I have a 3 year old daughter, my husband wants to send her to his sister's pool to learn with her (she is a registered lifegaurd). I want to send her to the local YMCA to learn. My worry is that she might panic and drown while my sister in law is not watching. I hate having to fight with my husband about things though! He is right, my sister in law is cheeper, but it is our daughters life on the line! What should I do? All my other children learned to swim when they were about 2 or 3! I do not want to put off lessons because learning to swim is important. I did not learn to swim until I was 8 olny because I was in near drowning the year before!

Why is she cheaper? Are there less lifeguards for the same number of children?
You should send your daughter where you feel comfortable and where you think she will be safest. Are you or your husband staying during the lessons to watch your daughter?
However, you should also try not to show your fear to your daughter. I had a traumatic experience in the pool when I was a child. Now I always send my husband with my son to the pool because I know I might panic for no reason and my son won't learn to swim properly.

My sister in law gave us a discount because we are "family". Yes, there will be olny her for 5 children! My husband has a summer job so he can not watch our 3 year old and I have to look after my twin girls and take care of myself, as I have medical problems. My eldest daughter will be helping out my sister in law though (will not be going into the water as she is terrified of it!)

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Originally Posted by lovely_lady123

My eldest daughter will be helping out my sister in law though (will not be going into the water as she is terrified of it!)

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Huh? "All my other children learned to swim when they were about 2 or 3."

How can she help if she is terrified of water? And she learned to swim at an early age?

Your sister-in-law will be the only adult in and around the pool?

How are either facility teaching 3 year olds to swim? When my kids went to swimming lessons they started in the shallow pool, the one they could stand up in, and learned the basics. When they knew the basics, and could actually stay above water, they moved to the bigger pool, but were required to stay near the edge so they could easily grab on if they felt like they were going under.

Why are you so afraid of drowning? Does your sister in law just throw the kids in the pool and hope for the best? Is she a licensed swimming instructor?

My son was 5 when he took lessons. There were 2 instructors, and 20 kids. No one drowned. But, they knew what they were doing. Doesn't sound like you have much confidence that your sister in law does know what she's doing, even though she is a trained lifeguard.

I will agree in most public places like the Y and other places there will be closer to 10 kids per teacher, and never less than 5, most likely with 5 students they would cancel the class for not enough kids.

And are you this scared anytime your child or children get out of your site, A car will run them over, lightening will hit them during a storm /

So with the sister, pay her more to get a private lesson when there are no other kids there,

Well, my eldest daughter will be helping around the water but not in (drying the kids, feeding them lunch, rinsing, washing bathing suits). My sister in law is not my first pick on a babysitter or a lifeguard! She passed the course but they showed her the reports on how she did and she failed on the first aid part that is why they would not let her be a lifeguard at the pool so she does her own business. That is why I sent my eldest daughter because she knows first aid but is scared of water! All of that freaks me out a lot!

If it "freaks you out" then find a swimming school that doesn't. You're the mother, you have a say in this.

Just say NO. I would rather poke a sharp stick in my right eye than have your sister-in-law teach any of my children to swim.

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Originally Posted by Wondergirl

Just say NO. I would rather poke a sharp stick in my right eye than have your sister-in-law teach any of my children to swim.

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You'd probably feel the same way about my dad. My dad taught me how to swim by throwing me into the lake and saying "don't drown".

As a teen I was on the swim teen, and even though I did take actual swimming lessons, they weren't to teach me how to swim. That I learned from my dad. :)

Ha, that is cool but yeah I would not feel good if my husband just started throwing my kids in water if they did not know how to swim! I was a lifegaurd when I was a teen and had to save a few lives, here is one of them: two kids were playing on the slide one kid was on top of the ladder and the other was getting ready to go down the 1st kid must have got angry and pushed the 2nd kid down. That kid got scared and took a breath in when he was in the water and kept breathing water in then he went unconscious I had to start rescue breathing on him, it turns out he had some sort of mental condition that I did not know about so he breathes in and out faster that normal people do.