Anonymous wrote:It's really interesting to see all the positive responses to Goldfish. We put DD in just before she turned two with the goal of 1) getting her out of the house regularly, and 2) getting her comfortable in the water. She went every week with her granny for about a year and a half, and we finally pulled her out when I asked how swim class went and she said "great!" but upon further questioning I learned she had never put her face in the water (this was confirmed with granny, not just relying on a 3.5 year old here). I wasn't expecting a butterfly stroke out of a preschooler but seriously, WTF.

In retrospect all she learned from Goldfish was flipper flipper fin fin to get out of the pool. In something like 80 weeks of "lessons"! I've had this conversation IRL with other parents and only heard "yeah that place is a waste of money" so it's strange that everyone here has kids that progressed so far and so fast with the same program.

You waited 1.5 years to ask how it was going?

That doesn't seem right though- DD only went through the Glider 1 level but I was there watching and she was putting her face in the water every week.

It's really interesting to see all the positive responses to Goldfish. We put DD in just before she turned two with the goal of 1) getting her out of the house regularly, and 2) getting her comfortable in the water. She went every week with her granny for about a year and a half, and we finally pulled her out when I asked how swim class went and she said "great!" but upon further questioning I learned she had never put her face in the water (this was confirmed with granny, not just relying on a 3.5 year old here). I wasn't expecting a butterfly stroke out of a preschooler but seriously, WTF.

In retrospect all she learned from Goldfish was flipper flipper fin fin to get out of the pool. In something like 80 weeks of "lessons"! I've had this conversation IRL with other parents and only heard "yeah that place is a waste of money" so it's strange that everyone here has kids that progressed so far and so fast with the same program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is ridiculously easy to teach kids to swim as long as you are consistent and frequently go to pool. Parents are just too lazy to get in the water

I think it’s easy to get your kid used to the water and comfortable in the water. It’s not easy for the average person to teach a kid to fully swim though.

It's easy for any swim class that has the kids in the water several times a week. Some community pools have 4 day a week swim lessons in the summer. If you can take the child to the pool another day, you are all set.

Agreed, I think it's way easier as a parent to be in a supporting role and helping them practice what they learned in lessons. There are certain skills, swimming being one of them, where my kids respond better when I am not their primary teacher.

We ended up enrolling my then 5yo at Goldfish during the pandemic when everything else was still closed and we were on the wait list for the summer community pool. It is expensive, but it served a purpose, and it was way better than the British swim school that we had tried previously. I also liked that it was continuous and they moved the kids up when ready. Started my younger DC at 3 and didn't keep them there as long before moving on to something else but having the continuity of the same lane and instructor, plus warm water, was helpful at that age. You can also schedule makeups and it's pretty straightforward to do on the app.

Registering for rec lessons was always stressful to me because there weren't as many options that fit our schedule and they would fill almost instantly, then you go through it all over again 6 weeks later.

Anonymous wrote: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.

My son also took regular weekly classes with Kids First for about two years and only progressed from level 1 to 3 during that time. After every session, they would tell us his back kick wasn't perfect so they couldn't move him to the next level. So for 2 years all he learned (or not even that) was kicking, no hands! Interestingly, one year into his swim lessons with Kids First, we signed him up for a summer swim team at our pool and he was already able to swim 15-20 ft in freestyle! It finally occurred to me that they only offer the first four basic levels, so none of their students ever learns to swim unless you enroll them in their very expensive private lessons. They keep their schedule on paper so that there is no transparency. If you sign up for private lessons, beware that you can only reschedule 1 out of 6 lessons in a session. They don't tell you that at sign up.

I wish I had realized this school was not a good choice sooner and didn't waste so much time and money driving there. We talked to another parent there and he was also pulling his kids out due to a similar experience.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many parents don’t even swim themselves.

This!

No way.

Anonymous wrote:Many parents don’t even swim themselves.

This!

Many parents don’t even swim themselves.

My kid was really scared of putting her face in the water so I think goldfish was great for getting her to just focus on that skill. Once she got over her dislike forgetting her face wet she became a pretty good swimmer

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is ridiculously easy to teach kids to swim as long as you are consistent and frequently go to pool. Parents are just too lazy to get in the water

I think it’s easy to get your kid used to the water and comfortable in the water. It’s not easy for the average person to teach a kid to fully swim though.

I guess it depends what you mean by fully swim. Any parent that is capable of swimming can teach their child to swim from one end of the pool to the other without floatation and to be comfortable swimming in the water. Perhaps any parent can’t teach the butterfly though.

Personally, I have always spent a ton of time with my kids in the water. However, we are playing in the water. My kids never wanted to work on strokes and breathing, etc. with me. That's great for comfort in the water and bonding, but not for actually learning water safety and how to effectively swim strokes.

We did small group swim lessons at lifetime and big blue. We tried one class at the fairfax county rec center and it was horrible. The class was huge, they had floaties on kids in the shallow end, and the water was so cold my small kid hated it. When my oldest was older we tried one of those butterfly and breaststroke clinic and the instructor failed to show up twice and the actually class was very poorly run. I think it's the same for most rec center classes--some instructors are really great and the kids make progress. Others are poorly run and are just too big to let the instructors work well with all the kids. I now have one club year round swimmer and one who will likely be ready for swim team this summer (he's 4/5 but can swim the 25m).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is ridiculously easy to teach kids to swim as long as you are consistent and frequently go to pool. Parents are just too lazy to get in the water

I think it’s easy to get your kid used to the water and comfortable in the water. It’s not easy for the average person to teach a kid to fully swim though.

It's easy for any swim class that has the kids in the water several times a week. Some community pools have 4 day a week swim lessons in the summer. If you can take the child to the pool another day, you are all set.

Anonymous wrote:It is ridiculously easy to teach kids to swim as long as you are consistent and frequently go to pool. Parents are just too lazy to get in the water

I think it’s easy to get your kid used to the water and comfortable in the water. It’s not easy for the average person to teach a kid to fully swim though.

Kids first swim school is excellent too! They have the warm water year round and multiple changing stations. They keep it super clean. It’s a real hidden gem.

Anonymous wrote:It is ridiculously easy to teach kids to swim as long as you are consistent and frequently go to pool. Parents are just too lazy to get in the water

Agree for most kids. But there are some outliers that have sensory issues and such that may do better with something like Goldfish