Discover the Difference!
Swim Safe Now® teaches specialized swimming and water safety techniques that build a solid foundation for a lifetime of safety & fun in the water!
Our lessons are based in behavioral science, utilizing sensori-motor learning, schedules of reinforcement, positive reinforcement & operant conditioning in our one-on-one individualized lessons for each child.
We teach how your child learns! Each lesson is individualized to your child’s unique abilities and skill level and it is very important to us that our students develop both competence AND confidence so that they learn to SWIM, SURVIVE and safely ENJOY the water.
Our one-on-one instruction allows your child to be able to develop their swimming skills to the fullest age-appropriate physical ability.
Testimonials
“I once again want to express how grateful I am to you for teaching my boys to swim, especially fully clothed! K fell into the pool a few minutes ago with pants, long sleeves, socks and sneakers. He swam out with no issues. Those skills you taught him kicked in right away! THANK YOU!
~Proud Swim Safe Now Parent
Swim Safe Now® Lessons are completely customized to the unique physical, emotional and developmental needs of each child. While all of our students will learn the same set of swimming and survival skills initially, our highly trained Instructors will customize each lesson for each of our students in order to provide the highest quality lesson experience possible!
We begin by teaching all of our students proper breath control along with age and developmentally appropriate survival swim techniques. Infants as young as 6 months old and crawling learn to rotate into a backfloat position and remain floating until they can be picked up. Children over the age of 1 and walking learn to swim, rotate into a backfloat to rest and breathe and continue the swim-float-swim sequence until they reach the side of the pool and how to remain in a backfloat in the event that a point of safety cannot be reached.
As skills are mastered, our students are given the opportunity to practice these skills in a variety of simulated fall-in scenerios, both in a bathing suit as well as different types of clothing since most accidents happen during non-swim times when children are fully clothed. Our students learn to make the necessary adjustments for swimming in as many different conditions as possible.
Parents also participate in lessons after students are confident and comfortable with their skills so that they can play and practice effectively at home and continue to build on the skills they learn in lessons.
After initial lessons are completed, students return periodically to make sure their skills grow with them. Children grow at a rapid pace, causing their center of gravity to constantly shift and their skills will need adjusting. Some parents opt to have their children participate in maintenance lessons anywhere from once or twice per week to once a month. Others return as needed for a week or two of refresher lessons, typically once or twice a year.
As Survival Skills are mastered, recreational skills are introduced (#skillsbeforethrills). Our students enjoy learning how to safely jump in and swim back and forth to parents and back to the wall or stairs, dive for toys, shallow water diving, swimming through hoops, pool float safety (jumping off and pushing it away so they don’t get stuck underneath) and more. As they become age and developmentally ready, basic strokes are introduced.
We strive to provide the most well-rounded swim and survival program available, incorporating aquatic skills first, and making sure our students are confident and comfortable using their skills to safely enjoy the water.
Infants can begin lessons as soon as they can crawl and are at least 6 months old. Infants in this age group are taught to roll back and maintain a backfloat position in the event of an accidental fall into the water. As skills are mastered, your instructor will invite you to participate in lessons and learn how to practice with your baby at home to maintain skills. You will also have the opportunity for your baby to practice skills in a diaper and different types of clothing since most aquatic accidents happen when you are least expecting it and children are fully clothed. As students become confident is their skills, the instructor will gently guide them through different types of simulated entries into the pool and taught how to use their skills in different situations. Students are never thrown into the pool and are carefully monitored for signs of fatigue or stress. The goal is for students to become skilled and confident, not fearful.
Teaching your infant to float takes approximately 6-8 weeks. Private 10 minutes lessons per day are held 4 days a week, Monday through Thursday.
If you own a hot tub, pool, boat, or just enjoy the water, we highly recommend Infant Rollback-to-Float training once your baby begins to crawl.
Children over the age of one year and have been walking for at least 6 weeks are taught to swim with their face in the water and when they sense the need for air, to rollback onto their back to float while they rest. After resting and breathing, they will roll over and continue to swim and then continue this sequence as many times as necessary until they reach a point of safety. Students are taught to stay and rest in a backfloat position if they become too tired and cannot reach a point of safety. These skills allow children to be independent in the water by teaching them how to safety rest and breathe as they learn to swim farther distances.
As students become confident is their skills, the instructor will gently guide them through different types of simulated entries into the pool and taught how to use their skills in different situations. Students are never thrown into the pool and are carefully monitored for signs of fatigue or stress. The goal is for students to become skilled and confident, not fearful.
As skills are mastered, your instructor will invite you to participate in lessons and learn how to practice with your child at home to maintain skills.
This skill set can be achieved in approximately 6-8 weeks for children 3 and under and children over the age of 4 often complete lessons even faster. Private 10-15 minutes lessons per day are held 4 days a week, Monday through Thursday. Everyone learns at a different pace and lessons are individualized to each child’s progress and abilities, so the exact number of lessons will vary.
Swim Safe Now Lessons are based in behavioral science, utilizing sensori-motor learning, schedules of reinforcement, positive reinforcement & operant conditioning in our one-on-one individualized lessons for each child.
Infants and young children learn new motor skills through consistency and repetition to build muscle memory, just as they learn to crawl and walk. Swimming and floating must be taught on a sensory motor level. Children do not learn from verbal instruction until after the age of 5.
