan&Anna's_Mom]

Originally Posted by Melda

All i can think of is that it is better to let her cry than to die right? MY ds is a fish and knows how to open the gate to the pool (suppose to be childproof) and open the doors to the outside so I have taken other procautions but when he has it mastered then she is not safe because she follows him around everywhere. I hope i dont get flamed for this but it is one thing i have to go against the belief of not letting them CIO.

Well, it certainly seems like swimming lessons are required here. But I'm wondering if you are accepting that crying is inevitable too easily? Have you asked her why she is crying? When my daughter was unhappy with lessons in the Spring, I sat on the step with her and that stopped her crying. Or perhaps you need to find a different teacher -- we are on our third of the summer and this one is perfect and DD is making so much more progress. Or she doesn't like the other kids in the class and private might work better? Or maybe the pool is too cold and a swim shirt would help? DD took a long time to be OK with putting her head under water and I was really clear with her teachers that this wasn't to be forced. She can learn to be safe without having to be under water if that scares her.

I understand the need to have others teach sometimes -- I don't teach my children anything well and especially something that I don't like such as swimming. But there are alternatives between not taking lessons and letting her scream!

Explore the reasons and find some solutions so that swimming is a happy event for her, not a scary one.

[faithnj]

I'm teaching my 19 month old to swim right now, based on 2 books on infant swimming. (The videos are probably good, also.)

I also happen to be teaching some adults, 2 six year olds and one 9 year old, 3 times a week, even though I'm not a swimming instructor. (My best friend just brought a house with a pool, and begged me to teach her family.) I would have started earlier with my baby, but her reflux scared me off of it. Now, I wish I had started earlier than 1 year, regardless of the reflux. It's a bit more difficult to train a 19 month old, but she's coming along. I also have one of the parents teaching his 9 month old, instead of having me do it. (I've loaned him my books.) Frankly, the 9 month old is taking to the water better than the 19 month old-- as is developmentally appropriate. But he sure as heck wouldn't appreciate being left in my hands, considering I'm a stranger.

If you want your infant or toddler child to learn to swim, I'd say consider getting some books or a video, and teach him yourself. It may sound scary to you-- but the steps aren't hard to figure out. (It's not like they are learning the crawl or the backstroke at those ages.) And the child is likely to feel more comfortable with his or her own parents than with strangers. Plus, you can do water acclimation exercises in your very own bathtub. That can help bridge the gap of time when you aren't in the pool, if you don't have regular access to a pool year round. When my daughter is in the tub, she blows water in the bubbles and says "kick, kick, kick." We'd call it practice, but she just thinks it's fun.

Faith

[midwestmeg]

My advice would be to seek out more experienced instructors. They will know how to help children learn how to swim without having it be sad everytime. I've taught for a long time and some children do have a rough first and/or second time, but I'm positive and supportive of them and they are over it after one or two lessons- and I do comfort them; being left to just cry is sad.

I don't think the kids should have to cry while they swim, although I certainly do remember crying in my goggles, but I think that had more to do with me being a VERY stubborn child!

It might not be a Y thing, just a teacher thing. Watch the instructors and then do what it takes to have your kids placed with the ones you like. That's what I've noticed successful parents doing.

Oh, you might try your local Red Cross swimming lessons.

HTH! meg

[blsilva]

I had a bad experience as a kid w/ swim lessons, so I won't take my boys to them. Instead, I take them to my Grandma's pool w/ my dad, who gently taught me to swim, & he's doing the same with them. It's taken all summer so far, but my oldest will now swim all over the pool (w/ his life vest, of course!), and even jump off the diving board. My little one holds onto my back while I swim, and will let me dunk his head under briefly, then yell "more!"
We basically just started out letting them "own" the steps into the pool first, where there was no pressure, then we would take them around with us, a little at a time. THey weren't always happy to go, and sometimes seemed a little frightened, but we never let them cry, and I trust myself to know if they're ok better than some strange instructor. They trust me, too, and that makes a big difference.

[katallen]

I think you just got a bad instructor and would suggest finding a different one. My friend has had some great instructors for her son at the Y and some lousy ones. It may be that they need to make and enforce some policies regarding swimming that require all teachers to make efforts to make kids feel comfortable swimming. I took lessons for 12 years as a child and never felt uncomfortable with anything except the diving board and I was never demeaned or driven to tears. Kids don't have to experience fear to learn swimming.

