# What age are they meant to swim on own + arm bands?



## ginab

Anyone know what age they are expected to swim on their own with armbands?? or if you dont know when did yours? or if they didnt use arm bands what age did they start swimming?


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## JASMAK

My daughter is 18mths, and is just starting to swim a bit on her own. Hubby and I are ex-lifeguards/swim intructors, so we don't like the arm bands. She swims with us, but on her very own. No matter what (armbands, lifejackets, or whatever) your child should always be within ARMS reach, until they are 7. Just felt like I had to say that for anyone who is reading this. LOL


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## ginab

JASMAK said:


> My daughter is 18mths, and is just starting to swim a bit on her own. Hubby and I are ex-lifeguards/swim intructors, so we don't like the arm bands. She swims with us, but on her very own. No matter what (armbands, lifejackets, or whatever) your child should always be within ARMS reach, until they are 7. Just felt like I had to say that for anyone who is reading this. LOL

so she holds herself up in the water?? 

yes i havent used arm bands until now.. but then her cousin wears them and thats it now.. she has to wear them too but has gained more confidence in teh water with them .. so im going to ride the wave/phase of her wanting arm bands and take them away when she's a bit more confident.. i dont like using them either..


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## JASMAK

yup. She started laying down in the water and kicking just yesterday. She likes to jump off the side too...I just have to make sure her toes are at the edge, because she did one, and she wasn't quite at the edge and she hit her bottom on the way off (ouch). I have to be right there with her, and the shallower the water the better, or else she sometimes struggles to get back up when she lays down to swim. We have a little cove area, where I can stand in chest high water, and then the cove is right there where it is about knee deep for her...so it works perfect. But, she also swims with me supporting her under the arms or lightly under the belly in deep water. Just get her to have that horizontal position in the water, and kick her legs...when I taught babies, we started that at 4mths. You can even do it in the tub. Bubbles are another big thing. Everytime your baby puts their face in, they should blow bubbles (to prevent water going in). That is a fun thing to teach when they are young. Once they learn to do bubbles, you can get them to reach down for a toy on the bottom and blow bubbles (usually around 2 they can really do this).


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## aimee-lou

JASMAK said:


> My daughter is 18mths, and is just starting to swim a bit on her own. Hubby and I are ex-lifeguards/swim intructors, so we don't like the arm bands. She swims with us, but on her very own. No matter what (armbands, lifejackets, or whatever) your child should always be within ARMS reach, until they are 7. Just felt like I had to say that for anyone who is reading this. LOL

Where I work - leisure centre in the UK - we do swimming lessons for children (without parents or instructors in the water) from the age of 4. :wacko: 

Earl has had armbands since he was 16 months old (we didn't really go swimming prior to this frequently) and has been able to 'swim' using them since he was about 20 months old.


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## aimee-lou

JASMAK said:


> Bubbles are another big thing. Everytime your baby puts their face in, they should blow bubbles (to prevent water going in). That is a fun thing to teach when they are young. Once they learn to do bubbles, you can get them to reach down for a toy on the bottom and blow bubbles (usually around 2 they can really do this).

Earl does the jumping off into the water/my arms thing and absolutely loves it. He shows off completely lol 

Thanks for the tip with the bubbles. I may try that next time we're at the pool :thumbup:


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## TigerLady

Otter has used arm bands with confidence on his own since age 2. He will use steps to get out of the water, go to the edge, jump in on his own, swim to the steps, and repeat. But I also stay within close reach of him. That's at a family member's pool.

In our local public pool, they don't allow arm bands. :nope: So, both my kids stay in an adult's arms all the time. Neither can keep themselves up yet.


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## LaughOutLoud

TigerLady said:


> Otter has used arm bands with confidence on his own since age 2. He will use steps to get out of the water, go to the edge, jump in on his own, swim to the steps, and repeat. But I also stay within close reach of him. That's at a family member's pool.
> 
> In our local public pool, they don't allow arm bands. :nope: So, both my kids stay in an adult's arms all the time. Neither can keep themselves up yet.

Why were they not allowed to use arm bands? I thought it'd be safer?

When we were on holiday, LO had armbands on. She walked around in the baby pool but in the family pool she wanted me to let go of her to walk on the water, which for her was way too deep. I could walk in it with my head just above water but I was soooo scared to let go of her and couldnt...even with armbands on :nope:


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## TigerLady

I don't know... I think it is a stupid rule, too. But I suspect it is because parents are less likely to be attentive to their kids if they have arm bands on, thinking they are safe with them. Thus, they end up being more dangerous. :shrug:


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## LaughOutLoud

TigerLady said:


> I don't know... I think it is a stupid rule, too. But I suspect it is because parents are less likely to be attentive to their kids if they have arm bands on, thinking they are safe with them. Thus, they end up being more dangerous. :shrug:

Yes that kinda makes sense. I used to love my armbands when little but I recall that you still kinda need to know how to balance above the water even with the armbands on...probs why I couldn't let go of my LO when she wanted.


