OK -- here's my situation and I'm hoping for some advice.

My 6 yr old boy is a novice swimmer. He's got the core fundamentals (stroking, kicking,) down, but he refuses to give up his swimmies.

This is tough for me. I was a water baby. I literally learned to swim before I could walk. I was one of those kids that doesn't remember learning to swim because I was taught so early that it just seems like I always could. By the time I was six I was swimming competitively. I wasn't a champion swimmer by any stretch of the imagination, but I could cross a 25 meter pool under my own power with absolute confidence and no fear of the water.

That's truly my ultimate goal here. I want the boy the be competent and confident in his abilities in the water. I don't care if he never swims a race in his life. But I want him to have the confidence that if he stumbles off a pool deck into an inground pool, or off a dock on a lakeside, he won't be afraid of the water and will know what to do.

All that backstory for the core issue. I'm considering bribing him with a trip to the LEGO store with a fairly hefty budget, if he'll swim with no aids/flotation devices, the 30 feet across the pool at my parent's club house. I'm pretty sure that's a carrot that he won't be able to pass up, but am I setting the wrong example by bribing him like this?

Would welcome input.

This is such an important skill that I think you should pull out all the stops. Use whatever bribes necessary, even call in the pros if necessary.

We found that swim vests more realistically approximated swimming and the kids transitioned out of them pretty easily. We used a jacket from Speedo for all of our kids.

Have you looked at swim lessons? Sometimes an outsider, teacher or coach, can motivate kids in a way parents can't. I'm not sure what the options are in your area, but if you could find something like the Emler Swim School here in Austin, I would highly recommend it.

A final thought, I think a lot of this is just a matter of putting in the hours. Make sure that you spend as many hours as possible around the pool. This will help the kiddo to make the transition on his own.

Daddy Clay -- thanks for the thoughts. I hadn't considered going back to the life vest/swim jacket.

He actually started with a jacket, but then we moved to the arm floats because they were smaller and presumably providing less actual floatation/support. My logic was by going to the swimmies, he'd have to learn to do it on his own because he'd get less assistance from them. Interesting. Maybe I set him back.

Regarding swim lessons, yes, I think I'm ready to look into local swim instructors. To your point my boy is very self-conscious about not disappointing outside instructors like teachers etc. I may try to leverage that.

The good part is that he really has no obvious fear of the water. He enjoys the swimming splashing etc. I just want to ensure that we get him to a level of proficiency that I can be comfortable/confident in his abilities. Thanks for the ideas.