I know that you can start babies in "swimming" classes as early as can be -- but what age is truly appropriate to start a class to learn how to swim? 3? 4? 5? I know that there is a value to a young child's early exposure to water, but I want to know at what age it becomes truly important (for safety reasons) to focus on swim instruction.
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Most swim lessons that aren't mommy and me seem to start at 3, at least near me. We had done some mommy and me on occasion previously but kiddo was just familiarized/comfortable in water. My 3.5 year old started real lessons in January and is learning real skills- after the 3.5 months she is able to briefly float on back or belly, roll over in water, kick and stroke - can't truly swim independently yet but I'm hoping that she'll be independent enough to play in the pool without me holding her by the summer.
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I agree - age 3 seems to be the beginning of actual swim lessons where we go, so if your goal is for your child to learn how to independently swim, I think I'd probably start around then.
That being said, my 21 month old has been in water discover and exploration classes since 6 months, and he knows basic water safety - like not to go near a pool without holding an adult's hand, how to roll onto his back and float if he falls in, and also how to hold onto the side of the pool and call for Mama or Dada.
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I learned how to truly swim at age 3, so my vote goes for 3 also.
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Age 3 seems appropriate. We just started LO1 at age 4.5, and he's taking to it really well. He's only had 5 private lessons, but I can already see an improvement in his swimming abilities. He can also hold his breath underwater which he couldn't do previously.
I would recommend private lessons rather than group lessons if you can afford it. Our high school's swim team does them for $20/lesson, and they're only a half hour once/week. But it's a full half hour of 1:1 attention for him rather than a half hour of only part of that time dedicated to him. A friend's son who is LO1's age is in the group lessons, and she said he's barely progressed b/c he doesn't get much time.
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DD1 started mommy and me class at 15 months and around 28 months she was in class independently. If she had started swim lessons on her own without first doing mommy and me I would say 3 years old is a good age to start. I've watched quite a few older kids (5/6) start at the pool and they seem to have a harder time than the younger kids.
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DS was 2 when we started independent swim class. Within a month or so, he was swimming underwater on his own. We also did, and still do, a private swim teacher. It's one-on-one, and I think that helped with him picking up so quickly.
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I think age 3+ is pretty standard, although we enrolled DD at 2 in a non mommy and me program. She has been going about 8 months and can swim short distances, roll over, etc. I wouldn't have enrolled her until 3, but she was terrified of the water and I wanted to deal with that asap.
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My daughter started at just over 3. I think it's good. She's learning suuuuuper slowly and getting over fear of the water. I figure starting early takes some of the pressure off. I don't expect her to be swimming right away.
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We started at 2.5. It worked very well for us. DD is a winter Birthday so it was the summer after she turned 2, and 2.5 was the minimum age for kids to swim on their own instead of parent/child together. It was a group class (3 kids, 30 minutes, once a week). They learned putting their face in the water, jumping off the side, crab walking, floating on their back, and then the lessons built up from there. We kept doing them summers that summer and the next one and she can swim. I trusted her in the water (with supervision) at 4.5. It helps that we have access to a pool for regular practice.
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I did Mommy & Me classes with DS1 when he was just about 2. But didn't continue with classes and he started again with semi-private lessons when he turned 5.
DS2 we started semi-private lessons (2 kids and 1 instructor, parents not in the water) when he turned 2. I think he learned much more than DS1 did, and quicker. -
I think it depends what you mean by swimming...I've noticed that most kids that know how to swim have been taught to swim underwater to get from point a to b.
If you mean actual strokes, I think that comes a little later, because they do require a lot of motor coordination.
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As soon as you think LO will follow directions. We started DS1 at 2 and will be starting DS2 at 2 as well. At two, they learn how to kick, float on their back, and put their face in water to retrieve toys off pool stairs. At 3, DS1 learned the "crawl" (aka freestyle).
Water safety and learning to swim is a great gift to a child that may one day save his/her life.
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At a local swim chain, there is baby & me for up to 6 months, and then they can already go for individual lessons. I know my friend's son has been going since he was a few months old in the one on one.
With DD1, she's 28 months and there's noooo way she'd want to go into the pool without seeing us with a "stranger" haha! I just don't see her willing to do that even though she is in daycare full time and very comfortable with other caretakers, be on her own, etc.
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At our Y, it's mommy and me until age 3. I didn't start DS1 until nearly 4 with lessons (we took them swimming a lot though) and I think younger would've been better for him. He's doing well, but he didn't love lessons at first. DS2 i've suffered through mommy & me since around 20 months. He loves it and is quite advanced for 28 months. We'll take the summer off lessons (we have a pool) and I'll probably skip the fall session as we will have a baby and I doubt I'll want to do mommy & me....but maybe we'll do weekend lessons or something with dad. Definitely starting up again at age 3 for him.
Long answer - I would start at age 3.
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