Swimming for 5 Yrs Old

Hi Juliana,

It depends on how you consider swimming. If it were a particular sport or playing an instrument etc. that he didn't want to do, I would say clearly the interest is not there and you'd be better off trying something different. Even if it were simply a matter of excercise you could just choose a different activity.

Swimming, however, is a necessary life skill that could someday save his life. If you are serious about him learning to swim I would hold my ground on this one. You could ask him if he has a specific complaint. (he doesn't like the teacher, the water is too cold etc.) you could work with that but otherwise, no negotiations. If you cave on this you will be caving on everything.

If he has a true phobia of the water, share this with the instructor. They have specific policies as to how to handle this situation.

Press him for a reason as to why he doesn't want to swim. "Just because" is NOT an answer.

Best Wishes,
J.

maybe he'd do better if it was just you and him? my brother lived in an apartment complex that had an indoor pool, and i taught my son to swim one winter - he LOVED it. it's coming up on swimming season, maybe you could just go to the local pool?

Don't force him to take a class, instead, take him to a community pool and let him sit on the steps until he's ready to get in the water on his own; buy those swim bands for the arms so that he can stay afloat. My son is almost 4.5 and he can doggy paddle with the arm bands and I never taught him to do any of it; my 3 year old is almost there too. If you force him, he'll absolutely hate doing the activity you're trying to convince him to do.

Our almost 4 year old HATES the water....even puts up with baths. Our 7 year old is a fish adn our just barely 2 year old has been swimming since we turned about 1. We haven't pushed our son, and oddly enough, we just got back from vacation, but he went in the ocean, since it was shallow and it was warm....so we had control. He wasn't sure about the pool and we got him an inflatable ring....and he used that, but we left it back at the room and he wanted it. I had him do a cannonball into the pool without holding my hands and after about 20 attempts, he finally did it wiithout holding my hands. I could tell he wanted to do it, but was terrified. By the end of the day, he was cannonballing to everyone and had forgotten about his ring. He told him that when we got back, we would start swimming lessons and this was the first time he looked happy about us mentioning it.

They are all different. Don't stress him out, but you do want him to be water safe. Make it fun!

My daughter is not in love with her swim lessons either. Still, we swim a lot over the summer, and she has a younger brother, so if I'm going to take them both, she has to be able to navigate in the water. The deal we made was that as soon as she can swim out to the first lane marker and back by herself, she can stop swim lessons. It's also an incentive for her to learn faster : ) We just explained to her that it was very very important for her to be safe in the water. Swim lesson doesn't have to be great fun, it's a safety thing. Since our daughter is a nervous-nelly, this tact worked with her. Good luck.

My daughter took swimming lessons for quite a while, then got frustrated and decided she didnt want to go back. I allowed her to wait until she told me she wanted to go back and it has made all the difference!! Also, maybe you could look into private lessons where you could go in the water with him? Sometimes just having mom or dad close can give them enough confidence to try something that seems too hard! Hopefully it works out for you... good luck!! :)

I would suggest just taking him swimming in the summer and letting him learn naturally. Nobody ever taught me how to swim and I became a very good swimmer and my 5 year old son, who will be six tomorrow, started learning on his own last year. He was afraid to do a lot of things in the water and I thought he would have a hard time but the more I took him the more he got used to it and is doing it on his own. I got him and my 4 year old the flotation device that goes on their stomach and back to assist them in swimming but it does not hold them up all the way. They have to put effort into it to stay all the way up out of the water and that was very helpful in giving them the courage they needed to try.