Indulge me: do skinny kids have a harder time swimming?

[Wabi Sabi]

This may be silly, but it's something I've been wondering about:

 

In college I had an acquaintance who was the thinnest person I'd ever met and interestingly enough she was unable to swim despite years of trying to learn. She simply couldn't float and she thought it maybe had something to do with her lack of body fat.

 

Fast forward 10+ years and now I have two of the skinniest kids ever. My 38 pound 7.5 y/o has tried so hard to swim and simply can't. We've done swimming lessons and he's unable to go onto the next level until he can float on his back. No matter how hard he tries he simply can't do it. I don't want to sign him up and pay for lessons again because now he's the only kid his age in a class full of preschoolers who are learning to put their face in the water.

 

Of course, it makes me think back to that skinny girl I knew in college who tried for years but just couldn't swim and I have to wonder if she was onto something with her theory about the lack of body fat not giving her any buoyancy.

 

Thoughts? Is it possible that an extremely thin person might have difficulty learning to swim?

[Mrs Mungo]

I weighed 95 lbs as a teen and I worked as a lifeguard. My husband swears he cannot float and hates to swim. But, the truth is, he once got into real trouble in the water and is not comfortable in the water now. The key to swimming is being comfortable in the water.

[swellmomma]

dd is 12 and 60lbs, she was on swim team last year and is considering it again this year. SHe has never had a problem swimming. Her biggest struggle is keeping warm.

[Element]

Hmm. Maybe there is something to that theory.

 

Ds, who is probably 80th %ile in height and weight, is a pretty good swimmer. Dd, who is 37 lbs and almost 7, has had three years of summer lessons and still can't swim at all. :confused:

 

Interesting.

 

I would still recommend putting him in class. I'll put dd in every single chance I get until she can swim. We may need to do individual lessons at the Y, though, since she continually is placed with preschoolers in the group lessons (which is starting to embarrass her.)

[Wabi Sabi]

I weighed 95 lbs as a teen and I worked as a lifeguard. My husband swears he cannot float and hates to swim. But, the truth is, he once got into real trouble in the water and is not comfortable in the water now. The key to swimming is being comfortable in the water.

 

That's the thing. Ds is very comfortable around water and LOVES to swim. He's never had any sort of bad experience in the water. He jumps in the pool, goes down water slides and has no issues at all with going under water- he just can't stay ABOVE it without a life jacket, lol.

[Crimson Wife]

Yes, this is a big problem in my family. My grandma almost didn't graduate from college because she was unable to pass a swimming test even after 4 years of lessons. Don't ask me why her college made it a graduation requirement, this was the '30's. Anyways, she was 5'9" and 117 lbs. and she just sank. Fortunately, an instructor took pity on her and gave her a passing score on the test so she could graduate.

 

I was a scrawny kid and had a horrible time learning to swim until I started undergoing puberty at 9.

[Wabi Sabi]

dd is 12 and 60lbs, she was on swim team last year and is considering it again this year. SHe has never had a problem swimming. Her biggest struggle is keeping warm.

 

Oh yes, we have that issue too!

 

 

I would still recommend putting him in class. I'll put dd in every single chance I get until she can swim. We may need to do individual lessons at the Y, though, since she continually is placed with preschoolers in the group lessons (which is starting to embarrass her.)

 

Yes, he's with preschoolers now and that's part of the problem. Private lessons just aren't in the budget right now and to be honest, paying for group lessons with the preschoolers seems like a waste of money since he's mastered everything in the level except for floating. He doesn't need more lessons in how to put his face in the water and blow bubbles! :tongue_smilie:

[snickelfritz]

No. My dd is borderline underweight. 1 pound either way makes a difference. :). But, she is my stronger swimmer.

 

ETA: She can also float on her back. So, it's not just motion keeping her up.

[swellmomma]

Swimming like riding a bike has a lot to do with alignment and core strength. If you have poor alignment of hips/spine. neck etc or lack the core strength to support yourself you will not keep your body afloat. THink about when you are in lessons and the instructor is telling you to pretend there is a string from your belly button to the ceiling holding your belly button up. That is core strength. Any loss of that, or loss of alignment and you sink like a rock.

