Swimming Lessons and Vacation

Many of my students take swimming lessons to prepare for exciting upcoming vacations. Although every child’s situation is unique there are some common discussions I tend to have with parents about getting their child ready for vacation swimming so I thought I’d write a post about it.

I first realized there was a disconnect between parents understanding of their child’s ability in swimming lessons and when they are in a different pool on vacation.

I had one father return from a two week vacation in Hawaii saying he was confused. He thought his 4-year-old could swim. He watched his boy swim freestyle across his backyard pool turning his head to take breaths and flip over on to his back without my assistance. Yet when they went on vacation his son acted like he couldn’t swim at all.

As we talked I uncovered the following disconnects that helped the father understand what happened.

Remember the boy is FOUR-years-old. He was an exceptional swimmer for that age as I had been working with him for 2 years, BUT he is still ONLY FOUR YEARS OLD!

That leads into the next point. I asked the father how big the hotel pool was. He said it was HUGE.

I asked if it was a crowded pool. He said yes.

I asked him if he took the time to introduce his son to the pool, showing him how deep each section was and showing his son exactly what the safe zone was where he could stand. The father said No.

So I said, “Think about this situation from a 4-year-old’s perspective. This is a giant pool he is not familiar with. It’s super crowded and he might have the added stress of worrying about getting lost in this new place. His backyard pool is calm and quiet with just him, his sister playing in it most of the time. Now there is a lot of people, noise, splashing and waves. That’s a lot for a little 4-year-old to process and swim against. He was super nervous for all of those reasons. I’m not surprised he wanted to stay in the shallow end where he could stand for the first week. There is also a big time difference between Vegas and Hawaii so that throws off children and they are off their schedule. So that alone is a lot for children to process on top of the overwhelming new pool.

My advice for all my students’ parents when they go on vacation and are planning on swimming is to not be surprised if their child/ren are not as brave in a big, new, different pool as they are in swimming lessons. They are used to the swimming lesson pool. On day one I show them their safe zone. As they get to be better swimmers I show them how their safe zone has expanded, until finally one day they are safe in the entire pool. That is why they have so much more confidence in swimming lessons than in a vacation pool. Plus lessons are not crowded so they know they are safe.

When parents ask me “How many lessons does my child need?” I tell them I can’t answer that question. There are too many factors involved. But I would like to see them become STRONG swimmers, not just barely make it across the pool by themselves, and that is going to take several months or years depending on age and how many skills and how proficient the parents want their child/ren to become. I’ve taken students from not being able to put their face in all the way, to swim team years later. You want your child/ren to be strong swimmers so they can handle any swimming pool and any swimming situation on vacation.

When parents call me in a panic that they need me to quickly teach their child how to swim so they can enjoy swimming excursions on the upcoming vacation in a month or two I turn those parents away. Especially when they tell me they are too busy to take their child to a pool to practice in between lessons. They have unrealistic expectations as to just how much work and practice goes into learning how to swim. It’s like asking a piano teacher to get a child who doesn’t know how to play piano ready for a classical concert in a month or two. It’s not going to happen. A child will learn some skills, but they won’t be strong, confident swimmers and won’t enjoy it either. It just sets everyone up for misery and failure.

I can teach a student a lot in two months, but it takes the parents cooperation in taking the student to a pool in between lessons for them to practice those skills to maximize lesson time.

I also offer parents to bring their child’s life jacket to class before they leave on vacation so I can get their child comfortable using it and help parents understand when to use the life jacket. I always say, “Safety First!” If parents are not sure if they should use the life jacket then they should.