Swim arm bands

[SLad]

Hi all,

So, might be a stupid question but why do we use swim arm bands and are they necessary as a step to swimming? I do remember having them when I was little and I got my 1500m certificate when I was 5 so they can't have done any harm but I can't work out if they actually slow down swimming progress, particularly if your child is comfortable in the water.

Any views, anecdotal or learned, would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

[edanna]

I think the thinking these days is that they aren't so good because they stop kids learning about their own buoyancy. Noodles and then later those rectangular floats are what all the swimming teachers use.

[SLad]

Thanks for the advice. I was looking at rings but will look at the noodles.

[mima08]

Hiya, we've been going to swimming classes since LO was 4month and the teacher always says ideally not to bother with swim arm bands as it means that the kids are in the wrong position in the water and can't really use their arms properly. So we don't use them much, unless on holiday where several hours are spend in the pool - it's quite nice to let him just float / race around without being held.

Noodles are great - what we use most of the time now.

[vanthorne]

We used a strap on back flotation thing for ours which worked well..leaves the arms and legs completely free and in the correct position. The float as layers that you can take away little by little as they gain confidence and skill. We found it quite effective. I haven't seen them so much over here..but was introduced to them in Australia where we got ours.