Why Toddler Swim Lessons Are So Vital

By Chris DeJong, Founder & President, Big Blue Swim School

My mother enrolled me in swim classes once I was 5 years outdated. I’ll be trustworthy with you—my first lesson didn’t go properly. The pool was chilly and echoey, the category was crowded, and I used to be scared. I went residence not wanting to return.

But I did return. And someplace in these early classes, one thing shifted. I ended being afraid of the water and began feeling at residence in it. By the time I used to be eight years outdated, I used to be competing. By the time I used to be in school on the University of Michigan, I used to be on the U.S. National Team.

Swimming gave me a lot greater than strokes and velocity. It gave me self-discipline. It gave me drive. And above all, it gave me confidence—the type of confidence that begins when you find yourself very younger, in a pool, doing one thing arduous, and discovering you could.

That is what I’ve spent the final decade constructing at Big Blue Swim School. And it begins with toddlers.

Why Start Early?

People generally elevate an eyebrow once I inform them we begin swim classes at three months outdated. But there’s nothing arbitrary about that quantity. The earlier a baby is launched to the water in a optimistic, supportive surroundings, the extra pure it turns into. Comfort within the water shouldn’t be one thing you’re born with. It is one thing you construct. And the most effective time to construct it’s earlier than worry has an opportunity to take root.

I used to be fortunate. Even although my first lesson scared me, I had a mother who stored bringing me again and a instructor who helped me discover my footing. Not each youngster will get that second likelihood. Some children have one dangerous expertise and spend the remainder of their lives anxious round water. We can change that. Starting early, with the best strategy, we virtually at all times do.

Confidence Is the Real Lesson

When dad and mom ask me what their toddler will be taught in swim classes, they count on me to speak about kicks and strokes. And sure, these issues matter. But they don’t seem to be an important factor we educate.

The most essential factor we educate is confidence.

When a toddler pushes off the wall and makes it to the opposite aspect for the primary time, one thing occurs in that youngster that goes approach past swimming. They be taught that they’re succesful. That arduous issues will be achieved. This lesson doesn’t keep within the pool. It follows them into each classroom, each sports activities staff, each problem they are going to ever face.

I’ve stated it many occasions: I won’t have made it to the Olympics, however swimming nonetheless gave me the boldness to start out my very own enterprise. To construct one thing from nothing. To hold going when it was arduous. That is one thing nobody can take away from me. And it’s one thing each youngster deserves.

Safety Is Not Optional

Water security shouldn’t be an summary idea. It’s a reality of life.

Per the CDC, drowning is among the main causes of unintentional dying in younger youngsters. That is a reality, and I by no means draw back from it. But right here is the opposite reality: it’s largely preventable. A baby who is aware of the way to transfer towards security, the way to float, the way to keep calm within the water is a baby whose dad and mom can breathe a bit simpler at each pool social gathering, each seashore journey, each yard barbecue with a physique of water close by.

Swimming is a lifesaving ability. And the most effective time to be taught a lifesaving ability is earlier than you ever want it.

What We Do Differently

When I began instructing swim classes, I knew what I wished each youngster to really feel once they bought out of that water: succesful. Excited. Ready to return again.

That continues to be the usual at each Big Blue Swim School immediately. Our instructors undergo 100 hours of coaching earlier than they ever educate a lesson on their very own. Our courses are small, so each youngster will get actual consideration. Our strategy is constructed round assembly every youngster precisely the place they’re, constructing consolation first, then confidence, then ability.

A Note to Parents Who Are on the Fence

I perceive the temptation to attend. Life is busy. Toddlers are a handful. Getting everybody out the door and into swimsuits shouldn’t be at all times the trail of least resistance.

But I take into consideration my mother, who stored bringing me again to the pool even after that first chilly, scary lesson. She had no concept she was elevating a five-time nationwide champion. She was only a mother who knew her child wanted to be taught to swim. That resolution, made early, modified the complete course of my life.

Your youngster will in all probability not find yourself racing on the Olympic Trials. That shouldn’t be the purpose. The level is that each youngster who learns to swim early positive factors one thing that stays with them endlessly: consolation within the water, security round it, and the deep-down information that they’ll do arduous issues.

That is value getting out the door for. We will take it from there.

Ready to get began? Sign up immediately and let’s construct one thing nice, one stroke at a time.