I have been a competitive swimmer since I was about 4 years 
old. Basically, swimming is in my blood and the life-skill of swimming is something that I deeply value. I am first time parent to an adorable baby boy who is almost 6 months old. Now that he is almost 6 months old I am ready to sign him up for a Parent-N-Me class. My excitement for him to get into the pool is off the charts! I mean…I cannot wait to see that little guy in the water! However, I have to admit that I am a little nervous. What if he doesn’t like it? What if he cries the whole class? What if the class time I picked is going to be when he is too sleepy and has a royal meltdown?
For all you first time parents or maybe parents new to swim lessons, I did some research on what you can do to prepare you little one for their first swim lessons.
- Make Bath Time Fun: My son LOVES taking baths! I take this as a sign that he likes the feel of the water. I make sure to lay him on his back so that the water goes over his ears. Many children get into swim lessons and have trouble getting those back floats down because they don’t like the sensation of water in their ears. My suggestion is start them young and get them used to “listening to the fishes” in your tub. I am aware that he probably doesn’t understand what I am saying when I tell him to listen to the fish, but it gives me the hope that he is associating his ears under water as a good thing.
- Don’t Beat Yourself Up if Your Baby cries at lessons: Best case scenario your baby is going to love swim lessons! This is the mindset I am going in with before my son’s first lessons, however I am not going to beat myself up if he cries. Babies cry. They cry for a variety of reasons so I am not going to give up if he is less than pleased on our first lesson. Don’t be ashamed if this happens to you because I can guarantee that the other little ones in the class are going to cry or have cried at some point. The main thing is that you bring them back next week!
- Think of these lessons as another way to bond with your baby: What a cool memory to share with your baby about their first few months of lessons! I can’t think of a better feeling than knowing that you were with your baby as they were learning the life long skill of swimming---even if it feels like play time, you are investing in a skill that will last a lifetime. As a first time parent, you strive to do everything right but you learn quickly that it is pretty much impossible to be perfect. However, if there is one thing that you can’t mess up, is it providing your child with a skill that can save their life!
- Have No Fear, SafeSplash Is Here!: I am sure that you are like me, you want the best for your baby! I am sure that I worry about unnecessary thing when it comes to my baby but that is what mom’s do! When it comes to swim lessons, there are plenty of uncertainties but one thing that I am 110% confident in is that SafeSplash is going to take care of my child no matter what level they are in AND they are going to take care of me! When comparing SafeSplash and Swimtastic to other swim schools, their Parent-N-Me curriculum stands above the rest. If you have a swimmer over 3 check out their nifty “Find-A-Level” tool to see where your child should start.
Our first lesson is scheduled for the first week of February so make sure to check back in a couple of weeks to see how the class went—I am sure I will have lots of fun things to report!
Join us in the pool, register for lessons today!
