FAQ

How long will it take for my child to learn how to swim? Back to FAQ ^

To begin with, we identify "knowing how to swim" in the following way: to be eager to want to go to the pool, to be able to jump in, get breaths independently, swim back to the side, hold onto the wall and climb out.

There are several important factors:

  1. Age and age appropriate size of the child
  2. Are there older siblings who swim?
  3. Attitude of parents
  4. Playtime
  5. The easiest age for us to teach a child is probably under three. There is no fear, a great willingness and enough physical ability.
  6. If the child has older siblings who enjoy swimming, the child will generally want to imitate the older sibling(s) and do what is necessary to speed up the learning process.
  7. Parents who have a love for swimming (or at least are not afraid themselves) will transfer their feelings to their child. Their honest moral support will help greatly.
  8. Most important is the playtime. The time the caregivers will spend playing with the child in the water; or at a later age – giving the child enough opportunity to play in the water – to experience the joy of achievement, of freedom of movement and becoming totally at home in the new element.

All of this will contribute greatly to the success of the learning process. As a parent we advise not to rush the process, but on the other hand not to procrastinate. Children older than three will have some fears that need to be addressed (and the older they get, the more fear they generally acquire, i.e., adults). A child also needs to learn that there are certain things in life that may not always be pleasant, but still need to be done. WE think, that learning how to swim will also teach a child a lot of other skills useful for their happy learning experiences in life.

A normal 1 ˝ - 2 ˝ year old should be able to get around the pool – breathing independently after 2-3 months with two lessons per week. Of course there are many variants. Some children will learn much faster while others will take longer. We like to treat each child individually and address each child’s needs independently.