 

If you are finding that he loves swimming and is trying hard, not fearful of sinking, than I would build up his core strength. Do Yoga with him at home everyday, and other core strengthening activities.

 

ETA: if you can not afford private lessons right now, skip lessons for 1 season and go to open swim time weekly. Practice those skills like floats that he needs to progress in addition to the core strength stuff at home. Then when he has it down sign back up for lessons and he will pass into the next level

[Aunty Social]

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[Carpe]

When I was a (fat) kid I didn't float. I tried and the best I could do was about half my face above water and everything else "floating" under the surface. I passed whatever level it was that required floating by being able to tread water.

 

Floating is a survival skill, and so is treading water. I would survive just as long as the floater. So they ticked it off on the checklist.

 

It was an issue when I learned the backstroke though because it's a lot of resistance. But I outgrew my non-floating ways by becoming fatter :glare: and then it wasn't an issue any more.

 

Neither of my kids float. We're just dense. :lol:

[Serenade]

This may be silly, but it's something I've been wondering about:

 

In college I had an acquaintance who was the thinnest person I'd ever met and interestingly enough she was unable to swim despite years of trying to learn. She simply couldn't float and she thought it maybe had something to do with her lack of body fat.

 

Fast forward 10+ years and now I have two of the skinniest kids ever. My 38 pound 7.5 y/o has tried so hard to swim and simply can't. We've done swimming lessons and he's unable to go onto the next level until he can float on his back. No matter how hard he tries he simply can't do it. I don't want to sign him up and pay for lessons again because now he's the only kid his age in a class full of preschoolers who are learning to put their face in the water.

 

Of course, it makes me think back to that skinny girl I knew in college who tried for years but just couldn't swim and I have to wonder if she was onto something with her theory about the lack of body fat not giving her any buoyancy.

 

Thoughts? Is it possible that an extremely thin person might have difficulty learning to swim?

 

 

My son's swim instructor once told me that it was hard for kids with my son's body type to float because he was so thin and bony. She mentioned someone from her lifequarding class who could absolutely not float -- he could swim, but if he stopped moving, he would sink. So I think there is probably some truth to it.

[In The Great White North]

Swimming and floating are not the same thing. Lots of really good swimmers "float" at about 4-5 ft underwater.

 

Being comfortable in the water is absolutely key. With little kids, coordination and strength is also critical for swimming (not floating.)

 

There are some very fast girls on our team that look like they're under 100lb at 5'10".

 

Those wrist to ankle suits (that are illegal for competition now) are great for adding a little bit of warmth. And are fairly cheap while supplies last. (They used to be $300-400; now they can be found under $50.) There is an 8 & under on our team who wears one for practice.

 

For all the promotion that toddler swim classes get, a significant number of children simply aren't coordinated enough to learn to swim before 6 or 7, no matter how much they weigh. That's why some kids stay in Level 1 for years.

[Plucky]

For my skinny kid the problem is water temperature. He doesn't have enough body fat to insulate himself and he goes blue very fast.

[Mrs Mungo]

I don't think they have a hard time swimming, I think they have a hard time floating. As a kid, I could swim like a fish. I could not, however, float. I could keep my head and most of my shoulders in the correct position, but the rest of me sank. I was always diagonal in the water when trying to float.

 

Fast forward to after kids, and *I* no longer have that problem:tongue_smilie:, but my kids do.

 

As far as I can figure, active kids with lots of muscle and not much fat just can't float very well. They can learn to stay above water and move through it - swim - just not float.

 

But, floating diagonally is still floating. You don't have to be on top of the water, at least, IMO. Maybe that is why I passed plenty of skinny kids in their swim lessons? ;)

[PeacefulChaos]

DS8 is about 48 lbs - all skin and bones. I haven't noticed a big problem with floating...then again, I taught him how to float the way I do it, which may make a difference? He doesn't float great, but he can do it - or at least, he could. Haven't checked recently. :D

He's a pretty good swimmer, though. And getting better with time - he didn't become really comfortable in the water until he was about 5 1/2. Then he took to it like a fish!

I have noticed his lips being blue when he gets out of the pool at the Y, though. I didn't think it was that cold, but now I'm wondering if it got to him faster because of his size? Hmm...

