When I was seven years old, I had a near drowning experience. I still vividly remember the moment where I was sitting on the bottom of a friend’s pool, looking up at the surface. I still don’t know why my brain didn’t tell my legs to push up off the floor of the pool, but I was seven, so that level of brain development just hadn’t happened yet. This experience has colored my view of water play since then. I did eventually learn to swim and can at least successfully keep myself afloat with basic swim strokes.
You can imagine my vigilance when my girls want to participate in water play. I have no chill at the pool when there are kids in the water. But I do not want my experience and fear to be passed on to my girls, so I’ve chosen to pay for swim lessons each summer for my girls to ensure that they are capable, confident swimmers before adulthood! Viv even did a season of swim team which exponentially improved her all around swim skills.
For the last two weeks, our family has been doing the dance of swim lessons. We pack all the suits the night before, plan meals that can be made ahead and reheated or are super-fast, and high-tail it to the pool after work to take advantage of the window before dinner/bedtime routine when both littles can benefit from lessons. Eloise enjoyed Starfish Parent Participation lessons with Brian (and sometimes me) while Evelyn was in the Polliwog beginners class for ages 3+.
I am proud to say that both girls made progress toward the LONG-TERM goal. The instructor for Starfish encouraged dunking as a game, though was very clear that in the 30-minute lesson, parents should only have their babies go underwater three times. This is a safety measure and I’m grateful for the added protection of teaching my kids to swim with certified instructors! Eloise loved jumping to daddy from the side of the pool, enjoyed watching HIM go underwater “gunk daddy!” over and over, and showed some improvement in understanding how to move her feet effectively for swimming. If you are on the fence about swim lessons for a toddler, in my experience, it creates a wonderful foundation of comfortability and play while also introducing very age-appropriate skills.
*Disclosure: We only recommend products that we would use and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission from.
Polliwogs class (age 3 – 5) is a bit of a mixed bag. The student to instructor ratio is typically 2:1 for everyone’s safety, but it’s a tricky age for encouraging participation and following directions. I was there watching from the sidelines for every lesson, hoping it would be a positive experience. (I remember taking my oldest to swim at this age and there were a lot of tears). Some days went better than others, but all-in-all, I am really happy with the progress Evelyn made! She is most comfortable with her goggles on (I don’t blame her!) and is still working on laying her head back in the water for back floats. We went in the spa last night as a family and she did so many bobs of her own volition! Seeing her sense of accomplishment, her improved comfort level, and excitement to keep learning to swim is such a relief to me.
I also have to say, I really appreciate how confident, calm, and comfortable Brian is around water. His parents taught him to swim at 18 months because they could not keep him out of their pool! He spent many summers of his childhood on swim team and his experience was essentially the opposite of mine. I am so grateful. The girls can sense his calm, and enjoy his willingness to be dunked endlessly. (I’d rather keep my head above water at all times!)
If you are looking for reasonable swim lessons, check out your local parks & rec. If there is a community pool in your area, they typically have an aquatics program and reasonably priced swim lessons.
