I was in the same position with my daughter. The lessons at the YMCA weren’t helping her get better because most of the class could not swim at all. I found some videos produced by uswim.

My daughter and I would watch the video and then she would practice the skills a couple of times a week. She was able to learn freestyle and the backstroke.

I don’t think the videos are available for free but you can search for their website.

Something that no one mentioned, get them into hot tubs, and spend as much time as you can in them. OF course if they are really hot, you have to go back and forth just to cool off, but kids love them, they can touch the bottom, and they learn to water play in them. All my kids started that way, pools are usually cold to young kids too, so that becomes a thing they don't like.

Get them goggles, do breath holding contests, get them to push and swim across, or just float or kick across, etc. Once the master the hot tub, it is not a big leap to get them comfortable at the pool steps with poles and such..It eventually comes, dont push when then are dead set against it, leave it for another time..

like everyone else said, it's about time in the water.

My 4 year old is SOOOO close. he can propel himself but hasn't figured out how to breathe while swimming yet. the 2 year old is comfortable in the water, but obviously can't swim yet. She's just figuring out how to kick and such. They take lessons once a week (4 kids per instructor), but we also take them over to friends that have a pool and we set up our own pool (just a little above ground pool from Walmart, 30" deep so both of the kids can stand up in it). Over the summer they were in the water at least 3x per week, and they love being in the pool.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

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2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

[I am feeling defeated as a dad and don't want to be to one yelling at them for "not trying hard enough, or being brave enough" to tackle the endeavor of becoming swimmers.]

Still, is it possible they are feeling pressure from you guys nonetheless? My 8 yo's learning came "natural" to him and he's even started doing kid tri's. I acknowledge that it's in great part b/c he wants to be like daddy. I think they can go in that direction (like mom/dad), or maybe the opposite, or maybe trying too hard to please? Not suggesting i read anything from your post to that effect. Just thinking out loud. I don't know, maybe drop them off at classes & you & wife go on a hot Starbucks date?

Look, you're a parent of youngsters, and you've likely noticed that they learn very fast if you expose them to a specific thing a lot in a short amount of time.

Go swimming every day with them for a week or 2. Not lessons. Just play. Keep is as short as they want, and all fun. I assume they're in those formal lessons 1-2x a week? During your play, once or twice a session, ask them to show you what they're doing in lessons, then be done with it. You just want them playing in the water. Eventually they'll start incorporating what's happening with lessons when you want to "race them off the wall" or whatever game you end up playing.

I'll bet both nickels in my pocket that your kids will be infinitely better swimmers after those 2 weeks than after 6 months of nothing but those lessons you speak of.

I'm a big fan of this short but intense strategy for all ages trying to learn, but kids absorb best.

Do they want to swim?

I think I saw a training plan for kids swim lessons in trainingpeaks. trucker hat & the possibility of the swim being cancelled included.

What level of swimming are looking for them to accomplish? If it is just good enough to be safe in the water, you could probably teach them that yourself. My kids all grew up at the pool on a regular basis and we had one in our backyard for a while. They learned to be comfortable, dive down, hold their breather and figure out how to move through the water on their own. That was enough for my older kids.

My younger kid, age 8, just started formal swim lessons to join a competitive swim team. The told us she will be I the pre-comp class for up to 6 months learning the strokes (Butterfly, breast, freestyle, back) so she can compete. She likes it so far but she was already competent in the water. I would have no fear taking her to a lake and throwing her in off the boat and she could tread and make it back to us, and this was before any lessons.

If you just want them to be able to save themselves in the water, just keep getting in the pool with them. If you want them to be on a swimteam, that will take a lot of motivation on their part.

Lots of good responses. Like my name, I grew up swimming competitively and swam in college. I started swimming on a summer swim team at age 5. My kids currently swim competitively on a swim team and they started swimming on a summer swim team at age 5. They started doing triathlons at 5 and 6. They actually do like to do triathlons and swim team (most of the time), and it probably doesn't hurt that they are very fast and have seen success. This was the process we used, and it ended up with our kids swimming competitively at a young age. I imagine your goal is not competitive swimming, but I want to outline the path we took. Also, I want to emphasize that private lessons (30 minutes per lesson is the perfect time amount), if affordable, is so much better than small group lessons where 5 or 6 kids end up with only 5 or 6 minutes being one on one with the instructor.


1) Lots of pool time with parents- from several months onward- developing comfort being in water is huge. We still will do lots of unstructured pool time in the summer months at the outdoor pool, mainly because my kids like going to the pool. Pool dive sticks and rings are lots of fun, and can challenge many little swimmers as they retrieve these items from several feet to ultimately the deep end, as they get a little older. It’s a great skill, because they learn to be comfortable and relaxed fully submerged under water.

2) Age 3 is probably the earliest that a child can truly learn to swim, meaning they can now follow directions, listen and learn from their instructor, etc. Getting kids used to goggles, I think is also a plus. Lots of great kids goggle options these days. Make sure the pool temperature is good for instruction- not too hot, nor too cold.

