Swim Suit Purchase And Care
Salad Spinner. Get one of these.
I realized I needed to write this post after too many students showed up to classes in suits not “suitable” for swimming lessons. There are several reasons for this so read through the list to make sure your child dressed for swimming success all season long.
Boys suits need a string if possible to allow the suit to be as snug as possible around their waists. We do a lot of things in the pool that can cause their swim suits to slip down. They cannot swim, or learn to swim with one hand holding on to their swim suit. They cannot learn skills they refuse to do for fear that their swim suit will fall down.
Girls need suits that are designed so straps are not slipping down and the “blouse” doesn’t float up over their heads when they go under water. Snug around the waist is ideal. And I suggest just avoiding “spaghetti straps”. Tank top straps are usually just fine until the suit starts to stretch out.
Swim suits stretch out over time! No, your child is not losing weight. The swim suit is stretching out. That means it’s time to throw it out and get them a new one. What happens when the suit stretches out is it is going to fall off your child and its no longer protecting their skin from the sun. They are getting a mild sunburn under their swim suit.
If they wear a UV shirt, the shirt should be snug. Sleeves should not be floating around in the water and the waist should not be going over the student’s head. The neckline should not be stretched out either. Any signs at all that the shirt has stretched out means it is no longer protecting their skin. Plus it is getting in the way of their swimming.
Swim wear (suits, uv shirts, wet suits, etc) should NEVER be washed in a washing machine or dried in a drier! Swim wear should be rinsed in clean, cool, fresh water. If it needs any soap, use a soap for “delicates” and HAND WASH IN A SINK. Not delicate mode in the washing machine. HANG out to dry. Either outside or in the bathroom over the tub or in the shower. Not following these care rules will wear out the items much faster causing you to need to buy new ones faster or will simply destroy them immediately. I’ve had students cry because their parents put their favorite swim suits in the washer and drier which immediately destroyed their swim suit.
Many parents ask me WHY I have a SALAD SPINNER in my BATHROOM? Some parents do not ask me and just think I’m weird or I must like to eat salads in my bathroom. The reason why I have a salad spinner in my bathroom is because when I finish rinsing out my swim suit and UV shirt in cool, fresh water, I put it in the salad spinner to get as much water out of it as I can. It’s much more gentle on the fabric than squeezing and wringing it out to dry. It gets more water out faster and is a good arm workout. It’s also kind of fun. Your kids will enoy seeing how fast they can make their suits spin in the spinner. That’s what I do! It gets so much water out it doesn’t drip across the floor when I carry it over to hang it up to dry. And it dries significantly faster. If I am going to be out of the pool for a while I take off my swim suit. I hate putting on a wet swim suit so I have multiple suits I may wear on a single day. The faster my suits dry the more helpful it is.
It couldn’t hurt to have some STRONG safety pins in your swimming bag to pin loose swimsuits in a pinch. The kind you’d use for cloth diapers…not tiny ones. They won’t do any good.
