Swimming!!

[Bexs]

Just like to say what a fantastic forum, haven't posted much but have found lots of useful advise..Thank You.

 

ds is in year 4 and has just come to the end of his years swimming lessons with school. He has never enjoyed swimming, and i have had to deal with anxiety about monday swimming lessons for months.

 

So on monday when husband picked him up from school out comes all his class mates with a fantastic swimming certificate. Ds doesn't have one because he hasn't managed to learn to swim. (Basically everybody in his class is in the deep end, and he is on his own in the baby pool.) Son very upset, so the classroom assistant quickly gives him a school certificate for good effort. Spoke to the headteacher the next morning, who said it was the swimming pool who sort the certificates, then she added that he makes very little effort to learn to swim during the lessons.

 

Now i understand that if he carn't swim, then he carn't receive a swimming grade certificate, but i just feel really upset that i am trying to build his self esteem and confidence. And this incident has made him yet again different from his peers, surely they could of sorted something out in the way of a certificate.

 

[Sally44]

I think if you address it from the 'self esteem' point of view then school should be willing and able to give him a 'certifiate' for something like good trying. And saying that 'he doesn't put alot of effort into it' is difficult for anyone, child or adult, to be having to do something that they are not good at. How much 'effort' do any of us put into things we cannot do well. As an adult we have the 'choice' to opt for those things we like and feel we do well at. When you are at school you have to participate in everything.

Something I wanted to mention, that might or might not be useful, is that my son used to do nothing in the swimming pool. He insisted on his arm bands and just used to float around like a piece of flotsum. Then on holiday we discovered snorkeling. I know you cannot wear the flippers in the pool. But what made swimming fun and accessable for him was to be able to wear goggles and a nose clip. It turned out that water getting in his eyes, nose and mouth had been major issues for him. Now he swims underwater and on holiday we go snorkeling together. So a good pair of googles and a nose clip might make the difference for him?

[nikkij]

i agree with the person above. although my son cannot swim he likes to play in water, but he also doesn't like the water in his eyes. good old goggles

[chris54]

It does not help my son that he come from a family of non swimmers.

 

He is not sure if he likes swimming or not.

At the end of his year3 swimming lessons they all got a certificate. His said "A---- tried hard".

 

This year year 4 (New school) he did just as well at swimming. If I'm honest I cant remember anything about certificates etc, maybe I missed that, my son never said anything. But he was not the only one still at the learner end.

He doesn't seem to be that bothered that he is not as good as most at sport etc. Came last in the egg and spoon race on sports day.

At the moment at least most of the other kids in his class/school seem supportive which helps a lot.

[NobbyNobbs]

i had swimming lessons for a term every year at primary (my school had its own pool) but i can't swim past a doggy paddle - and even that is a lot of hard work. i just cannot get the bits of my body to do what my mind is telling them. its not a case of not trying, i certainly did, but i just cannot get it to work.

 

there might be something like that going on?

[szxmum]

Oooh this post brought back memories of Nazi swimming teachers at ds's primary and secondary schools. These teachers did award the certificates and it was taken very, very seriously.

 

I can remember ds's Year 4 teacher saying to me on the quiet "Is there any way you can take your son to swimming lessons? He is so upset that he is the only one who hasn't passed their certificate" Lord, it was a miracle if I could get ds to change into his swimming trunks, let alone get in the pool. School was at least having more success in this area than me.

 

One of the problems was that they did not permit swimming goggles so I wrote a letter, the teacher supported me and they made an exception for ds. Result one passed certificate. Ds really could not tolerate water going in his eyes, once this was sorted he came on in leaps and bounds.

 

Fast forward to Year 9 at secondary school. Like Nobby above, ds could not co-ordinate arms, legs, head in the water - he managed a very awkward front crawl at best. In this lesson, the kids were to do a sitting dive from the side of the pool. Ds was petrified of the dive but more scared of the teacher. He gave the dive a go The teacher shouts in front of everyone "Rubbish!!" That was the last swimming lesson ds ever attended at school and who can blame him.

 

So, as above, if you haven't already tried it, try goggles. If not, maybe a quiet word with his teacher who can be prepared with a Good Effort certificate when swimming certificates are awarded.

[Mad cat lady]

A little bit of understanding can go a long way. It's a shame your son didn't get that.

 

Mine has just had school swimming lessons too, but because he does'nt like water, or splashing or the echoing noise you get in swimming pools, our school were very understanding and rather than let him opt out they arranged 1 to 1 lessons for him at a local hydrotherapy pool, still can't swim but it build his confidence in the water, they have arranged for him to go back next term to actually learn to swim, and when the other children got swimming certificates he won a packet of yu-gi-oh cards which means more to him than a certificate.

 

 

[Sally44]

A little bit of understanding can go a long way. It's a shame your son didn't get that.

 

Mine has just had school swimming lessons too, but because he does'nt like water, or splashing or the echoing noise you get in swimming pools, our school were very understanding and rather than let him opt out they arranged 1 to 1 lessons for him at a local hydrotherapy pool, still can't swim but it build his confidence in the water, they have arranged for him to go back next term to actually learn to swim, and when the other children got swimming certificates he won a packet of yu-gi-oh cards which means more to him than a certificate.

 

What a good idea. Nice to see someone, somewhere is doing stuff right.