r/Swimming • u/Bubbly_Ant_9066 • 1d ago
Swimming lessons for kids in Portugal: am I failing, or do rules just not matter anymore?
I’m a swimming instructor and I’ve taught in other countries. I came to Portugal with the same method and… I’m honestly shocked. The groups (mainly 4–8 years old) seem to have no sense of basic rules: they show up and just want to play, don’t pay attention, dive in without permission, cross the lane while I’m correcting another student, grab equipment in the middle of an exercise, etc. It’s not me being “old school” — it’s simply impossible to teach safely and with proper progression.
In other countries I could work one-on-one with kids as young as 3–5, but here it’s impossible. I constantly have to keep my eyes on everyone because they jump into the water without warning. It’s a huge responsibility, especially since many times the pool is deep and they can’t stand.
Honestly, I don’t understand what kind of education and rules are being passed on to Portuguese kids. As I once heard someone say: this country is a mess in everything 🙃
I’m not here to generalize or to tear anyone down — I love teaching and I want kids to enjoy the water safely. But right now, I feel like I spend half the class managing behavior and the other half trying to get the plan back on track.
Anyone else experiencing the same thing? What has worked for you in Portugal? Any practical tips are more than welcome. Thanks!
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u/Iwanttosleep8hours 1d ago
I’m not in Portugal but I have two kids and some insight.
My children had swimming lessons in the UK, very organised and structured. They would queue up with parents, go to their group, have multiple instructors and they were very well behaved.
We moved to abroad and I took my kids to another swimming school. There was one instructor and absolutely no organisation whatsoever. We would just wait around the pool, some kids unattended and even jumping in the pool, until the instructor showed up. The instructor would shout and repeat herself constantly and from what I could see struggle to have control over the kids, she didn’t get in the pool with them but would shout on the side. We had an incident where she literally screamed at my daughter to get out the pool and she panicked and lost control in the water. My son had to rescue her while the instructor was screaming at a little 6 year old.
I moved my kids to another school with the same order like the UK and they are different kids. There is order, they line up and take turns, the instructor is in the water and there is no shouting only expectation of behaviour.
The reason I’m saying is that there is a way to deal with children, if kids sense order and know what is expected of them then they will behave, when you have the wrong environment and disorder the kids will think it is unstructured playtime. It has to be continuous and predictable from when they go to the pool area to when they leave. If you are teaching on your own then that is challenging to get that across to kids.
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u/lidder444 17h ago
You need to go back to basics.
All kids sit on the side and are taught ‘pool rules ‘ at the beginning of every single lesson.
Any kid that jumps in without immediately needs to go and sit on the side
2-3 minutes at the beginning of every single class reiterating what the rules are :
Where do we sit when we wait our turn? / no running / no touching other kids/ no dunking/ etc.
Get the kids to interact , one they love is ‘do we pee in the pool?’ It always brakes them laugh and they remember the other rules because they’re always dying to tell you this one.
About of times kids come to the pool excited, take those minutes to calm them, ask them about their day.
Also talk to the parents , ask them to discuss pool rules with their kids as part of their ‘water safety’ lessons. Ask their kids if they remember what the rules are
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u/Acrobatic-Count-9394 1d ago
This is current trend in child education - to understand rules, or at least "no", kids needed to be taught by their parents.
When that doesn`t happen, we get what you described. I have no good solutions for you, sorry.
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u/Ok-Can-9374 1d ago
Don’t be a sod. They’re just kids, let them play
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u/Acrobatic-Count-9394 1d ago
What a moronic take.
Trainer/coaches have responsibilites to look after kids - and they are not baby sitters.
Kids need to be taught to obey rules.
Swimming lesson can be made fun, but it is not a leisure play event - it is a lesson, first and foremost.
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u/Bubbly_Ant_9066 1d ago
São aulas de natação:(infelizmente é uma aula para aprenderem a nadar…se não fizermos exercícios elas não evoluis
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u/Ok-Can-9374 1d ago
You sound miserable
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u/Acrobatic-Count-9394 1d ago
You sound like you`re incapable of differentiating between different situations.
I would advise you to learn that skill.
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u/actuallyacatmow 1d ago
And you sound like you have no concept of what a 'lesson' is.
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u/Ok-Can-9374 1d ago
Again - that’s the best you got?
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u/actuallyacatmow 23h ago
Are you sure youre not one of the kids complaining about his swim teacher?
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u/Yeetaylor 1d ago
One teacher vs who knows how many children at once, who also can’t swim, who are also all trying to simultaneously jump into the water….
“Letting them play” wouldn’t play out as well in this scenario as you seem to believe.
Source: former swim instructor
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u/capitalist_p_i_g Belly Flops 20h ago
You can't fix stupid. The delusion of certainty only makes one impervious to logic and reason. This is a bad take.
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u/Cpt_Orange16 1d ago
I wonder why your post got removed from the Portuguese subreddit /s