Swimmers can join our lessons starting at four months old. We believe learning swim skills early can teach children invaluable safety skills and help set the foundation for a healthy attitude about water. Starting lessons early can also help little ones develop a comfort and confidence in the water that will stick with them for years to come!
Children 4 months old and up have two different options for lessons: Parent Tot lessons or Private Lessons.
Our Parent Tot lessons are for children 4 months to 2.5 years old who are just starting out in the water. Mom, dad, or another responsible adult is in the water with their swimmer in this 30-minute group lesson.
Children 4 months and older can also be in a private lesson. Private lessons are a great option for parents who don’t want to or can’t get into the water with their little ones. The swimmer will be one-on-one with an instructor and will have 20 minutes of lesson time.
In each lesson we will practice water exploration, safety skills, breath control, and water movement. We incorporate songs and games into lessons to help children feel safe while they discover the foundations of swimming.
Safety Skills
You might think that four months is too young to get your child in the water, but we practice safety skills in our lessons that children even as young as four months old can pick up.
We start our lessons with little ones by having swimmers sit by the edge of the pool and wait for permission to get in. We hope this will teach them to wait to be invited into a body of water and prevent them from going in by themselves.
Humpty Dumpty’s are an imitation of a child falling into a pool. Swimmers sit on the edge of the pool as we sing the Humpty Dumpty song. After your child falls in, we teach them to immediately return to the wall. Our hope is that if they were to ever fall into a pool unattended, their instinct would be to go to the wall and hold on.
Shoulder pillows are the introduction to the back float and will help set the foundation for swimmers to be able to float.
Bonding
Participating in parent tot lessons is a great opportunity for bonding with your child. Skin-to-skin contact strengthens the bond between you and your little one. When parents hold their baby in our warm water as we sing and play games, bonding occurs. You are physically connected to your child and they are learning water confidence and skills. Parent tot lessons give you the chance to have this skin-to-skin contact.
Tactile System and Spatial Awareness
In addition to the safety skills your little one will learn and the bonding opportunity you have, participating in swim lessons from an early age can help children with their tactile system and spatial awareness.
Swim lessons allow children to experience water through touch. Movements such as splashing, moving toys through the water, and feeling the water touch their toes, ears, and face, all help with the growth of neural pathways and connections in a child’s brain.
Some of the activities we do in lessons that help your child develop spatial awareness include letting them move hand-to-hand around the walls of the pool, climbing in and out of the pool, and practicing floating on their back. Good spatial awareness is often linked to artistic creativity and success in math and is critical in the development of abstract thought.
There are so many benefits to starting your child in lessons early! You can join our lessons at any time. Lessons are ongoing and year round, so you don’t have to wait for a special session or the first of the month to start. You come to lessons each week for as long as you’d like.
Watch our Parent Tot video below to learn more and see if this class is right for you!