To ditch or not to ditch the swimming lesson?

[becj86]

DS is spirited (7MO) and really needs me to protect his sleep and make sure he gets it. That's not always easy, but i forego a lot of things to make sure he gets the sleep he needs to function at his best and remain the charming kid he can be rather than the meltdown-ridden screaming ball of tears he becomes if OT, OS or both.

On a Thursday however, I wake him up during his morning nap and take him to a swimming lesson. A few reasons for this:
*I had to pay upfront and hate wasting money.
*We live in the Whitsundays, so who wouldn't want their baby to be comfortable around water living here?

He is zombie-like for half the lesson, is not progressing much because he's more interested in what going on around him than the lesson and while he was enthusiastic initially, he's not any more.

It fit into his routine fine when I signed him up but he's grown up since then and his A time has increased moving his nap so the swimming lesson is right in the middle of it (waking him after 30-40mins). He then refuses to sleep after the lesson until his full 3-3.5hr A time is up (although I have APOP'd him to sleep today as he keeps falling over while he's practising standing up because he's so tired).

I can't believe how stupid I was to not think ahead to a 2-nap day!

Anyway, so do I just keep DS on his routine, kiss the money goodbye and not bother with the last few lessons?

[deb]

I'd probably see if you could go to the same pool when they have a recreational/free swim for a while until his nap schedule is more amenable to the swim class schedule. I had to drop Nat's swim class for the same reasons when she was small - he naps were all over the map and sure as shooting, on swim class day she decided she'd nap DURING that time. Once she dropped her nap (in her case that was 18 months ) we were golden, could schedule any time, and with Josie I would see how her naps were shaping up when I scheduled swim classes for her too.

[MasynSpencerElliotte]

I would probably still take him if he enjoys it, but not worry so much that he isn't progressing. Even swimming lessons when DD1 was 2 were about fun, she didn't really progress beyond paddling around while I held her. If he isn't enjoying it, I wouldn't bother. We lasted 10 min into DD2's first lesson, and they gave me my money back!

[*Ali*]

I wouldn't expect them to learn much at 7mo TBH. My DS1 who is almost 2yo has been going swimming lessons for 6mo now and even the toddlers in his class who are all 1-2yo are just learning to be comfortable in the water, going under it, jumping in, blowing bubbles, kicking etc. so I don't think they would do much at 7mo.
Personally I hate wasting money so would probably do the last few classes I had paid for and then not book anymore. I would do what pp says and take him by myself at a time that is more convenient.
DH takes DS1 to the swimming lessons and has been asking me to take DS2 who is just coming up to 4mo but I am not going to since his routine is too changable and I wouldn't want to be taking him when he is tired or hungry

[becj86]

Thanks

I'll sit out the last few and take him swimming myself when he's awake once its finished. I'm not wanting him to be a champion swimmer at 7MO... maybe he takes to repetition as well as I do (not at all) and is just bored with it. He still loves swimming when its not a structured lesson.