PA
I am currently located at The Athletic Club of York offering afternoon lessons. Members and Non-Members are welcome . Member will receive a $5 a week discount.
I am also located at Kids First swim School
MD
I am also located at Coppermine Heath and fitness in Timonium MD. Lessons are available to both members and non-members with a $10 discount for members.
Lessons are attended 4 days a week, Monday through Thursday, and each lesson lasts no longer than 12 min each day for approximately 6 weeks.
The consistency of daily lessons is critical for learning efficiency. These are NOT traditional swim lessons! We are teaching highly specialized skills and it is very important to attend class every day. If you cannot commit to this schedule, you may not register until you are sure you can.
The Swim Safe program is for infants and children aged 6 months and up, but really there is no upper age limit! Older children are just more likely to learn in a shorter period and can move on to strokes when ready. On the younger end, he or she must be 6 months AND must be able to sit in an upright position independently.
Absolutely! We teach children to have a healthy respect for the water, and we work in very small increments each day. We present children with small achievable tasks and always set them up to succeed. They learn to trust their skills, and in turn, they gain an incredible amount of confidence in the water.
Lesson price varies by location. Please see the tab for the state you are looking for lessons.
All students will have to pay a one-time registration fee to Swim Safe. This goes directly to Swim Safe(NOT your instructor) to cover the medical background check that you complete online when you register for classes. Swim Safe reviews all the information in full to ensure your child can safely participate in lessons. One example that might prevent your child from being trained by a Swim Safe Instructor is a history of seizures. Registration links will be sent out approximately 2 weeks prior to the start of lessons at which time you will pay the fee.
In some cases we may able to spread you payments out over the coarse of some additional weeks. For example if you are supposed to start lessons in 4 weeks we can divide your payment over 10 weeks versus 6 weeks. This is based on financial need and you may be required to fill out paperwork to confirm your income.
We want everyone to have the opportunity to experience these lessons if they want them for their child. We understand that the lessons can be expensive but if you look at what you would spend over the coarse of year with another swim program it is actually less expensive. Also consider most traditional swim programs have no real end in site. I have had parents ask for money for swim lessons as birthday and Christmas gifts. Especially when your little one is younger and they already have too many toys. For some families it may mean not eating out 1 less day a week. I have never had a family regret doing these lessons or thought it was a waist of money.
Great question! Your children will learn life saving skills that traditional lessons do not provide. If you are looking for a swim class that focuses on socialization and play rather than safety and survival, you might consider traditional swim lessons. 1. Swim Safe teaches your children to SWIM. Your child will learn to swim with his/her face in the water, they will be independent swimmers who are able to float when they need air. Many parents come to us after spending hundreds of dollars on traditional “swim” programs frustrated because their child doesn’t have any discernible skills after weeks, months, or even years of lessons. 2. You do not need to enroll your children into swim lessons summer after summer, year after year. Once they learn these skills, they have them forever. With maintenance and refresher lessons, they will retain their skills indefinitely. You end up spending more money over time on traditional lessons that are taught by former high school swimmers or college students trying to make some spending money over the summer. Speaking of teaching credentials… 3. Every Swim Safe instructor undergoes 8 weeks of intense training. Hands on, in the pool with a Swim Safe Master Instructor and students, learning the Swim Safe method. For 8 weeks, we are in the pool 4x per week for several hours a day, for a minimum of 60 hours with ACTUAL students. In addition, we receive extensive hours of academic training in anatomy, physiology, child psychology, behavior and development, sensorimotor learning, and how each relates to the aquatic environment. Every instructor also maintains CPR and First Aid certifications, as well as annual recertification and testing to maintain our Swim Safe certification and skills.
Lastly, if you add up what you’d spend in a traditional swim program for a few weeks during the summer – where he leaves the class with little to no skills – and then multiply that by every summer until he is 6 years old, this program costs significantly less and the value is infinitely greater.
Once your child completes the session, he/she is fully skilled to survive an aquatic emergency and in most cases has a successful rollback-to-float or swim-float-swim sequence. Despite being skilled, there is no substitute for adult supervision and parents should still employ layers of protection- pool fences, pool alarms, door alarms, etc.
Maintenance lessons are suggested for most students at a cadence of 1 time per week no less than 2-3 lessons per month. I consider swimming lessons like any other sport and you will not grow and get better if you just stop once a skill has been learned. You don’t quit soccer once you learn to kick a ball and learn the rules. You will not get any better at that sport. My students who do the best come on a regular basis and grow leaps and bounds.
Refresher Lessons are highly recommended every 3-6 months to adjust your child's skills to their growing bodyif you are not maintaining maintenance lessons. In most cases refresher lessons are not needed if you come for maintenance on a regular basis.
Once your child is around 4-5 years of age we can transition to a swim instructor who can take their skills further....learning stroke, swim mechanics etc. should we determine they are ready and their self-rescue skills are not at risk of being lost by doing so!
Some children cry the first few lessons due to anxiety. He is in a new building with a pool they have never been to being handed into the water to a stranger - it's normal for them to be wary of the situation! It's important for us to teach your child to trust his/her instructor and eventually to trust the water. Many kids can't wait to come to lessons by the end of the first week!
Remember, fear is a learned behavior. We didn't come out of the womb afraid of spiders or water or large dogs. When someone has a negative experience that involves the fearful object or experience, fear is developed. Your child will only truly be fearful of the water if he or she has witnessed or experienced a traumatic aquatic event.
Swim Safe might not be the right fit for your family. Parents who have lost a child to drowning will tell you they'd give everything to hear their child cry again. Accidents happen to everyone. If it makes you uncomfortable to hear your child cry, think about what it would feel like to never have the opportunity to hear them at all. And more importantly, remember some of the reasons children cry...
- They are in a new environment
- They are doing something they don't want to do
- They may have to eat something they don't want to eat
- They are hurt
- They may even be over stimulated
Here is the registration process.
Read through all the info on the website, please, including any FAQ's you may have.
1. Select the tab for the closest location to you. Once you have read through pricing you can select the link "Select a time".
2. Once selected you may have a few options to select from. If you are a brand new student or returning after learning a rollback to float, you will select The Self-Rescue button. If you are looking for Maintence (once a week) lessons, click the Maintenance button. If you are needing Refresher (2-3 weeks 4 days a week) Lessons please click on the Refresher button.
3. Once you select a time you will receive and email with addtional instructions for your deposit. There is a non-refundable deposit required (equal to 2 weeks payment) in order to hold your spot. This deposit is due with-in 24 hours of scheduling your time via Venmo or Zelle or Apple Pay.
4. You will receive an email approximately 2 weeks before the start of lessons to register with your child. We cannot begin lessons if you do not register with Swim Safe. I suggest completing the registration with-in a couple of days of receiving my email to allow plenty of time to review the information. The registration had to be approved before we can begin.