Very often, after a term or two of swimming lessons, parents start asking their kid’s swim teacher this question:‘when is my child going to swim?’. Although there are so many ways that people imagine and define ‘swimming’, normally what most parents mean by ‘swimming’ is when their kids can move their arms, kick their legs and breathe with ease as they travel in water. This is ‘swimming with technique’.
Over the past 8 years, at Blue Wave Swim School, we’ve been getting this type of questions repeatedly, specially from parents who come to our ‘Parent & Child’ classes and those who bring their pre-schoolers to our lessons. So, here’s our answer:
Attending baby and toddler swimming classes has many advantages which are well document on my other blogs.
While children can learn to move in water and become confident in it, they cannot start learning the basic technique till they are around 4 years of age.
The reason is that kids need the right level of muscular strength to exert force against water when they push and pull the water during the strokes. Also, swimming involves the body having to work against resistance of the water, thus a good awareness of where the body is in water is a must.
Although baby and toddler swimming lessons improve children’s water-confidence and body awareness greatly, kids don’t really learn the technique and strokes in these type of classes.
The length of time needed for a child to learn the basics or the fundamentals of swimming varies from one child to another but, in my experience a pre-schooler (3 years old) who never had swimming lessons, but starts off as a happy and water-confident child, can take at least 5 to 6 terms (each term being 12 lessons) of group lessons to get truly comfortable in the water. At that point they should be able to do all the basics with ease and swim for a short distance.
A child who has done swimming lesson consistently as a baby and a toddler, still needs at least 2 to 3 terms of lessons to learn the fundamentals of swimming which are breath control, balance and buoyancy properly and without parental support.
If a child has started swimming as a baby and has lessons consistently in a programme that also has stroke development phase (like ours), we expect children to swim front crawl and back stroke for 25 meter (25 m of Backstroke+25 m of Front crawl) easily by age 5 to 6 years.
The skills required to swim with proper technique are complex. So, if your child is very water confident and can happily jump into water and pick up sinkers from the bottom of the pool, this a brilliant start.
However, being water-confident doesn’t necessary mean kids can shortcut the fundamentals and jump into learning the technique and breeze through them.
Not knowing the fundamentals will catch up with everybody later on during the stroke development phase.
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Also Read Our Blog about Learning to Swim as an Adult
A good swim school with professional staff
My girls have been going to Blue Wave Swim School for over 2 years, they have been looking forward to each lesson and keep practicing the swimming tricks even in a bath. All teachers and an owner of the school has been friendly, very professional. They found unique approach and made kids happy, but most importantly show them how to swim and have fun. Thank you very much from our family to Blue Wave Swim School.
April 19, 2021, www.yell.com
Easter 2021 Crash Course
Various lockdowns have held back my daughter’s swimming development so we opted for a crash 4 day course over Easter and she has come away from it much more confident and with a recognisable stroke as opposed to doggy paddle!
April 19, 2021, www.yell.com
Although I have only attended two lessons, Marjan’s bubbly personality makes you feel instantly at ease. During the lessons, the pool was not very busy which is a good thing (as opposed to public pools) for those who are anxious.
I would strongly recommend to adults who have experienced trauma with water at a certain time in their lives.
November 24, 2020, www.yell.com
My son has been going to swimming lessons at Blue Wave in Wimbledon for a few years now and thoroughly enjoys it. The teaching is great and the lessons well run. Helps to prepare him for when we finally get to go on holiday again!
September 26, 2020, www.yell.com
Highly Recommended
My son went to improve his swimming technique and found his instructor very helpful, very kind and patient. The school itself is very welcoming and feels safe for all the children who go there. I would highly recommend it.
August 23, 2019, www.yell.com
Excellent results
My son is 4 years-old and we were looking for weekend swimming classes in a nice environment that could bring good results. After some research we chose Blue Wave Swim. Our son has been having private lessons since the end of 2018 and he is progressing very well. We believe the professionalism of the team, the clean and tidy infrastructure, and the good care of the management are contributing for his development and confidence in the water. Thank you very much Blue Wave Swim!
August 23, 2019, www.yell.com
Awesome!
I am grateful to Marjan and her team at Blue Wave Swim for their hard work and for promoting happiness and enjoyment in swimming. It is amazing to watch the lessons, see the attention, the encouragement and the support the children receive. I have been impressed with my daughters’ progress and the fact that they love attending their classes and learning a vital life skill. Thank you very much. Great job!
August 23, 2019, www.yell.com
Superb Swimming School in Wimbledon
My daughter, who is now 7 years old, started with blue wave two years back and we have been very happy with her progress at the school. Initially we started with group lessons but once she got comfortable in water we moved her to semi private lessons, which made a lot of difference in her ability to learn swimming. As part of the smaller group she is better bonded with other children in the group and gets more attention from the swimming instructor, which is helping her advance her swimming skills. During her 2 years with blue wave, swimming instructors for my daughter have changed and while continuity in learning was maintained, I think this could have been managed better. Needless to say, she still goes and enjoys her time here and looks forward to her class every week. Overall we are very pleased with Blue Wave and would recommend them without any hesitation.
August 23, 2019, www.yell.com
Highly recommend
Highly recommend this swimming school. My daughter has been attending since she was 1 years old and she loves it. The teachers are very good with children and my daughter, who is now 4 years old is very confident in the water.
August 23, 2019, www.yell.com
