What questions should be asked when touring a swim school?
I want to get my son comfortable in the swimming pool before the summertime. (His grandpa and aunt both have pools at their homes; his grandma's development has a club house.)
- When visiting swim schools, what questions should I ask?
- Do people have any favorite locations?
- What are the usual requirements for non-potty trained swimmers with respect to bathing attire?
3 Answers
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We took our son to the indoor pool at Abilities United in Palo Alto, CA. I liked the fact that it's drop-in (you don't have to sign up and pay for a recurring class) and the fact that the classes were small, and the teachers were friendly. I also like the fact that it's an indoor space, which means it's a great activity for a rainy winter day like today. They charge $10 per drop-in class, and I think there's a 10% discount if you buy 10 classes.
In the "less than one year old" age group, I think there's not much more than "water play" classes, so I would just look for teacher(s) you like and who spend time with the kids on a 1-on-1 basis, and a format that you like. Usually they alternate between play + splashing songs and free play.
None of the kids in our class were potty trained, and Abilities United had a rule of "3 or more layers". We used a swim diaper covered by a waterproof diaper cover, covered by a regular swim suit. We never had any issues with the diapers, although we never had anything more than urination during pool time.
I think they have similar toddler classes at the pool at the Oshman Family JCC's pool. My wife is taking our 1yr old there tomorrow for their "Water Babies" class.
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You can ask about the water temperature, chemical levels etc. You can ask about the teacher's training and experience with babies and what a typical lesson looks like. I would also ask to see the locker room and check that there is enough room, changing tables etc. to change your baby (and yourself!) comfortably and efficiently.
We've brought our daughter to the Betty Wright swim center in Palo Alto (here: http://www.abilitiesunited.org/BWSCwelcome.html) since she was 4 months old (she's now 2.5 years old) and she loves it. They have drop-in parent-tot classes on Saturday mornings.
I've seen different bathing suit policies in different pools so make sure to ask about that too. At BWSC they have a "3-layer" policy (disposable swim diaper, plastic diaper cover and swim suit). At another pool they require a non-disposable swim diaper + swim suit.
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I took parent-baby classes at both the BWSC / Abilities United pool (as mentioned above) and at the Mountain View YMCA. The BWSC was fun & indoors and the pool was warm - there was circle time with songs (just like any non-water baby-parent play group), and toys, and encouragement on how to get comfortable in the water. Also, as mentioned, the program was drop-in.
The YMCA, in contrast, had an outdoor pool and I took a multi-week class in the summer-time. There was also circle time and songs and toys. There were also various flotation devices (which I don't remember being at BWSC?) It may be simply because my son was older by the time we went to the Y, but I was struck by there being more explicit instruction about learning to blow bubbles and start to do arm strokes - there was a goal / expectations it seemed for some mastery by the end of the class, and our son received a "Swims with the Big Fish!" certificate at the end.
We did the same 3-layer solution at the Y that we did at BWSC.