[Tap]

While it is possible to be one of the few who are not able to float physically, it is more likely that he is one who just doen't know how.

 

Practice filling the lungs with air, and then sipping a little bit more air to add to it. Breathe out, repeat this when you can to teach him how to fill his lungs very full. When floating he needs to concentrate on keeping his lungs a bit full at all time and just breathing in and out, with part of his capacity. He also needs to know that he will go up and down a bit as he breaths and that this is a normal part of floating.

 

If someone has very little body fat, their body will not float as easily as someone with more fat. Their legs dropping in the water can pull their hips down a bit, if they do not have full lungs, they can start to stand upright, thus the perception that they can not float. Core muscle awareness is very important.

 

If you have an option to learn in a salt water pool, try that first. Salt water is more dense and so it is easier to float. Practice with a pool float under his legs and see if he can get the mental perception, of his torso floating. Once he is floating with this assistance, have him practice his lung capacity to see how it makes subtle changes in his buoyancy line. If you have a pool noodle, try cutting it in 24" lengths, cut again in half lengthwise (and then one-quarter) to reduce the buoyancy of it, and then use that under his legs. Again keep working with his perception of floating. Help him learn to relax, but keep his belly softly arched up and pointed to the ceiling. Think of it like holding one end of a ruler. The other end can stay horizontal, even if you are only holding up one end. But if it was floppy, it wouldn't work. The lungs aren't in the center of the body, so floating is a bit one sided if the person doesn't have fat on their thighs to counter balance the buoyancy. Let him know that his forehead may go under water a bit and that is normal. Again, the lungs aren't centered.

 

I would hire him a private coach for a few sessions and see if they can work with him.

 

Ds17 can swim fast, but he doesn't float flat as a board. His torso bobbles around while his legs are just under the water. He is very, very thin and muscular from competitive swimming. Softly kicking while he is floating, will keep his legs up, but when he stops, they will drop a bit. He knows they will level out at his own buoyancy level, and he has to resist the urge to think 'I'm sinking' because if he does surrender to the thought, his body will try to upright itself (curling his abdomen in, which indeed makes you not float)

 

 

Here is a link

[Danestress]

but low body fat doesn't prevent learning to float or to swim. I don't think my swimmer has half an ounce of fat on him. We do talk about fattening him up go gain muscle, and help him get faster, but he's a competitive swimmer and is very narrow and lean.

[MistyMountain]

My dd had almost a year of swim lessons and cannot swim or float and she is skinny. I never thought of that being a reason but who knows. I don't know whether to keep trying or just throw in the towel. I really want her to learn how to swim but she can't even get past the first class.

[Aunty Social]

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[momofkhm]

This may be silly, but it's something I've been wondering about:

 

In college I had an acquaintance who was the thinnest person I'd ever met and interestingly enough she was unable to swim despite years of trying to learn. She simply couldn't float and she thought it maybe had something to do with her lack of body fat.

 

Fast forward 10+ years and now I have two of the skinniest kids ever. My 38 pound 7.5 y/o has tried so hard to swim and simply can't. We've done swimming lessons and he's unable to go onto the next level until he can float on his back. No matter how hard he tries he simply can't do it. I don't want to sign him up and pay for lessons again because now he's the only kid his age in a class full of preschoolers who are learning to put their face in the water.

 

Of course, it makes me think back to that skinny girl I knew in college who tried for years but just couldn't swim and I have to wonder if she was onto something with her theory about the lack of body fat not giving her any buoyancy.

 

Thoughts? Is it possible that an extremely thin person might have difficulty learning to swim?

 

My oldest is a very skinny kid and has no problems swimming. In fact I rather liked it one summer on the swim team, her times were better than a couple of girls her age that swam year round!

 

Thinking back, I was a skinny kid and had no problems swimming either.

[KungFuPanda]

This may be silly, but it's something I've been wondering about:

 

In college I had an acquaintance who was the thinnest person I'd ever met and interestingly enough she was unable to swim despite years of trying to learn. She simply couldn't float and she thought it maybe had something to do with her lack of body fat.

 

Fast forward 10+ years and now I have two of the skinniest kids ever. My 38 pound 7.5 y/o has tried so hard to swim and simply can't. We've done swimming lessons and he's unable to go onto the next level until he can float on his back. No matter how hard he tries he simply can't do it. I don't want to sign him up and pay for lessons again because now he's the only kid his age in a class full of preschoolers who are learning to put their face in the water.

