What to Do During Your Child's Swim Lessons

Good Job! You have your child enrolled in swim lessons. Now, what should you do? While it is important to stay active in your child’s life and support their learning it sometimes helps to take a step back once they are comfortable and ready.

Children learn well from teachers in addition to parents, however not all children respond well to learning something new with their parents present. With a parent present it can bring up different types of behavior from your child so having a plan and sticking to it can help make swim lessons run smoother for you, your child and the instructor. Here are some tips to make the process smoother and ensure your swimmer has the best environment for learning.

A Hidden location

Sometimes children act out when taking instruction from a new adult when their child is in front of a parent or guardian. Remove yourself from the situation so that way, your child’s full focus is with the instructor. This will assist in their respect for the instructor as an authority figure.

Sunsational Swim School often asks their parents to take short video of their child while swimming to see the progress their child has made, this is also asked to be done where the child can’t see you. This prevents them from being distracted, but also from being embarrassed while the parent takes a short video. Parents can organize a cue from the instructor such as a “ready set go” or a thumbs up”.

Don’t be a distraction

While your child is in swim lessons at your private home pool, try and prevent any distractions from occurring that will take their attention away from their lesson. Before your child’s lesson has started, we recommend making sure that if there are any family dogs or other children playing in in the same area as the pool redirect their location away from the swim lesson.

If you are using your HOA or public pool location and this environment is unavoidable, try and keep other children at bay, or request lessons during a less crowded time of day that will ensure less distractions for your child.

Stay in the Know

Parents should always know how their child is doing in their lessons. Near the end of your child’s swim lesson, make sure to check in with the instructor and see how things are going. Use this opportunity to allow your child to show you what they have learned and see what your child’s instructor needs them to work on between lessons with you. Also make sure to ask the instructor about your child’s tracking sheet.