Hellobee Boards

My 2.5 year old is starting swim lessons this week. Up until last summer we had very little access to a pool by we joined a gym with a nice pool and will be there a lot more. My almost 5 year old has taken three sessions of lessons and is still somewhat fearful in the water and needs a floatation device of some sort when she isn’t in lessons. The 2.5 year old is already more comfortable in the water so I am hoping she will learn faster. But yeah- she hasn’t started yet so who knows?

I think the sooner the better, as long as kids are ready to put their face in the water.

My lo is 2.5. She's done private lessons since last summer. She has never been in floaties/vest or similar, it just gives them a false sense of confidence and that's when you have an issue without them. She is comfortable in the water and goes in our pool pretty much every day. She knows to stay on the step when she isn't right next to an adult.
She's just starting to learn the basics of actually swimming but can put her head under, blow bubbles and monkey crawl on the wall.

I would suggest lessons this summer. The sooner the better in learning to swim

We’ve did sporadic swim ‘lessons’ since DS was like 18 months old. He was very timid in the water up til last summer but we spent a week at a cottage and he started getting confident. We signed him up this session for the first non parent assisted class at 3.5. He loves it! There’s 3 kids including him and they basically take turns sitting on the pool side and going in one at a time with the teacher to practice various skills. They do life jackets and pool noodles tied around their waists as well. So it’s not exactly ‘real’ swimming but more getting comfortable not always being held or relying on the floatie. I would definitely sign your son up! Especially as you have a pool you can practice in between and I bet he will take to it really well.

I’ve heard 3 so I tried to sign my just turned 3yo up along with his sister at a local swim school. The owner advised me against it for this summer and spend my money and energy on my 5yo. She said she takes money for 3 and under all the time but it doesn’t do much. She was aware that we visit a neighborhood pool several times a week during the summer. She also advised a float suit for my 3yo this summer to just let him have fun and get comfortable with moving himself in the water.

@DesertDreams88: I think the age range at your local swim schools will determine this. Our current swim school starts child-only lessons at 3, the previous one did 2.5.

We live in your same state with access to a neighborhood pool basically across the street from us. Both my kids love the water. I would say we swim 3-5 times per week? (April-sept)

For DD who is 6.5 we did lessons at 2.5 and she could swim short distances to us by the end of the summer. She could swim by the following summer without parental support. She is now in lessons again to learn strokes and forget some bad habits.

DS is nearly 3 but I talked his way into the child-only class. Last summer and the beginning of this summer we spent a lot of time holding him in the pool and he really wanted to put his face in, jump to us, swim to us. He can jump off the step and kick his little legs to me for about 10 seconds at this point.

We heard all the advice about no floaties/puddle jumpers. We ignored it. My kids are fairly reasonable and quickly understood the difference between how to stay afloat with the puddle jumper vs without.

My nieces are similar ages but do not have access to a pool and are not nearly as comfortable as my kids. Some is temperament but some is exposure for sure.

My advice would be to find a good swim school and talk to them about readiness and go from there.

We started swim lessons with my older DS around age 2. He is 4 and is making progress but still can’t officially swim. We are hoping he makes the leap this summer.

I’m going to sign DS2 up this summer for mommy and me. He’s turning 2 next week.