 

Of course, it makes me think back to that skinny girl I knew in college who tried for years but just couldn't swim and I have to wonder if she was onto something with her theory about the lack of body fat not giving her any buoyancy.

 

Thoughts? Is it possible that an extremely thin person might have difficulty learning to swim?

 

This has been our experience. My mother is tiny and tried to swim for as long as I remember, but was never able to do it until she hit forty and put on some body weight. My daughter has always been strong and agile. She's a dancer, so she's definitely put time into strengthening her core. She CAN swim, but it definitely requires a LOT more effort on her part. My son, however, is uncoordinated due to muscular dystrophy. He has weak muscles and is overweight due to his medication. He floats like a cork with minimal effort. Fat floats. It just does.

 

A friend of mine lost 100 pounds. She jumped into a deep pool and freaked out a bit. She never had to exert so much effort to get back to the top. It didn't occur to her before that the weight could make a difference. I'm slender myself (not as teensy as my mother and daughter) and I've always been able to swim, but I have nothing to compare it to am unwilling to gain 40 lbs for this experiment :-)

[Grover]

We've just been through this with my DS. As it happens we got past it because they accidentally put him in the wrong class. On the first day they told everyone to push off from the end of the pool and kick/streamline to the teacher. After a look of panic from him, to my great surprise he did it. As the lesson progressed his teacher discovered that he can't float at all (which I knew, he was meant to be in the jnr learning to float class again), but he can swim nicely now that they've stopped focussing on that stage - if he's kicking / sculling / moving through the water he's fine. He can also tread water in an upright position, something else he wouldn't have had a chance to show he could do until he did that darn starfish back float. His teacher has passed him on to the "swimming" level now. She said something about negative buoyancy and floating below the surface (I was wrangling a 2 year old who really wanted to be in there too, so didn't catch it all). So, yeah, I think some people can't float but they can still swim. DS has progressed from bubble blowing / learning to back float to swimming about half the pool with arm circles in the last 4 weeks... woohoo!

[nukeswife]

My son weighs 34lbs and is 6.5 He was a sinker until recently. Check and see if you Y has homeschool swim lessons. Ours does and usually there are so few signed up per session it's almost like private lessons. When he started this last session my kid could barely float. His teacher worked on getting him to relax when on his back (like Mrs. Mungo said you have to be able to relax in the water) Once he learned to relax on his back she worked on making sure he kept pushing his belly button up to the top of the water, that kept him up on top of the water. By the end of the 4 week (8 lesson) session he had the best backstroke other than his sister who is 10. He still isn't the most graceful on his tummy but can keep afloat and he can now tread water like a beast. He won the treading water contest and his teacher had to make him stop at 3.5 minutes because everyone else wanted to go down the slides.

 

Just keep working on it he'll get it.

[In the Rain]

My dd and my father are both lean people. They are strong swimmers, but neither can float.

[redsquirrel]

My son is quite skinny and has a difficult time swimming. Every teacher has attributed it to that. He doesn't have a lot of muscle mass yet and he has to work twice as hard as the other kids to keep up. It is hard for him to float and he doesn't have much upper body strength to drag his skeleton around the pool.

 

My son is very athletic in other ways. He has excellent core strength, coordination, and balance. He dances with a classical ballet company, has been studying TKD for 4 years, and runs with his dad. He just doesn't have much endurance in the pool. He also gets cold more quickly than the heavier kids and he uses a lot of energy just staying warm. I am expecting once he hits puberty and gains more muscle mass in proportion to his bones he will be just fine.

 

My younger son is also skinny and we started him off in a warm suit. At least he uses less energy staying warm. He can complete an entire 45 min lesson. When my older was his age, he was always getting sent out of the pool due to blue lips.

[Running the race]

I have three skinny kids, and they can all swim.

[Lizzie in Ma]

I had to laugh. Our little one is a stick figure. She can swim like the dickens, but she can't float or stay on top of the water. Swims like an otter though.

We taught her how to bounce off the bottom if she get in trouble, showed her how to allow herself to sink and shove off. She doesn't go in deep water without a floatation device.