3) Instructors are so critical- meaning: instructors that have good coaching skills and understand excellent swim mechanics are your best bet for success. A good instructor will make it fun, teach good skills from the beginning, and therefore the child doesn't have to 'unlearn' improper / inefficient swim techniques later on.

4) Vacations with pools- a great way to have tons of water time and improvements in a short period of time. The children can work on skills previously taught. Family time is also great.

5) Summer League Swim Teams- most communities all over the country have low key, affordable 6 week summer swim teams. Typically the only requirement for the kids who are 8 and under is the ability to swim 25 yards or meters non-stop. These programs typically have practices 3-4 days a week, plus 5 swim meets or so. Quality instruction at these ranges (there could be a great head coach, but lower quality 'junior' coaches), but it will offer lots of pool time in a very low key setting, and it's great for children to socialize with other children, etc. The summer swim leagues seem to all give out ribbons to every single heat, so swimmers, whether in the fastest or slowest heat, have a chance to earn ribbons. The ribbons have your times on them, as well.

6) If you want to really turbo charge your kids swimming, are willing to make a commitment (time and money) and the children are motivated or at least don't balk, a combination of private lessons and swim lessons is highly effective. If you are paying for private lessons, you really want to make sure the teacher is a competent swimmer and also able to effectively instruct. We happen to live near a university, and were able to utilize college swimmers for private lessons at the university pool. It was nice to see my kids develop under this instruction process, but it still took several years (ages 3-5) and probably 100 plus 30 minute private lessons, along with general class lessons.

There's a reason why most competitive swimmers, if they started swimming competitively around 5 or 6, are probably faster than the majority of all triathlete swimmers by the time they are 10. A ton of pool time.

Stick with it- learning to truly swim is a process, and things will eventually click for most budding swimmers. I helped coach a large summer swim team in my college days for several years. I would say the typical group of swimmers fell under the 20-60-20 rule. 20% of the kids were able to interpret my instructions and make changes to their stroke, near immediately, 60% of the kids were able to make some changes, and 20% had a difficult time making any changes. I don't know where your children falls in this spectrum, but it's something to consider when seeing how long it takes them to improve. Lastly, it was pretty cool to check on the times of the kids that had really efficient strokes at a younger age, to see how they progressed many years later, long after I had stopped coaching them. Some of the 7 or 8 year olds, who were swimming well then, were crushing it in high school, as they stuck with the sport.

I will say private lessons are that age are something to consider. My daughter at age 5 had 30 minute group lessons, well upon watching it, it pretty much was a 5 min private lesson per kid. We did a 30 min private lessons and she learned so much more! It was amazing how much she learned.

Secondly, get in the water with your kids to play as others said. I'm not talking teaching them to swim but getting them in to get wet, play, and swim around. Your the shark they are the fishies, you chase them and have fun.

It amazes me how many parents are our local pool just set their 2 year old in the pool with a life jacket/arm floats and so sit and read their book or look at their phone. Or don't play with them before/after a swimming lesson. Us and a small fraction of other parents actually get in there and play.

Just want to also add,

If your young kid does NOT want to do competitive or club swimming, it's fine. My daughter got tons of pool time with me nearly every weekend for years, loves playing in the water, and I never pushed her if she didn't want to learn (which was essentially all the time <7yrs old.) She's not swim star, but for someone who literally never took a lesson in her life, she is by farrrr a better swimmer than all of her classmates in school at all pool parties and events.

My daughter has outright refused any swim team or clubs, even the casual ones at the YMCA. I really wish it weren't that way, but it is what it is. Even my modeling swimming for her for years without ever pressuring her to try and actually improve, just doesn't work. She actually takes after her mom - avoids ALL competitive sports, soccer, basketball, etc. Which is ironic, since she is a weirdly good runner despite me not training her at all on that either.

And I guess I'm actually ok with that non-competitive pool swimming, with all the driving and chauffering involved. If your kids love it, more power to you and them! Otherwise, don't worry about it and just get them into the water to play.

Do they want to swim?

My parents forced me to take swimming lessons when I was little and I did not like it at all. So I didn't learn much.

Four and six seems pretty little to me if the kids are not into it. Don't force it too much. I know now that I was way to weak when I was little to enjoy it. And super skinny so got cold and had no bouancy.

Also, my boy started when he was six but only started liking it when he got into a pretty warm pool. The cold water in the Y's regular pool really turned him off.

Also, when he went to a camp this summer (he's seven) with swimming twice a day that helped a lot. And also at his weekly lesson he can hang out in the pool for fun afterwards.

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http://www.jt10000.com/

Can’t help you much as I don’t know how it works where you live. I’ll just say that I was kind of similarly frustrated when we lived in Switzerland with the lack of good/sound swimming instruction available (and I was a swim coach then, just don’t want to coach my own kids).

Moved to Australia and the list of swim schools is endless, and most of them use a very similar method of teaching with small groups and very sound and effective swim learning. No wonder Aussies are punching above their weight in this sport!

This. Absolutely this.
Play time = enjoying being in water and being comfortable in (and under) it. The other stuff stems from this.