Each lesson is individualized to your child’s age, unique abilities and skill level. Our lessons are based in behavioral science and are highly effective at any age and are specialized for beginners, typically ages 6 months to 6 years old. Our one-on-one instruction allows your child to be able to develop their swimming skills to the fullest age-appropriate physical ability.
Repetition and consistency are crucial and research shows that shorter, frequent lessons work best for young children to learn a new motor skill and build muscle memory. Swim Safe Now Lessons end on a performance based exit, meaning the lesson is ended on their best attempt at the skill we are working on, before they fatigue. That way, we begin the next lesson where we left off and build upon previously learned skills.
Even in warm water, children begin to experience temperature fatigue within around 8-15 minutes and performance begins to decline. This is just one reason why group or private longer lessons, once or twice per week are less successful for beginners and take much longer (years instead of weeks).
It takes incredible concentration and objectivity to teach children to swim and float independently and parents often find it too difficult to be objective to be effective teachers with their own children in the water. Your little one will be looking to you for reassurance and how he or she should react to lessons. Be a great cheerleader and project a positive attitude before, during and after lessons to help your child feel more comfortable.
As skills are mastered, you will be invited to get in the pool and participate in lessons to learn how to play and interact with your child in the water to help them maintain and develop their new aquatic skills.
There is an important difference between being fearful and being apprehensive because you are not yet skilled in a new environment. Swim Safe Now Lessons require hard work and most children are used to playing and doing what they want in the water. Your child may not happily skip to his or her lesson each day at first, but that’s okay. Sometimes as a parent, you make sure your child does things for his or her safety, like wearing a seat belt, because you know they are important. The same can be said for swim lessons.
As the lessons progress and your child becomes more skilled with each passing lesson, the emotions and feelings of uncertainty for both you and your child should be replaced by feelings of confidence for hard work and accomplishment.
Your Instructor has had extensive training in child development and is able to pick up cues and to be acutely aware of your child’s sensitivities to the lesson environment and to develop an individualized lesson plan. The goal is to develop a skilled and confident aquatic problem solver.
FUN can be defined as when SKILL meets CHALLENGE. Once competent in their skills, many children cannot be dragged away from the pool. They are having entirely too much FUN!
If you believe your child may have a special need that may affect lessons, please call to schedule an appointment to discuss your child’s individual needs prior to scheduling lessons. There will be a very detailed screening and clearances from any and all specialists that treat your children may be required prior to the start of lessons.
If you believe your child has any medical condition that might reasonably affect his/her safe participation in lessons, please explain the condition in your enrollment form and have your child’s physician provide a written clearance to swim before lessons begin. There will be a very detailed screening and clearances from any and all specialists that treat your children may be required prior to the start of lessons.
Children who have become accustomed to using devices like “floaties” or flotation swimsuits, Puddle Jumpers, vests, rings, etc, have become comfortable in a completely different posture in the water than what is required to learn to effectively swim and float. These devices hold the child up vertically in the water, while swimming and floating require a horizontal posture in the water. Thus, it’s not uncommon for children who have had this type of exposure to the water to need more lessons, rather than fewer.
While a Coast-Guard approved pfd is required for children to wear while boating and is a great safety measure in case of an accidental fall when around water , any use of flotation devices while swimming DURING the time your child is in enrolled in lessons will undermine and adversely affect your child’s success in lessons and will inevitably cause him or her to require additional lessons to master skills. If flotation devices are used AFTER completion of lessons, your child will likely revert to a vertical posture in the water, putting his or her skills at risk and requiring additional lessons to remediate. Please do not allow your child to use these devices (or discontinue use ASAP) and discuss with your instructor appropriate pool play activities that will encourage further development and not cause skill regression.
Be sure to test your Coast-Guard approved pfd regularly for correct fit and to make sure it will float your child safely before boating or open water activities.
While this is a well-intentioned attempt to get little swimmers to put their face in the water, it is actually an outdated and ineffective approach to learning to swim. Blowing bubbles teaches them to exhale before submersion. This dramatically decreases the amount of time a child can hold their breath underwater, increasing the likelihood of sinking, and taking in water as they try and inhale underwater.
There is a place within advanced swimming skills to learn to exhale within the stroke cycle, during arm recovery. This is developmentally appropriate for advanced swimmers over the age of 6, learning strokes.
Blowing air out of the lungs (our internal life preserver) is not appropriate during initial stages of learning proper swim postures and controlling buoyancy.
Proper breath control is the first thing we teach at Swim Safe Now, making sure our little students open their eyes, inhale, and hold their breath as they feel the water rise, prior to submersion. No blowing bubbles!
We recommend that you bring your child back for maintenance and/or refresher lessons. Frequency depends on the child’s age, growth rate, skill level and confidence level. The goal of refreshers is to help your child adjust his/her new body size and weight to his existing skill level. Your instructor will work with your child to help fine-tune his or her aquatic experience to assist with building efficiency which will result in self-confidence. This is especially important if you child has not been able to practice any appropriate aquatic skill between seasons. Refresher lessons are important because children change so much both cognitively and physically during the first 4-5 years of life. It is important that their aquatic skill and abilities grow with their bodies. Your instructor will help you develop a maintenance schedule for refresher classes to continually adjust and develop your child’s aquatic skills.