[LG Gone Wild]

This may be silly, but it's something I've been wondering about:

 

In college I had an acquaintance who was the thinnest person I'd ever met and interestingly enough she was unable to swim despite years of trying to learn. She simply couldn't float and she thought it maybe had something to do with her lack of body fat.

 

Fast forward 10+ years and now I have two of the skinniest kids ever. My 38 pound 7.5 y/o has tried so hard to swim and simply can't. We've done swimming lessons and he's unable to go onto the next level until he can float on his back. No matter how hard he tries he simply can't do it. I don't want to sign him up and pay for lessons again because now he's the only kid his age in a class full of preschoolers who are learning to put their face in the water.

 

Of course, it makes me think back to that skinny girl I knew in college who tried for years but just couldn't swim and I have to wonder if she was onto something with her theory about the lack of body fat not giving her any buoyancy.

 

Thoughts? Is it possible that an extremely thin person might have difficulty learning to swim?

 

 

YES!!!!!! :glare: :grouphug:

[redsquirrel]

To be clear, my skinny kid can swim. It just took him longer to master it than the other kids. Not floating made it take longer for him. And, now he is at the level at the Y where it seems like the class is more about endurance than skill. His form is fine, he just gets tired. Now, at 11 he is finally able to swim two full laps (down, back, down, back) without stopping to rest. Meanwhile, his physically bigger friends have skilled out of the program. Whenever we get feedback from the teachers it is always that he needs to build endurance. We get assured that endurance will come as he gets bigger.

[catz]

To be clear, my skinny kid can swim. It just took him longer to master it than the other kids. Not floating made it take longer for him. And, now he is at the level at the Y where it seems like the class is more about endurance than skill. His form is fine, he just gets tired. Now, at 11 he is finally able to swim two full laps (down, back, down, back) without stopping to rest. Meanwhile, his physically bigger friends have skilled out of the program. Whenever we get feedback from the teachers it is always that he needs to build endurance. We get assured that endurance will come as he gets bigger.

 

I have an 11 year old just like this. It took him much longer to master these skills just because it seemed like more work for him. He can swim now, but he gets completely wiped out in the water (he's always cold too). My daughter has a little more meat on her bones even though she's still pretty thin and just much more naturally floats. She's moving through levels much faster than he did.

[bettyandbob]

I have been a swimmer all my life. I was not able to float until my teens when I took the WSI course the first time (I took it again 6 years ago at age 40). I had to get in an odd position with my back arched and legs folded underneath my body to do it. After 3 kids and quite a few pounds I have no trouble floating.

 

Not floating did not stop me from swimming. It did not stop me from swimming competitively. If no body kept a person from swimming persons who compete at the highest level of triathlons would look a lot different (my neighbor is a sponsored profession triathlete and has 3% body--he measures himself regularly and tells people, weird).

 

I do teach children and adults of all shapes and sizes to swim, including persons who are skinny and don't float well. The key is learning body positioning, learning to glide properly and adding stroking and kicking to keep the momentum going with the glide and continuing to maintain body position.

 

Skinny people do get cold faster. This may interfere with a child's focus on swimming during lessons. I'm seeing many skinny kids come to lessons in wet suit type suits. I don't know if this helps.

 

Skinny people can learn to swim. They may not be the best at floating, but they can swim.

[Julie Smith]

:) I was just reading "Cheaper by the Dozen". The Dad of the family was happy since he could teach anyone how to float/swim. But every year he tired to teach his skinny wife to float, and he failed every year.

[-M-]

Coming at this from a slightly different perspective: Both of my daughters, 14 and 16, are swimmers. They have also been volunteer coaches for their team for the last two winters, and my older daughter is now a lifeguard.

 

Although they are the same height, my older daughter is slim, just this side of bony, even. My younger daughter has a stronger, more conventionally athletic build. My older daughter feels that from a competition standpoint, her build is not as advantageous as that of her sister or her more muscularly, athletically built squad mates.

[kewb]

My beanpole son learned to swim with no problems. His biggest problem on the swim team is keeping warm. My dd who has a more athletic build is definitely a stronger swimmer than he is.

