When Your Child Can Swim

Universally, the vast majority of parents sign up their children in swim schools to have swimming lessons so children can swim. Swimming can be for leisure or as a sport. Although not all families might be interested in their children becoming great swimmers but, the definition of a competent swimmer is a person who can swim in water independently, smoothly, and efficiently (with good technique).

Swimming Looks Easy But, Learning To Swim Has A Process

When you watch good swimmers in any FINA World Championships or the Olympics, swimming looks easy. But learning to swim is very technical and it takes time. Swimming is more than just moving arms, kicking legs and blowing bubbles.

Like playing a musical instrument or speaking another language; you child can swim after having quality swim lessons and instructions and plenty of practicing which needs time and patience. Your child can swim with confidence when many different skills are learnt and put together.

Like a jigsaw puzzlesr and puzzle is not completed until all the right pieces are put together in a correct format. Swimming is the same. There are stages in learning to swim

Here Are All the Stages of Learning to Swim With Confidence

1) Stage 1: Getting Water-Confident

Regardless of age, learning to be water-confident is the first step. Although not all children are scared of water, the biggest challenge at the beginners’ stage is becoming water confident water-confident and be at ease in the water. This can be done much easier if swimming starts early in life through fun games and play.

The main objective of swimming lessons for under 3’s are to engage children with water early and to get them to get used to the feeling of being in water and travelling in it with adult-support. Little ones gain much water confidence through play in water.

In most swim schools in the U.K, children can start having lessons independently between the ages of 3 and 4 also known as pre-schoolers. In our pre-school lessons, children have swimming lessons without parents in water. If you start with toddler classes before age 3 for your child, your pre-schooler will not normally need to start from scratch.

If a pre-schooler is not water-confident, a swim teacher has to spend a considerable time just to get your child water-confident, before teaching the basics.

That is why, I highly recommend taking your little ones to swimming pools, either by participating in structured swimming lessons as soon as you can or just for family swims. Family swims work if at least one of the parents is very water-confident and knows how to handle a young child in water. Otherwise, parental fear of water could easily rub off on a child and could make the situation even worse.

2) Stage 2: Learning the Basic Swimming Skills

Between the ages of 3 and 4 years, learning can be more structured. Pre-school children are ready to learn the basics and the fundamentals of swimming without parents in water.

The basic swimming skills listed and all are essential for learning to swim with confidence

1. Ability to put their face and head in the water (child-led submersion and not forced by adults)
2. Ability to breathe out in the water; blowing bubbles
3. Floating on front and back with confidence and independently (without adult support or flotation devices)
4. Kicking legs on front and back with good technique
5. Gliding through the water on front and back with ease
6. Rolling in water from back to front and vice versa
7. Safely getting in (jumping in water) and climbing out of the pool unassisted
8. Streamlining: the ability to get body straight and legs together in the water as their body smoothly moves through the water

With consistent participation in early years swimming lessons, most children can be fully water-confident before age 4.

For most children, if they started with formal lessons at least as a toddler (2-3 years), it is realistic to expect a 5 years old child to be able to swim with confidence but, no technique.

3) Stage 3: Learning The Technique/Strokes

After learning the basics, teaching 4 main swimming strokes like front crawl can start. Normally, by 5 years old, children are strong enough and have the body coordination to start learning the recognisable swimming strokes like front crawl and backstroke.

Learning swimming strokes needs psychological maturity to stay focused and listen to instructions for at least 30 minutes- around the age of 5 to 6 for most children.

For each of the 4 main swimming strokes. Each stroke has a specific format for kicking legs, moving arms and breathing. So, to swim with proper technique, children must learn the leg and arm action for each stroke and coordinate leg kicks and arms with breathing.

Plus, keeping the whole body afloat as their arms, legs, and head move is not so easy.

Parental Guidance For Children Swimming

Start Swimming Lessons Early

Some children join us as toddlers. It means they have started lessons between before 3 years old and have had termly swim lessons continuously. Our termly lessons  run during school term-time, children have lessons once a week. Each lesson is 30 minutes. Children who start as toddlers with us, by age 7 to 8 years old can swim confidently and competently and tick this list:

• swim all four competitive strokes (front crawl, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly)
• swim 200 meters (8 laps of a 25-meter pool) continuously and with ease and do at least 50 meters of backstroke.
• Tread water confidently for at least 1 min
• Dive safely

Number of Swimming Lessons

More than 30 years of teaching swimming has shown me that it takes about 75 to 95 hours of structured weekly lessons over a period of approximately 4 to 5 years to become a fully competent swimmer.

Of course, the speed of learning varies a lot. Also, it depends if children doing group lessons or private lessons. Children learn faster in 1:1 lessons. But, even with private lessons, you child can swim with confidence after at least 2 years worth of swim lessons. To be a competent swimmer, 3-4 years of lessons.

Aim For A Long Term Commitment To Learning

Each year, we have 3 terms of lessons. 3 terms of swim lessons will give your child about 18 hours of structured lessons. The majority of swim schools including us, provide 30 minutes lessons. Our weekly lessons are offered over weeks of the school year. So, in 4 years, your child gets 75 hours of lessons.

Try to invest in 4 years of swimming lessons. By 4 years, includes 3 terms of swim lessons per year (like schools) which is 36-39 weeks of swimming lessons in each school year, excluding half-terms.

With private lessons, you can speed up the process of learning to swim.

When Your Child Can Swim Confidently

Swim England defines a confident swimmer is a swimmer who can swim at least 100 meters continuously with comfort and ease using recognisable and different swimming strokes both on front and back. Also based on Swim England, a child must swim at least 100 meters with ease to be classed as water-safe.

Learning to swim takes time.

Of course, the younger children start to learn to swim, the faster they will learn to swim. In the early years of swimming, the priority for a swim teacher is to help a learner to be truly comfortable in water regardless of age.

If a child starts learning to swim later in life, normally the water-confidence-building stage takes much longer. This tends to extend the whole learning to swim process. It’s important to have realistic expectations and allow children to have enough time in the water to practice skills and play.

Being able to swim confidently is about practice.

Playful practices are excellent for building water-confidence when kids are younger and structured practices are necessary to learn the technique.

Enquire About Swim Lessons at Blue Wave Swim School 

Children born in the 21 century are expected to live easily to their 80s, and water doesn’t know how old you are. So, investing in your children’s swimming lessons could be the most long-lasting gift that you could ever give them!

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Also, read our blog on ‘What is the Best Age to Start Swimming Lessons’.

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This blog was written in 2017 and modified and updated in 2025.