Educational, Active, Fun... Skills for Life!
Phone: 0421 631 624
Learn to Swim & Coaching services for all ages
Parent & Child Classes
Our Parent & Child program provides classes for students aged 6 months to 4 years. The Focus in these classes is taking advantage of the natural bond between parent and child to build happy learners, safer swimmers and more physically resilient kids. These classes are an important step in both the Parent and child's journey as we build happy, confident and respectful attitudes around the water which includes the parent being present to add an additional layer of protection. We actively engage the parents in their child's progress allowing both to understand their limitations and help parents build amazing learning moments for their child.
There is no need for an assessment for the Parent & Child Classes as these classes are broken into age-group progressions.
Parents are encouraged (and asked) to wear a rashie or a loose t-shirt in the water to give your child something to grab. Otherwise you may find you will lose some chest hair or have your bikini straps undone by accident!
Why start early?
Babies are learning everything in their first few years, what to trust, what to be scared of and how the world works. Early exposure to the water allows children to build water confidence through safe, happy memories about water at a time when their brain is already sorting the world into opportunities and dangers. leading to more confident children
The introduction and learning of a 'foreign' skill (like swimming) is a great bonding moment for any parent and child and the exercise leads to greater appreciation, trust and bonds between both.
University studies have shown that children who participate in structured parent and child swimming lessons are smarter and stronger by the time they reach school - (Griffith University - Early Years Swimming research report)
How the sessions are run
Classes are run with 1 instructor to a class of 6-8 adults and we have a 1:1 ratio (Parent:Child). Instructors engage both parent and child with a bit of showmanship to explain the activities to parents and provide the enthusiasm and engagement to the children.
We believe in building a respectful teaching process with students and don't believe in forced submersion/ practice. That being said we also encourage an adult led environment around water where certain elements are 'non-negotiable' and help the parent to identify SAFE teachable moments (when kids make mistakes and progress to learning how to do it differently).
We understand that children learn through repetition (they love knowing what is coming next) and we incorporate a mix of repetition and variation through each of our lessons. No two lessons are exactly the same, just like no two children are exactly the same.
Our philosophy
We believe that great teaching takes place when we build trust, excitement and an environment where students are ready to be challenged to achieve new outcomes.
Although our infants and toddlers can't understand everything, they are trying and we believe that all positive moments start with a child being engaged and aware that something is about to happen. We use and teach to parents a range of Physical and verbal cues.
We understand that children are, well.... children and don't always follow the plan. We structure our classes so that parents can easy step aside (in the class) and help little ones thorough any unhappy or protesting moments. The instructions are targeted to the parents to that they can pickup the activities and jump back in or practice later when the child is ready even if their child is not currently ready when we run that activity.
For each activity we offer variations for those students needing both additional support and additional challenge. Much of the progress for students is changing HOW they play or do an activity (swimming with different support).This means that we are able to help parents grade each activity up and down depending on the child's individual needs.
Children rarely learn and do at the same time often they will watch and learn the pattern (participating in their brain) but not be ready to try yet. Our instructors will help you to understand how to recognise that your little one is still 'learning'. We often have parents tell us that little johnny has mastered, this or that skill at home and are surprised when they only watch or are less confident once they get to classes, this is normal as the act of learning, watching others and doing all at once is sometimes too much for their brain to process all at the same time. The minute they are back in an environment with less things to learn though they take off and show you just how much they were paying attention.
