Choosing The Right Swim Lessons for Your Child

It’s almost Summer time, so you know what that means… Time to start thinking about swim lessons for your little ones or for yourself!

Swimming is not only a life skill, it’s a life-SAVING skill. Drowning is the leading cause of death in children under five and Arizona’s child drowning rate is 25 percent higher than the national average! This is such a heart breaking statistic because drowning is fully PREVENTABLE.

Choosing the right swim lesson program is very important and can mean the difference between life and death for your child.

So what do you need to look for in a swim lesson program?

1) A program that starts water acclimation as early as 3 months old, it’s not too soon to get them used to the water (and LOVING IT)!

2) A small instructor/student ratio, classes that are 4:1 or 6:1.

3) A program that teaches survival skills FIRST, then strokes. All children should be able to float on their backs and call for help. The back float is the ultimate survival skill. A child floating on their back is able to breathe and call for help. As students advance, this skill is also necessary if they get tired while swimming. Some bodies of water do not have an edge to swim to, or the edge is not easily accessible. Back floating is the best way to ensure safety.

4) Level progression based on your child’s swimming ability, not their age. We see no reason to hold a child back from progressing based solely on their age.

5) Swim Instructors that are trained as Swim Instructors. Lifeguards are not necessarily trained to teach swim lessons correctly.

6) A program where the instructors are IN THE WATER with the students.
Here at British Swim School- East Valley we offer all of these things and more in our classes! In fact, we also teach adapted classes for children and adults with disabilities.

Whether you’re looking for water acclimation and safety instruction for your toddler, your tween wants to learn to swim, or you want to brush up on your own swimming skills, British Swim School East Valley has the right class for you.

Ready to jump in? Call British Swim School East Valley today at (480) 725-9292 to enroll in our swimming classes. Classes are available to those located in Gilbert, Chandler, Mesa,Tempe, Ahwatukee and Queen Creek.