FAQs

YES! If your child is walking, they will learn to swim, not in the way that Michael Phelps does but in a way that will make most people say, “Wow, that kid is a fish!” Children older than 1 year old (who are walking well) 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. After resting and breathing, they will flip over and continue to swim to the nearest point of safety. A child can perform this swim-float-swim sequence to reach safety in a survival situation. Children can also perform this sequence in their clothes. If a child does not see a way out of her predicament, they will roll over onto their back and maintain a back float position. This buys the parent time in the event of an accident. This same sequence is most often used for fun at the pool. The confidence and self-esteem of these young swimmers is truly amazing!

If your child is not yet walking (usually 6-12 months old), they will learn the basic survival skill of rollback-to-float. The rollback-to-float is mostly for emergency management in the event they get into the water alone. While it sometimes does not seem as glamorous or fun as swimming, it is so incredibly necessary for those children who spend a lot of time near a pool, pond or lake.

If your child learns to float this year, they will come back next year to master the swim-float-swim, and they will probably be better prepared (and safer) for it. Then, the real fun can begin!

At Starfish Infant Aquatics, all initial lessons are one-on-one, with only the instructor and the child in the pool, because we believe your child deserves our undivided attention. The parent or caregivers cheer on the child poolside. Until the last week of lessons, all of the child’s lessons will be in a swim diaper/swim suit. When both the instructor and the parent feel confident in the child’s skills, we will have your child swim in both summer and winter clothes to ensure they can complete their “aquatic problem solving skills” fully clothed. Most aquatic accidents happen when a child is clothed, and while we hope this never happens, we want our swimmers to encounter this in a controlled lesson environment first where we can help them make necessary adjustments as needed.

On the last day of lessons, everyone is back in a swim diaper/bathing suit. For swim-float-swimmers, we like to get parents in the pool to make sure the child will swim, rollback and float for them.

We encourage kids who have "graduated" from their initial lessons to keep their skills and confidence growing with weekly progression lessons. Like so many other skills, swimming is best learned and retained with consistent practice.

YES! We are dedicated to safety and maintain numerous safety protocols to promote safe lessons. Your child's health and well-being are closely monitored on a daily basis. In addition, your child's medical and developmental history is a mandatory part my registration process, all of which is held strictly confidential.

We can adjust lessons to accommodate for many conditions as long as we know about them. If at any time we do not feel that we can provide safe lessons, we reserve the right to stop lessons. We also may at any time request a physician’s note approving your child to continue participation in lessons.

Consider these additional points:

· No child is ever thrown into the pool.

· We will monitor your child for temperature and muscular fatigue, as well as physical and psychological well-being.

· Your child's daily routines outside of lessons hold valuable data for us. You will receive instruction on how to communicate this information to us.

All of our initial lessons are 10 minutes/day, 4 days per week (M/T/W/Th) for 6 weeks. The reason for the brief lessons are multi-faceted:

1. Safety: Since all lessons are one-on-one, your child will be very tired at the end of each lesson (perhaps before, in which case their lesson may be shorter than 10 minutes on some days). Infants and young children have a more delicate physiology than adults, and we want to make sure the lessons that are intended to make them safer around the water are themselves not unsafe.

2. Short attention spans: The short lesson help us capitalize on the brief attention spans of young children and maximize their time for learning.

3. Better learning and retention of skills: Research shows that motor skills like walking, running and swimming are best learned in short, intense periods of practice over a long period of time. So not only will your child learn the swim and float better initially because of the lesson format, they’re more likely to retain the muscle memory long after lessons are over if they need to use their skills again before coming back for maintenance or refresher lessons (see below for "further lessons").

Through our Infant Aquatics® certifications, we’ve been trained to teach young children to swim by honoring each child's individual strengths and experiences. We understand the fundamentals of the behavioral sciences, child development and of sensorimotor learning as it relates to the acquisition of aquatic survival skills. We use this education to guide each child through the sequence of learning to swim and float.

Parents enroll their children in Starfish Infant Aquatics because they understand their children's abilities and want to give them every opportunity to learn. They also feel it is important to teach their children how to survive by resting and breathing should they ever find themselves alone in the water. Research shows that there are better times to learn certain skills, and swimming is best learned early in life.

It takes incredible concentration and objectivity to teach a very young child how to respond to an aquatic emergency, and research shows that parents often find it too difficult to be objective to be effective teachers with their own children in the water. This is even true with survival swim instructors and their own children. However, we do get parents in 1-2 times over the session to teach them how to swim safely with their own children.

We teach children to have a healthy respect for the water in addition to swimming in it. There is an important difference between being fearful and being apprehensive because you are not yet skilled in a dangerous environment. These are not like traditional swim lessons; it is a drowning prevention program that teaches survival swimming. 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 sitting in a car seat, because you know they are important. The same can be said for survival swim lessons.

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.

When you learn about survival swim lessons, you know this is the most important level of protection you can give your child to prevent drowning. If fences, supervision, and alarms fail, your child's skill level in the water is an additional layer of protection.

Every child is different; however, many parents report that once their young children have mastered learning to swim, the resulting confidence in the abilities engenders a positive self-concept that is often demonstrated in other aspects of their personalities.

Breath holding skills are taught in the first lesson, as it the foundation for all swimming skills. We shape breath control using highly effective positive reinforcement techniques.

Flotation devices (e.g., "puddle jumpers," arm bands, etc.) give children a false sense of security and hold them in postures that are incompatible with swimming skills. If a child learns that he can jump in the water and go into a vertical posture and he will be able to breathe, he is getting the wrong idea about that environment. Children who cannot swim should not learn that it is safe to play in the water while relying on a crutch. Coast Guard-approved life jackets must be worn in a boat or around the water when there is the potential for accidental submersion, but they are not a substitute for the ability to swim or for adult supervision.

Once kids have learned to roll over and float when they need air, they don't need to perceive danger in order to safely respond to being under water. They need skill, practice and confidence to calmly deal with the situation.

We recommend that you bring your child back for 1:1 or small-group progression lessons at Starfish Infant Aquatics. Frequency depends on the child's age, growth rate, skill level and confidence level. The goal of maintenance lessons is to help your child adjust their new body size and weight to their existing skill level. We will work with your child to help fine-tune his aquatic experience to assist with building efficiency, which will result in self-confidence. This is especially important if your child is not able to practice any appropriate aquatic skill between seasons. Maintenance 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!