What Will My Child LEARN?
WHAT DO BABIES & TODDLERS IN THE 6-18+ Mths AGE GROUP LEARN?
Rollback to Float
- Proper breath control before, during, and after submersions
- Kicking to the surface
- Rotating from a face down position in the water to a face up position
- Maintaining an independent and stable float for at least 1 minute (often longer)
- Competently performing the check out procedures in a bathing suit AND clothing
Students swim 4 days a week
(Mon-Thu) and it usually takes 6-8 weeks for a normally developing child to learn these skills.
Some children may finish sooner and some may take longer. Each child will swim until deemed competent by the instructor. A child who completes these lessons as an infant or toddler will learn the correct posture for swimming early on, which will facilitate quicker learning of the next sequence, which is Swim-Float-Swim and usually begins when the child is 2 years of age.
WHAT DO TODDLERS & CHILDREN IN THE 2-6+ Yrs AGE GROUP LEARN?
Swim Float Swim
- Proper breath control before, during, and after submersions
- Independent swimming for 3-5 seconds in the proper horizontal position with face and eyes in the water
- Rolling onto the back to rest and breathe
- Flipping over when ready to swim again
- Continuing the Swim-Float-Swim sequence until they can reach an exit (wall, ladder, steps, bank, etc.)
- Maintaining an independent and stable float for at least 1 minute (often longer)
- Competently performing the check out procedures in a bathing suit AND clothing
Students swim 4 days a week
(Mon-Thu) for 10 minutes and it usually takes 6-8 weeks for a normally developing child to learn these skills.
Some children may finish sooner and some may take longer. Each child will swim until deemed competent by the instructor. Children who learn this sequence have an excellent foundation for the next step, which is stroke work, and usually begins when the child is between 5-6 years of age.
MAINTENANCE LESSONS
Why are they important?
Once your child has completed their initial sequence of lessons, getting into a regular maintenance lesson routine is extremely important! Maintenance lessons are designed to regularly practice your child's skills, allow the skills to grow along with your child's body, to keep your child's skills ready to use in the event of an aquatic emergency, and to prevent problems that may appear in your child's technique. Maintenance lessons may be scheduled once a week, every other week, or once a month.
- For students who have just finished a full course of lessons, students will come once a week for three or four weeks and then move to one lesson every 2-3 weeks. I do not suggest going any longer than 4 weeks between lessons.
- Regular maintenance lessons allow children the opportunity to expand their skills with swimming longer distances, jumping off the side, diving for toys, etc. all while still honoring the survival skills.
- If your skilled child has been longer than 4-6 weeks between lessons, a REFRESHER COURSE will need to be scheduled. A Refresher Course consists of daily lessons (M-Th) for 1-3 weeks depending on how quickly your child's skills are refreshed and stabilized.
86% of drownings happen when the child is fully clothed and it is a non-swimming time. We do not want an emergency to be the first time that your child experiences the changes that clothing brings to the skills. Therefore, during lessons, your child will practice these lifesaving skills in clothing to allow the instructor to teach, re-teach, and/or troubleshoot any difficulties in performing the skills.
