Water baby - and bragging granny, I'm afraid!

The GC went with a friend [aged 7] to another friend's swimming pool + DH and the parents. The child said he could swim in spite of his mother saying he wasn't a strong swimmer and pootled off to the deep end when he started to panic. The adults were around the pool and without hesitation DH dived in and grabbed him!! Hero of the hour. The mother, I think was suitably embarrassed and hopefully the child learned a lesson! All the other children could swim [ages 5-11]. Children should perhaps learn life saving too!!!

Yes, of course money and having a pool close by, or not, are factors for many parents.

We were taken swimming only very rarely when I was small - no car and precious little spare cash! - and no lessons at school. However I still remember the first time I managed a very messy breaststroke for a width of the pool. I was 6, and never looked back. Always loved the water, dh ditto - we still love swimming in the sea - preferably warm! though UK sea dips are not unknown.

Boast away its what we are good at . I think there are a lot of children not being able to swim is cost if pool isn't near bye then this causes more expense my freinds daughter as to take hers on public transport so when she takes her three it costs more than she can afford every week .

excellent
we start all ours at 6 months
no fear -some say they remember swimming in moms belly
and most naturally hold breath or figure it out right away.
baby bro and one son diving by age 3
keep going ,it is so good for them

Like music lessons, swimming lessons seem to have been sidelined in primary schools due to lack of funding. At GS’s school, they had three sessions in a local private school’s swimming facility last year, and that was it. I said to DD that I felt sorry for the ones who couldn’t swim as they weren’t going to learn a lot in three sessions! We had a lesson every week when I was at school (not that it did me any good except to scare the living daylights out of me when I was pushed off the side!), and so did my children.

Witzend Great!!! Super bragging! Well done!! I also congratulate the parents. Most are so scared that the small child will drown they hold on to them and won't let them go under. They pass on fear of the water by their anxiety and being so cautious. It takes very good and sensible parents to enable their little ones to find their own way under the water and then learn to come up for air.

Carry on bragging, about your children and grand children!!!

Yay! How lovely for you all. It’s a granny’s privilege to boast - I do it all the time!

I taught both my children (now 39 and 41) to swim before they could walk and both developed a lifetime love of swimming. At 9 years old my daughter swum a mile. Now parents themselves they have taught their own children to swim at a very young age. Such an important skill for pleasure, for its health benefits and it can save lives.

He is certainly better learning to swim at 2 years old than at 42. Well done him.

Witzend
If you can't be a bragging Granny here, then where can you?
It's great to see them water confident at such a young age isn't it? Swimming is definitely a life skill, and can be a life saving skill too!
Our DDiL is like a mermaid, as at home in the water as out of it, in fact she's clumsy on land, but used to swim competitively for Cheshire!
Whilst she was pregnant she booked 'baby' into swimming classes to start at the age of two weeks. DGS was then born by C section, so she couldn't get in the pool with him, so DS went in instead!
We went with them for their first session when DGS was just sixteen days old. It was amazing to see how unafraid the babes are at that age, although I suppose they've been floating about for nine months previously, so perhaps that's why.
DGS will be two in late August, has been swimming independently since he was less than eighteen months, and can hold his breath and swim underwater, with his eyes wide open. He's only staying under for about ten seconds at the moment (it terrifies me), but he's totally confident,
I'm afraid of water (can swim, but hate it, so I don't) and am delighted that he's so sure of himself in and around water.
We last went with them two weeks ago, he came out of the changing room with DS, walked (no running allowed) to the side of the pool, took a deep breath and flung himself in...I nearly had a fit!
He just bobbed back up like a cork and swam to the side where he held onto the bar and waited for his dad to join him!
As far as I'm concerned, the sooner they're in a pool, the better!

Its lovely and awesome watching tiny tots setting out on their swimming journeys.
Watching my own many years ago in a swimming lesson with others, with their arms and legs flailing about reminded me of tadpoles!
I still smile and think of tadpoles when I see the youngsters having their swimming lessons at the gym.
I used to take my grandson swimming from the age of six months, plus take him to swimming lessons.
At the age of 4 we went down one of the big waterslides at Blackpool's Sandcastle centre.
He was sat perhaps two feet in front of me, between my legs.
As he entered the water I heard the lifeguard blow his whistle to attract his colleagues and saw him dive in to " Rescue " my grandson.
He actually had to swim past me to scoop up my grandson.
There was no need for him to do this as I was in the water even before the lifeguard took his actions.
He wasn't to know that GS was an able doggy paddler and it was comforting to know that he was on the ball.
I passed on my gratitude to the manager after we later got changed.