I used to take my baby girl (now in her late teens... but still my baby girl !) to the pool 2 or 3 times a week. Maybe with 1x 30 min lesson. But with play before and/or after and just playing for the other two from when she was V young.
Hackey sack kind of sift balls to throw to each other, dive sticks, zoggs seals (pack of 4 seals ... 3 with a fish printed on the base, 1 with a seal... opens up loads of underwater games to play with them).

She's SO confident in water as a result (and has been since pre school), and loves getting in open water too (providing not too cold !)
Her technique way way better than mine in all 4 strokes too.
Confidence in the water opens up SOOOO many other sports and opportunities.

A lot of good advice here, but here's what I did when my youngest was not learning after countless lessons at our local community center and probably thousands of dollars...
As soon as he was able to make it across the pool ( community center teachers were good in that there was plenty of play, but there wasn't a lot of progress), I signed him up on a local swim team.
To start, you only needed to swim 25 y . Told him he only had to swim one season to get water safe. Coach was (is) very encouraging, compassiinate. Soon he is swimming laps. Then has his first meet and received a ribbon (huge for kids at that age).
Something clicked there, and that was seven or eight years ago. He's winning races and looking forward to swimming for our local high school next year. We still have about a million ribbons and now a few trophies.

I wanted, I mean my kids wanted, to join swim club by the time they hit 6-7 years of age. Fortunately we have a pool so they got exposure to being comfortable playing in the water since they were two years of age or younger. Agree with Monty's comment about kids getting cold and the use of the hottub (we still run our pool quite warm). We had put kids in the general swimming lessons but they really didn't learn anything until we got individual lessons. Or one of our friends would have an instructor come over to their house and pool each day for a week and there would 4-5 kids getting more focused instruction.

Of course, I attribute my kids (both in since 6 or 7) to being able to make swim club (they need to be swimming 25m non-stop to make entry level) through my own "coaching" (pink or not pink?). Every time we got in a pool, I had them practice kicking just for a few minutes, and then they could play swim for the next hour or two. Just doing the "rocket ship" with flutter kick on front or back and hands held together over the head. Doing regular repeats of this for short distances goes a long ways. Any time a friends' kid 4 and above, comes over to our place, I make them do a couple of kicking drills before play swim. The kids love it and so do the parents.

Basic swimming lessons and play swim may only get them so far, my kids and friends' kids needed some additional kicking drills which is the foundation of being able to swim (ie. get them in the body position). Once they can make a swim team, the coaches take care of everything from there.

Let me know when you want to talk about kids and open water swimming!

We had comparable challenges. My kids are now 11 and 13 and are confident swimmers. 11 year old is talking about joining a swim team. But at 4 and 6 they both hated it, had similarly uninspiring lessons. My younger kid told me: "I will NEVER stop wearing floaties!!!"

For us, the game changer was a summer spent at a pool with a sloping entry. (Like a beach.). So, you can hang out in 2 inches of water, or in a foot, or in 6 feet. You don't have to automatically be in 4 feet of water. They'd splash around, venture out just for a few seconds past where their feet touched the bottom. They'd spend hours just messing around, occasionally moving to the deeper ends. This got them comfortable being in the water, managing their buoyancy, putting their faces down, etc. And laid a foundation for more serious work on strokes down the line.

Had the same effect that a Like Bike might have on a kid who is scared to ride.

I don't know if you have access to a pool like this. But I think the acclamation--building comfort in the water-- was key for my guys.

I started swimming at a very young age, was on the swim team at 6, and was a pool rat for most of my adolescent years either as a patron or as a lifeguard.

I feel like peer pressure is a great way for kids to learn how to swim. It’s amazing what watching their friends pass a swim test and go off the boards or slides will do to their enthusiasm to learn. Maybe spend less time worrying about swim lessons and spend more time just going to the pool with your kids and their friends just for fun.

Well I’m going to go the other way

3 grandchildren LOTS of pool time play

None of them could swim. 2 weeks of YMCA swim lessons they can all swim now

You are actually saying what most others are saying... lots of pool time *AND* lessons. You just needed to add lessons to the mix. The pool time play gets the kiddos comfortable in the water, which is the biggest part of the learning to swim equation.

Yeah, I think both are important. The lessons teach them what to do, but they aren’t going to absorb the lessons if they’re anxious or uncomfortable in the water.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

I haven’t read all the posts, so you may have addressed this, but what do you mean by swim?

My kids are 11 and 8. Started them in weekly swim lessons early, and as a few have mentioned they are pretty terrible for the most part - certainly heavily dependent on who you get as instructors. Private lessons worked best for my son, semi-private with a comparable friend for my daughter.

Once they were able to make it across the pool, they could sign up for summer swim league. Even just doing it with assistance of a kick board was OK. They really took off in the summer swim league - that was about 5 or 6 yo when they joined. Between kindergarten and 1st grade.

Now they are both on year round swim clubs, which is a bit more serious than I’d like, but they are 100% comfortable in the water. My son is better than me now.

Neither one of them took naturally at all to swimming and are MOP at best in the year round swim clubs.

Best of luck, but be patient. It will come.

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"What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind and body can achieve; and those who stay will be champions."

Total Submersion

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Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.

Seriously just saw that movie

And what John Wayne said helped me with a breakthrough in my swimming last week