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## JASMAK

My guess would be that parents rely on them too, and that's why. But in all honesty, arm bands do not encourage proper body position in the water. You don't want your kids to swim straight up and down. That is a weak body position. You want them to lay on top of the water with their feet up behind...kicking UNDER the water, but on the top. I am not against arm bands, but I don't use them, or lifejackets (unless we are in a boat, of course). But, if you have many kids with you, it's best to take whatever floating device you have, espesially ones that stay attached (versus, say a pool noodle), but you should ALWAYS be within arms reach, no matter what you use.


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## eddjanuary10

We use armbands for part of our swimming sessions, Ihsan just swam on his own a couple of weeks ago with them on before then he would just float. He can float on his back without armbands on, he did this around 16months old. He likes to stick his head under the water to blow bubbles now, so funny someone else should mention that! x


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## hellohefalump

Madeleine could swim on her own in a floaty suit at 12 months, and has been gradually getting better and better. She came out of the floaty suit at two, and now she's nearly five and can swim pretty well.

Mojos been a lot slower, he can just about swim for a few seconds at a time in a floaty suit, and he's just turned two.


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## Gingerspice

WE put LO into arm bands at 20 months. She wouldn't stay in my arms and beleived she culd swim on her own so she was forever going under the water. Not that it bothers her soing so but obviously she can't stay there! She has learnt to balance with them and can rotate fine so she then kicks on her front or back or just flots about vertically and watches the world. She can climb out of the pool by herself and turns round and jumps in. She also is happy under water and blows out. We've been doing waterbabies since 4 months old and stopped about 6 months ago. We still go swimming at least twice a month though. She loves water though and has no fear of it. Even in her bath she lies down on her front or back an puts her head under the water all the time. In some ways having no fear though is terrible as she frequently tries jumping in to the local pond at the park etc!

we tried a infalted jacket, a normal float and a woggle also but arm bands have worked best for us and she happily goes about the pool (I follow behind and stay close much to her dislike!)


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## JASMAK

aimee-lou said:


> JASMAK said:
> 
> 
> My daughter is 18mths, and is just starting to swim a bit on her own. Hubby and I are ex-lifeguards/swim intructors, so we don't like the arm bands. She swims with us, but on her very own. No matter what (armbands, lifejackets, or whatever) your child should always be within ARMS reach, until they are 7. Just felt like I had to say that for anyone who is reading this. LOL
> 
> *Where I work - leisure centre in the UK - we do swimming lessons for children (without parents or instructors in the water) from the age of 4*. :wacko:
> 
> Earl has had armbands since he was 16 months old (we didn't really go swimming prior to this frequently) and has been able to 'swim' using them since he was about 20 months old.Click to expand...

Yup, us too...3 years actually. Maximum 5 kids though, but still...it was alot of work! BUT..instructors were in the water. We had to be in the water for 100% of the time for little ones, 50% of the time for mid-levels, and at least 25% of the time for older levels. We weren't allowed to teach on the side of the pool deck in our pool.


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## aimee-lou

JASMAK said:


> aimee-lou said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> JASMAK said:
> 
> 
> My daughter is 18mths, and is just starting to swim a bit on her own. Hubby and I are ex-lifeguards/swim intructors, so we don't like the arm bands. She swims with us, but on her very own. No matter what (armbands, lifejackets, or whatever) your child should always be within ARMS reach, until they are 7. Just felt like I had to say that for anyone who is reading this. LOL
> 
> *Where I work - leisure centre in the UK - we do swimming lessons for children (without parents or instructors in the water) from the age of 4*. :wacko:
> 
> Earl has had armbands since he was 16 months old (we didn't really go swimming prior to this frequently) and has been able to 'swim' using them since he was about 20 months old.Click to expand...
> 
> Yup, us too...3 years actually. Maximum 5 kids though, but still...it was alot of work! BUT..instructors were in the water. We had to be in the water for 100% of the time for little ones, 50% of the time for mid-levels, and at least 25% of the time for older levels. We weren't allowed to teach on the side of the pool deck in our pool.Click to expand...

we have 10 children in a group - well I tell a lie. In the 'beginners' they have 8 and the instructor is in the water, but once they move out of that (which can be as soon as after 10 lessons) they're all on their own. Granted it's in the small pool which is 70cm deep where they swim, but still. 

Does anyone plan on when to take the arm bands away. Because I'm expecting again, I think unless we have one-to-one manning (i.e one adult to one child) I'll be loathe to take them away until Earl is a lot older 3.5 years say, when LO is a year.


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## JASMAK

Wow...that's nuts!!! Those are huge classes! LOL! Honestly, I am so glad I don't teach anymore. I hated being wet 5 days a week and I was ALWAYS sick.


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