A lot of people have asked and even wondered at what age is my child ready to start swimming?
To be honest, the sooner the better, here at Patti’s Swim School we start our students as young as 5 months old in the Baby and Me class. We do this because we find that the sooner the student gets comfortable in the water the faster they will learn to be water safe. The Baby and Me class is broken down in a way that makes learning fun and exciting for you and your little ones.
We get your baby comfortable going underwater by doing dips from teacher to parents and vice versa. Babies will naturally start to close their eyes and their mouths when they see the water coming, this is not to say that they will never drink water but it will happen less and less as they start to spend more time in the pool.
The Baby and Me class also integrates the basic water safety skills needed in case your child falls into a pool by accident. For example we work on getting your child comfortable on their back as well as getting used to the motion of rolling front to back so that they can start to understand the process of needing to breath when inside the pool.
We also do drills where we will start to glide them from parent to wall so that we can teach them to reach up and grab. This way if they fall in or stray too far they have a better chance of being able to grab onto something so they can lift their heads out.
When choosing swim lessons for your young tot or toddler what is better, private lessons or baby and me? I believe that if it is your child’s first time in the swimming pool and they are between the ages of 5 months to 2 years then baby and me is a good way to go. This way they can get used to be being in the pool, having an instructor around but still have the comfort of having mom or dad near by. Once they are comfortable in the water and used to getting their face wet then it is time for private lessons.
Yes private lessons may seem expensive at first but they are well worth the money. Other swim schools will have baby and me classes and not let your child join regular lessons until they are three to four years old. Even then your child will be in a 4:1 ratio, where they get about 8 1/2 min of learning. Yes the classes are cheaper but in the end you will be spending more money because your child will be in lessons for much longer than you desired.
With private lessons your child will learn to be water safe much quicker and be able to perform the basic water safety skills need in case of emergencies.
Patti's Swim School 