We did 3 series of swim lessons with DS (just turned 4) over the last several years and I can honestly say that they had no impact whatsoever until this most recent time. This time he had spontaneously told me he wanted to learn to swim before we signed him up. He likes watching ocean animal videos and I had off-hand mentioned last winter how fun it will be to go snorkeling once he's a proficient swimmer. So several times this spring he spontaneously brought up he wanted to learn to swim, and we found a very child oriented swim class series (the kind with buckets of toys in the change area, toys in use in the lessons, songs, etc). A better class than we've been to before.
All of our experiences have been mommy&me type ones, I wouldn't have been comfortable with anything else because DSs response to having his head go under is to freeze and not try to help himself. Followed by crying which leads to breathing in water. All within the space of seconds.
Factors helping him learn to swim (he amazed me by actually learning to swim over the 10 sessions this time), were the pool being extra warm (previous times he's gotten cold quickly), and well fitted flotation devices that he'll actually agree to wear (sinks under without them leading to panic). His own motivation probably tops the list.
A factor that prevented him learning before was his personal head/hair sensitivity so that he will not wear goggles, hates to get his chin or above wet, doesn't like water in his nose, ears, etc (let alone hair combing or hats). Another issue was over-thinking, a fear of drowning that caused him to feel like he might be drowning whenever he got water in his nose or mouth. Perfectionism and accompanying easy frustration were real impediments also. I didn't know of any way to address those negative factors, it was more his motivation and the pool being so wonderfully warm, that got him past them.
He still found it frightening when the instructor would "swim" him way down to the bottom of the pool, even the last class was complaining loudly -- but not sputtering as he was at the beginning, so he learned to keep his mouth closed while under. Shorter depths like just head in now cause him no problems, he even comes up smiling sometimes. And he can float on his back without panicking, well at least sometimes. I feel SO much more comfortable after this set of lessons about him at public pools, and still would not trust him an inch around a real river.
Here's a link to the unique shark float he has
http://www.swimfin.co.uk/ But I bought ours on amazon. The only one he's ever agreed to wear. I can't find a link for the fins we have, they are soft or flexible in comparison to most. DS needs both the float and the fins to swim on his own. It's worth all the floaty stuff to get him swimming independently because now he realizes he can and that itself will be motivating to pay attention to more instruction later on.
Polly
