How old for swim lessons?

[MamaNae]

We started just this year, DD is just over 4.

At the beginning of the year there were 6 children in her class...DD and another girl were the oldest (4) they're the only 2 that graduated. Three 3 year olds dropped out after the first lesson and the only 3 year old that stuck around didn't pass, he has to retake level 1. DD and the other 4 year old girl were like fish BUT DD has had exposure to water before (we had a pool pass last year and my mom has a pool) I don't know about the other little girls history.

Here formal lessons start at 3, I'd start now. We will start DS2 when he's 3 but he'll have 3 summers of pool time under his belt so...

[ulawolf]

We start water awareness and safety at 1 year here. We also own a charter boat and want our los to at least be water aware as early as possible.

[mom2kaydncolt]

I'm planning to enroll my three boys this year in swim lessons. They are 3.5, 5, and 6.5. It will be their first lessons for all three of them. Mommy and me lessons weren't practical for us because I'd have had to find child care for the other kids on top of the cost of lessons.

[Computermama]

We started lessons for DD last year when we got our Y membership. She was a young 3, not quite 3.5. In our case it didn't really matter if she passed or failed because a round of lessons was included with our membership. It took three 8 lesson sessions to get through the first level, but we saw improvement with each round and she loves it completely.

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[Mom2Connor]

I started mommy and me classes at 7 mo, it was inexpensive and very educational (and I am one who grew up in the water, had a pool in the backyard fish kid...I still found it useful to be in a class with other moms, babies...an instructor who had lots of ideas of things to do). DS has loved the water since day one and we've taken the class a couple of times just for fun.

Actual classes for truely teaching them to swim start at around 3 at our gym, and the child has to be willing to work with just the instructor because the parents aren't in the water with them.

[hikergal73]

Originally Posted by me_just_me Where we take lessons, they start at 6 months. I put both my kids in lessons (parent-tot) before they were a year old and then continued year round, or with an session off here and there. In the parent-tot classes they do teach a lot of water awareness stuff, but also start teaching the skills that are continued in the older classes (non parent classes) They teach the babies all how to climb out of the pool, how to "monkey walk" along the edge of the pool, how to grab the side of the pool while under water, how to fall in and then turn while under the water and then climb out. They also work on breath control, swimming through hoops under water, floating on their backs, kicking and "big arms" (pretty much doggie paddle) etc. Once they move to the class without a parent, they are working on glides, kicking, circle swims (falling in and then turning around and swimming back to the wall), picking up object on the bottom of the pool, "swim-roll-swim" (they have to push off in a glide, flip over onto their back and float, be able to breathe then roll back to their front and continue swimming.) After all those skill as mastered they start actual strokes. These non-parent classes start at age 3 or the child can be turning 3 during the session.

Sounds just like the way our swim lessons are run at the Y where we go. I didn't start DD until she turned two and I think she will be sticking with the parent/child classes for a while. She doing well with them and has gotten more confident but she is also very cautious (yes, I know it's a good thing) so it takes her longer to feel comfortable doing new things. I also like just having the time set aside for just me and DD (my mom looks after DS when we go).

Now, I just need to work on DH to get him to take lessons and be comfortable in the water

[Geckmumto3]

We don't do the mommy and me type thing, but we do start them in the water as babies. I know here, the little levels begin at 2 or 3, but they cannot start the leveled RC swim levels until they are 6. So, until then, they do levels like Guppy, Seahorse, Starfish, etc... With my oldest two, we spent a lot of time in the water, and didn't start proper lessons until right before 6, but they were already swimming. With our youngest, who will be four this month, we started him in lessons because he was interested and bored hanging out at the pool watching his brother and sister swim. So, he has done a few animals levels, and is a good swimmer for four. Unfortunately, he will bide his time there until he is six.

My advice would be be to look into what is offered in your area and what the age restrictions would be.

[BottomOfMyHearts]

We did swimming last summer at age 1.5, it was fun but the instructor said for "real lessons" the optimum age is 3.