[SKL]

That's the trend in my house. I have two 5yos. The younger has more fat on her bones and has a much easier time swimming. In fact, it seems to be the only "sport" she enjoys participating in. My older daughter is slim and muscular. She can "swim" a short distance, especially on her back, but isn't really much of a swimmer yet.

[gardenmom5]

My niece had no body fat - she seriously struggled with swimming because of that tidbit. I think she gained some fat after puberty and that helped, but I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure she can swim now, but I do remember my sister mentioning the added challenge of her lack of bodyfat.

[butterflymommy]

I'm thin and as a child was bone thin-- I was never able to swim despite years of lessons. My heavier sister is a good swimmer.

[dirty ethel rackham]

Swimming and floating are not the same thing. Lots of really good swimmers "float" at about 4-5 ft underwater.

 

 

 

Exactly. I was a seriously skinny kid who could not float well (my legs would start sinking and.) But, I swam very well. All of my kids are VERY skinny and swim well, but none of them float well. I think it is stupid to require passing a horizontal float test when all the other prerequisites are there.

[Laura Corin]

Calvin can float, despite being very skinny (barely on the bottom of the BMI chart). He was taught by a good teacher and learned that it was all about throwing your chest out high.

 

He's not a great swimmer - he's safe but no more. He's just not interested.

 

Laura

[NotAVampireLvr]

I had a struggling swimmer - his biggest problem was that just when he started really getting it the cycle of lessons ended and then he had to start all over again. Because of that we put him in lessons year round. Now he's a pretty strong swimmer. It did take a while to float, but once he did he took off.

[cassiemc]

I don't think it's a skinny thing. All 3 of mine are competitive swimmers. The youngest is 7 and is 44 lbs. He is a great swimmer. He is also super muscular. He has a six pack! He can not stay warm and hates getting cold. Practice is a struggle, but he loves to compete! Maybe your son just needs to work on his core strength.

[SweetMissMagnolia]

not an expert but from what I've seen NO LOL--one of ds friends from our homeschool group is a teeny-little thing and she is a fabulous swimmer.... :)

[J-rap]

My children were skinny and were good, competitive swimmers. Of course it probably helped my son that he had really big feet (size 13). Maybe as your son's feet grow, he will get better at swimming! :) Interestingly, I had one daughter who had a great back stroke -- one of the fastest in the state, even -- but for the life of her, she could not float on her back without sinking; she had to stroke hard to stay afloat. Maybe that's why she got so fast!

[Mommyfaithe]

In my experience, the skinny kids swim faster and the chubbier kids can swim longer:D.....

[laughing lioness]

Has anyone mentioned that you have to have a certain percentage of body fat to float? 10-15% I think. Floating is one of the earliest swimming skills- difficult if you don't have enough body fat. Most great swimmers are lean and mean, though;)

[RoundAbout]

My DS is 97th percentile for height, but with a BMI of 14 - borderline underweight. He has no problem swimming. I have no idea if he can float.

 

The key for us was signing on with a private swim school - warm water and a 3-to-1 student teacher ratio. With twice a week 30 min lessons my son went from not putting his face in the water last Sept. to swimming across the pool with a proper stoke in 3 months. The YMCA and similar preschool lessons we tried were junk - different instructors every few weeks and a crappy methodology that used crutches like kick boards. The school we use now is amazing and worth every penny.

[RoundAbout]

My DS is 97th percentile for height, but with a BMI of 14 - borderline underweight. He has no problem swimming. I have no idea if he can float.

 

The key for us was signing on with a private swim school - warm water and a 3-to-1 student teacher ratio. With twice a week 30 min lessons my son went from not putting his face in the water last Sept. to swimming across the pool with a proper stoke in 3 months. The YMCA and similar preschool lessons we tried were junk - different instructors every few weeks and a crappy methodology that used crutches like kick boards. The school we use now is amazing and worth every penny.

[Jilly]

My oldest son is extremely skinny, always at the bottom of the chart. He is not very good at sports, but he can swim. He learned later than most kids because he had a fear of getting his glasses wet, but once he learned, he was amazing.

[Teachin'Mine]

I wouldn't worry about floating at all. The best way to learn to swim is learning to swim underwater first. Let them have fun in the water and eventually they'll be swimming on top too. :)