Anonymous wrote:We had a better experience at Big Blue (formerly Tom Dolan Swim School).

This.

Anonymous wrote:not OP, now you make me wonder should I sign up my almost 6 year old that can't get his head in the face at all. He can't get his face wet when I wash his hair, and that is his level 0. We tried a bit of swimming before panademic at rec center, and he was not willing to go. How much is Goldfish a month? And, is he too old to join more younger kids at level 0 level?

Not at all too old. The classes are divided by age so he’d be in gliders 1 which is ages 5 and up.

Anonymous wrote:not OP, now you make me wonder should I sign up my almost 6 year old that can't get his head in the face at all. He can't get his face wet when I wash his hair, and that is his level 0. We tried a bit of swimming before panademic at rec center, and he was not willing to go. How much is Goldfish a month? And, is he too old to join more younger kids at level 0 level?

I saw two kids who had to be around 10 in the class that's just above the infant/toddler class. I don't think there's a cutoff. We haven't been in two years, but it was around $100 a month for classes once a week.

not OP, now you make me wonder should I sign up my almost 6 year old that can't get his head in the face at all. He can't get his face wet when I wash his hair, and that is his level 0. We tried a bit of swimming before panademic at rec center, and he was not willing to go. How much is Goldfish a month? And, is he too old to join more younger kids at level 0 level?

Highly recommend Goldfish. Our kids have been doing for years and people are shocked when they see our children in and around water. Worth the $$

Goldfish was wonderful with my DD. She passed all the levels and is a great swimmer thanks to their staff. The swim instructors make it fun, which keeps the kids engaged.

My daughter started weekly classes at Kids First when she was five. About a year and a half later, she'd only moved up two levels. They kept saying she needed to "perfect her kick" before they'd move on to the levels that taught strokes. When I realized that she couldn't even tread water, we switched to Goldfish. Within 3 months, she was treading water and able to freestyle 50 yards. By the time we left Goldfish two years later, she was in the swim force class and knew all of the strokes.

I love Goldfish. has been well worth the money for our family (3 kids)

Worth it IMO. My four-year-old no swimmer made it through Swim Force by 6 and a half and left to do summer swim and club swim.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if the goal is being able to swim, a rec center will get them there too. If the goal is club swim, a rec center followed by stroke school will get them there. If the goal is summer swim, the pool will end up teaching them how to swim as long as the meet the minimum standard for 6 year olds. I'd sure there is some outcome where goldfish is better, but for the majority of people it's an unnecessary expense

We originally planned to do lessons through the Rec center (which is what I did as a kid) but the scheduling was horrible. Very few slots that worked with our schedule and they basically all filled up on within an hour of becoming available. Then you have to go through the same crazy registration process all over again a few weeks later. That's how we ended up at Goldfish.

Same experience with Rec lessons. It’s not much more to use a swim school and so worth it. Rec lessons tend to be large, fill up crazy fast and are in big, cold pools often taught by teenagers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. Can't compare to other options but my kids both started there at three and are now good swimmers. I like the fact that their lessons are continuous and the pool is heated. They put four kids to a lane and seem to do a good job with the little ones.

How old are they now? How long did it take for them to swim well?

They were both in swim force by 6, so I'd say 2.5 to 3 years to progress through all the levels? That's with weekly lessons and no supplementation by us. We didn't belong to a pool at the time, so there was no outdoor swimming in the summer.

Anonymous wrote:if the goal is being able to swim, a rec center will get them there too. If the goal is club swim, a rec center followed by stroke school will get them there. If the goal is summer swim, the pool will end up teaching them how to swim as long as the meet the minimum standard for 6 year olds. I'd sure there is some outcome where goldfish is better, but for the majority of people it's an unnecessary expense

We originally planned to do lessons through the Rec center (which is what I did as a kid) but the scheduling was horrible. Very few slots that worked with our schedule and they basically all filled up on within an hour of becoming available. Then you have to go through the same crazy registration process all over again a few weeks later. That's how we ended up at Goldfish.

Anonymous wrote:if the goal is being able to swim, a rec center will get them there too. If the goal is club swim, a rec center followed by stroke school will get them there. If the goal is summer swim, the pool will end up teaching them how to swim as long as the meet the minimum standard for 6 year olds. I'd sure there is some outcome where goldfish is better, but for the majority of people it's an unnecessary expense

Oh. I guess I didn’t realize rec center lessons were free.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:if the goal is being able to swim, a rec center will get them there too. If the goal is club swim, a rec center followed by stroke school will get them there. If the goal is summer swim, the pool will end up teaching them how to swim as long as the meet the minimum standard for 6 year olds. I'd sure there is some outcome where goldfish is better, but for the majority of people it's an unnecessary expense

I really disagree with this. Swimming is the one activity where I push and start them young. Swim team is too large to teach them.
I’ve been happy with Swim Labs.

my kids are on a very large summer swim team. They did the toddler rec programs and joined the team when they were 6 and learned that way. They do club swim now

My kids would never have been able to meet the minimum standard to join without swim lessons. My 7 year old still can’t. I don’t think your advice applies to most/many kids.

our minimum is an unassisted 25 meter swim. A rec center will get a 6 year old to that point. We're a large NVSL team in division 2

I can tell you’re the same poster because you don’t use capital letters. Just because your child was able to, it doesn’t mean ALL children will be able to. I posted swim lessons were essential for MY CHILD and that is my opinion. Please stop telling me otherwise. I don’t care what division your team was. I have an older child who swam JOs AFTER she took swim lessons. I am not an inexperienced swim parent. Many toddlers and young children are fearful of the water.

We've done both Kids First and Goldfish. They felt basically the same to us. But after sending each of our kids there two years in a row we really felt like the benefit was getting the kids used to being in the water.

The classes would typically have 4-5 in an age group with one instructor, and the kids take turns with the instructor - so a lot of time is just sitting on the sides of the pool.