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Hi all - well today I took DD for a swim - we've been a few times and she loves it but is VERY nervous about us letting go of her (she has arm bands or wings or whatever) and absolutely shrieks if we try and encourage her to let go.. Any ideas to help build her confidence? How do you think would be a good way to teach your 3.5 yr old to swim?

We used FUN as a way to teach Maree, especially like gliding her quickly through the water, so that some splashes on her face and makes a wave as well. We had a round ring which she loved eventually, and taught her to swim a lot on her back, and lots of kicking exercises as well and teaching them that they move when they kick. But of course we were teaching her in the pool, and havent been out in the open water for a long time.

When she was 2 1/2yrs we swam at quiet bay/beach and she was doubious about letter go of her flutterboard, but that wasnt very stable as such (cheapy). But I think that a lot of it is us as parents showing confidence in them and having fun matters a lot. Maree now loves 'swimming' in the bath .. even though we're not keen because of the huge splashes LOL

http://www.swimmingnz.org.nz Swimming NZ does promotion and education about swimming around NZ so if you get in touch with them they may have more information. They promote swimming/awareness from a very early age :)
We attended one of their 2-hr night courses when I took Young Mother Group and they were great.

Josh used to be scared of the water....he wouldnt let go of me. I tried everything but in the end I left it too the experts. Having lessons really helped because he couldnt cling on to them like he does to me. It took about 20 lessons and now he can swwim really well. He even swims in the sea. With Ameilia, Ive started her v young. She has already tried the swimming pool and the sea...Shes quiet happy to bob in her float or float with me. She even doesnt mind water in her face.

Oh my goodness - Becky is getting really confident swimming - we just let her go at her own pace this weekend and by the time we left she had a flutter board ad was running and jumping up and down the kiddie pool - so happy!
We learned that with Becky the best way is not to push her and let her go at her own pace - this really helped her to get going at her own pace;)
I take this as a lesson as how to help her in other things - by offering opportunities and not forcing her to do things :)

Thats fantastic news... I think I wrote something about that somewhere sometime, where Maree is the same. She even wouldnt first drink from Boob when a nurse what trying to make her when a wee bub. The nurse walked away, you could see Maree thinking for a moment, then latched on and went for it LOL... INDEPENDENCE is the key LOL

So on this subject, my daughter (14 months) is petrified of swimming in pools. We have tried hugging her close with both me and her dad, and tried floating backwards with her on our bellies and all sorts but she just screams.
Any suggestions on how to make swimming fun for her? I would really like to start swimming lessons with her, but not really wanting to pay the money for it if its going to be traumatising for her the whole time.

May be a silly question but what temperature/type of pool are you trying her out in? I know with wee ones if they get put into a cold pool tends to interupt the pleasure of swimming. Many public pool units have a family spa that is warm but not hot and is a great way to get them used to the sensations of swimming.

We have only tried her in heated indoor pools so far, yet for some reason she still freaks out. She loves her bath at home, but just wondering if its how much water there is that is scaring her. Really not sure.

This is an interesting topic...I will add my experience. I tried my daughter out with swimming lessons at 3 1/2 years old. She was quite happy in the water, but did not like to put her head under. Unfortunately the instructor was a 'dunker'. She dunked the kids heads under the water even under protest. It might have worked for some, but my daughter was absolutely hysterical when we went for lessons, even if I was in the pool with her. I decided in the end to call it quits are we were getting no where and why put us both through the pain?! Now she is five and loves to put her face under in the bath and at the local pools. Her confidence is growing, and she is doing it all in her own time with our support and encouragement.   

My son who is now 13 months old loves his weekly swimming lessons, he started just before he was 6 months old. He is very water confident.

We started DD at 6 months also then missed 2 terms due to health issues with her we found when we started back it took about 6 weeks of classes before she didnt scream the whole session. She is almost 2.5 now and very confident in the water, can pull herself out of the pool onto the side, blows bubbles etc. Shes not fussed completely putting her head under but we are getting there but arent pushing it with her as she will do it when ready. With summer coming up it is a good time to even get the kids into paddling pools out side blowing bubbles, rolling, playing in the water.

They are all so different and will do things in there own time. We have wee kiddies younger than DD that will float them selves face down in the water and come up for air when they are ready or dive down to pick things up under the water it is amazing.

My daughter started lessons at about 10 months old and is about to finish her second term and she quite enjoys it. I wish I had started her at 6 months but she is doing well. She gets submerged quite a few times and still splutters a bit if she isn't concentrating and doesn't hear me count lol

My daughter is a total water baby! She started lessons around 8 months and her Daddy takes her as it is his special time and he loves it. We swim almost everyday in the baby pool. She is very water confident, I guess my advice is to make it as fun a place as possible and they will slowly dip their toe in the water, as they don't want to miss out on the fun!