My DGS1 has just started competative swimming classes alongside his normal after school swimming where he has learnt all the strokes. He is 8, this year he started swimming lessons at school, there are only a few of his classmates who can swim as well as him.

In other areas DGS1 is so unco-ordinated , he has never been able to learn to ride a bike

It's a Grandparents right to be proud brag about of their DGC's achievements

You have every right to be proud. It is so sensible to let children learn to swim at that age - there are so many ornamental pools, swimming pools etc. everywhere so every child should be taught to swim.

Your GC will never be afraid of water either. I still am, so I am happy to think they are so confident in water.

Yes, the achievements of mere youngsters these days is quite amazing. I guess we all had the ability somewhere within us as children but maybe the facilities weren't available. Both my GD (5&3) swim, cycle and ski proficiently and I'm loving it. Their parents are very sporty so I suppose it's no surprise really. Thought we were quite go ahead parents but nothing like this.

You could be right Witzend but that’s assuming they have access to a swimming pool in the first place . My DGC’s school don’t start swimming lessons until year 3 (aged 8) which is way too late and even then it’s a case if 1 x 1hr lesson once a week for 8 weeks which is not nearly enough to build water confidence . Private swimming lessons are far too expensive for a lot of families .

Hurrah for bragging Nannies!

Gillybob, I have a feeling that the reason so many older children can't swim, even if they're taken to a pool now and then, is because of armbands. They will never learn with thos wretched things on.
Assuming a parent can swim - I know there are those who can't, particularly among minorities - if only the parent would stay beside them in the water for a few sessions, I'm sure many would crack it, whether doggy paddle or whatever. Proper strokes can come later - getting them entirely happy in the water is the main thing at first, IMO.

Being able to swim and be safe in water is one of the most important lessons a child can learn. Those that can swim are far less likely to do silly things like jumping into rivers, which could be treachorous.
Many years back, when my eldest was born, I heard of toddler swimming lessons (with mum) from my SiL in USA. I enquired at local pool, but they did not do anything back then. A few months on I was contacted as they had started such lessons, and my son went from 14 months old
Some children do take longer than others to get going, but with lots of water play in that first couple of years with Mum/Dad or g.parents, and proper lessons all should be getting their badges well before they start school
My g.children have all gone for water play with their mums from a few weeks old, and I have wonderful photos of them as tiny babies happily under water, eyes wide open, babies are not scared of being submerged. All of them have learned to swim properly by the age of 4 or 5 years old and,not only is this making water play safe for them, but gives so many opportunities for fun

When we lived in Manchester we were friendly with a professional footballer who lived nearby with his wife and two young children. His children were the best swimmers I had ever seen and that's because he really did put them in a swimming pool very soon after birth and let them get on with it. I was pregnant at the time and really admired his wife for agreeing to it as I knew I couldn't have done - even though the evidence of it working was right in front of my eyes.

Swimming is so important for youngsters all my DGCs have swam early they spent the summer holidays with us when we lived abroad in our pool most of the day with their mum.
GGD has gone to mum & tots swimming since she was 6mths old and is like a little fish at 2.5yrs its so good to watch her baby brother will go when he is 6mths old.

I agree newnanny but sadly many children don't have easy access to a swimming pool.

Swimming is such an important life skill. All children should be taught to swim as early as possible. You are quite right to be proud of your dgc.

That's brilliant Witzend I bet you are so proud, I know I would be.

My grandchildren (12,10 and 8) were all very good swimmers before they started school but I was amazed at how many children in my grandsons class that can't swim at 8 years old. He is having a run of lessons at the local pool with the school at the moment and apparently the teacher is using him to demonstrate various strokes etc. He said that there are only a few people out of his whole class of 30+ that can swim and only him that can swim underwater.

At 11 months is fantastic, Grannyactivist! Lovely to learn so young. Must be lovely to watch him, too.

I knew when dd1 was very tiny that in theory you can just chuck them in at 4 months, and they do it by instinct, but although we had a nice warm pool very handy, I never quite had the nerve. Dd was a little over 2 when she decided to take her armbands off and jump in the deep end - where I already was! - and she just did it - like an underwater tadpole for quite a while.
Although mine were both completely at home in the water very early, neither had actual lessons until they were 5 or 6, when they learned 'proper' strokes very quickly.

Witzend I spent a fortune on swimming lessons for all my children, but my youngest son never really mastered proper swimming strokes. Fast forward twenty odd years and he is now a very experienced snorkeller and his baby son is like a fish - at only 11 months. Baby goes to an amazing swimming class called Turtle Tots and fortunately my other grandsons are at a school that has a pool and includes regular swimming lessons in the curriculum.