What stroke should you start with?

"What stroke should we start with?" A question we are met with by many instructors...
"When are you starting to swim" is a question we are met with by many parents...

The answer to the question is simple... and the answer is complicated...

The simple one is here:

Many parents (and some instructors too) see swimming as merely four strokes (breast, front crawl, back crawl, and butterfly)...

But these four strokes are just a historical development of competitive swimming... When learning to swim we have a countless number of strokes; front, back, sideways, ups, downs - you name it...
The 17.000 different ways to move in the water is the foundation of all strokes and everything else in the water...
When being able to save yourself (and others?) in the water, you can move on to competitive swimming, synchronized swimming, diving, underwater rugby, etc.

But first: LEARN TO SWIM

The complicated answer is a combination of several different topics, and to answer the question to the fullest, we would have to start by exploring why it is THIS question, we get in the first place. What is swimming, and why are the strokes so important? What is even meant, when asking about the strokes. This we will explore in another post.

What I will recommend when being asked "what stroke first?" or "when are you going to swim?" - ask a counter-question: "What is the purpose of your/your kids swimming?". If the answer is something like: "To be able to save myself/themselves" - you have an opening into talking about the importance of being able to get oneself out of the water compared with being able to swim a technically beautiful front crawl. All strokes need the same basics; change of element, breathing, propulsion, and balance.

So to answer, "What stroke to start with?":
- Start with NO STROKES
- and start with ALL STROKES