[irinam]

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[PancakeGoddess]

If I lived near a lake or had a pool, my stance might be different, but for our situation, the instruction was just not worth the fear my kids had. They were SO not into swim lessons... They both self-taught around 5-7yo and are competent swimmers now. Actually, at this point they are 9 and 11 and I am thinking they could use some instruction on strokes - one is a paddler and one just swims freestyle. But lessons won't be scary for them now

[royaloakmi]

We had a lousy YMCA experience too, it was really expensive and our parent/tot classes were a waste of money.

Look around a bit; I found that in our area at least, there are a lot of options. I have also noticed with my own kids that I really need to keep up with it. If they are totally out of a swimming environment for many months, it's harder to get them back to their previous comfort level.

[faithnj]

Ay yi yi. For all of you who are looking for info on having less harsh swimming experiences, go to http://www.babyswimming.com (Baby Swimming, The Gentle Journey.) It gives info on how to pick good swim instruction for your kids, as well as info on one of the books I'm using to teach DD to swim. (The book is for infants to 4 year olds.)

Faith
(Who had a pleasant experience with instructors at the Y in the 70's. But it was my father who eventually taught me how to swim.)

[Melda]

Well ... What she is doing is .... this one

www.infantswim.com

Anyway I dont think the instructor is bad. She is constantly reassuring her and telling her how good she is doing. It is just that she is being forced to learn something she dont want to do ... ie swim under the water. The thing is ... I have no choice but to make sure she knows how to swim. There is just to much water around to not teach her.

She did do much better today. she did cry alot at first but the teacher introduced some distractions to the lessons (she had a whale dive toy thingy) that she was able to put on the side of the pool and that helped distract her from crying. She did ease up but she kept asking to get out and the instructor told her after 4 more tries and stuck to that. When she did her 4 more swims she was not happy but not crying. I am going to keep it up until the end of the week and see how she does. I cant throw in the towel after 3 days ...

Melda

[faithnj]

Originally Posted by Melda

Well ... What she is doing is .... this one

www.infantswim.com

Anyway I dont think the instructor is bad. She is constantly reassuring her and telling her how good she is doing. It is just that she is being forced to learn something she dont want to do ... ie swim under the water. The thing is ... I have no choice but to make sure she knows how to swim. There is just to much water around to not teach her.

She did do much better today. she did cry alot at first but the teacher introduced some distractions to the lessons (she had a whale dive toy thingy) that she was able to put on the side of the pool and that helped distract her from crying. She did ease up but she kept asking to get out and the instructor told her after 4 more tries and stuck to that. When she did her 4 more swims she was not happy but not crying. I am going to keep it up until the end of the week and see how she does. I cant throw in the towel after 3 days ...

Melda

I'm familiar with that school. Mighty expensive, isn't it? But I understand they will get your DD up and swimming really quickly. The Gentle Journey takes much, much longer-- probably even months, before the child does an underwater swim.

Faith
(Who also lives right in front of a lake. Sigh. We brought the house after 10 years of marriage, thinking we'd never have a child.)

[Melda]

[QUOTE=faithnj]I'm familiar with that school. Mighty expensive, isn't it?QUOTE]

YES ... It is $110 sign up fee and $60 a week ... and the average is 4-6 weeks but she feels it will be more like 4 ... but that is way worth my DD's life ...

[Melda]

Im proud to report we had NO CRYING today ... whooohoooo ... she was a little anxious when we pulled up saying she dont want to swim but she went to the instructor and swam BEAUTIFULY underwater today without crying. She is swimming about 5-6' under water to the edge of the pool ...after only 4 days ...

[momto l&a]

My Mom very thankfully realized swimming lesson weren't for me. I couldn't stand the water pressure for having to go under water to retrieve stuff off the bottom.

Mom wanted me to take swimming lesson being I spent every single summer day in the river.

I couldn't even float because I have no fat
I cant hack water pressure.

Anyway Mom knew I could doggy paddle well enough to stay afloat. So no worry for my living in the river during the summer. I was also a cautious kid.

It was till my senior year in high school that my PE teacher in swimming class realized my problem. She totally had to make a new course just for me as I couldn't do what all of the others did. She even had to come up with a stroke that I could use besides the doggy paddle :

I got a A+ in her class. I was so impressed that someone realized my problem and that indeed was an issue though she took the problem and fixed it and made no issue of it. I worked darn hard for her What a cool teacher

All of that to say find a good teacher or work with her yourself. Don't subject her to 'teachers' like that. You will kill her desire IMO