PediAquatics Swim School
of Citrus County
PediAquatics Swim School
of Citrus County
Certified infant Self rescue and Swim Lessons
The Basic Training
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- Every new student needs to start with the basic training which takes approximately 4-6 weeks or until complete. Older children may only take 1-4 weeks depending on the child and already acquired skills.
- Lessons are everyday Monday through Friday. (no weekends)
- lessons are one on one, with just your child and the instructor in the pool
- Each lesson is 10 minutes
- Your child will be learning to swim at a very fast rate so please commit and dedicate yourself to making sure your child comes to every lesson as it’s the repetition and consistency that makes these lessons so successful.
- Time slots: for basic training you will have the same time slot each day. You let me know what time of the day will work best for you and your childs schedule and I will let you know when that time slot or something close to it will be available. Keep in mind your child's eating and nap schedule when picking a time slot. Its best not to schedule to close to nap and it also needs to be 2-3 hours after eating. They will also need 4-6 weeks of uninterrupted lessons.
- Fun Fridays are where parents and family members (whoever spends most time swimming with the child) get a chance to get in the pool and learn how to work with your child’s skills. These Fridays generally take place on the first and last Fridays of the training period and are highly recommended.
Pricing and Hours/instructor
Shellie: Mid January-early November 1pm-7pm. $100/week/child plus a $25 registration fee/child. Shellie takes students from 14 months and up. Shellie is a newly certified instructor for PediAquatics and is doing wonderful.
Sarah: April- mid June 7:30am- 1pm. $150/week/child plus a $25 registration fee/child. Sarah takes students from 6 months (and crawling) and up. Sarah is a master instructor with 15 years experience.
Babies 6 - 18 months:
***Before Each Swimming Lesson***
***Very Important: No BIG meals, MILK, FORMULA, fruits, or meat 3 hours before
No eating 2 hours before (right before the 2 hour mark, dry food is best (crackers, toast, waffle, ect)
No drinking 1 hour before lessons.
During Swimming Lessons
- During basic training, your child will learn just the basic swimming and survival skills. After this is complete, your child will move right to the maintenance program at which point your child will learn how to swim faster, longer distance, gain more confidence, continue to keep their self rescue skills sharp and become an independent swimmer.
- Maintenance lessons are 1-2 times a week depending on age and the child. These lessons are $20. (See Maintenance Link on menu for scheduling)
- There is no point of putting your infant or younger child through the basic training if you are not going to continue with maintenance and yearly refreshers. This is not a one time course and your infant will know how to swim forever. Young children need continuous lessons to maintain their skills and confidence. If you swim regularly at home and learn the proper way to work with your child, it does cut back tremendously on the amount of lessons your child will need and will help them become an independent swimmer rapidly. Each new swim year, after your child has not swam for a few months they will seem scared of the water. This is because they remember what they use to be able to do but have lost the confidence to want to jump right in and pick up where they left off. Be patient, and not too pushy. Bring them back for a refresher so they can get their confidence and skills back and onto the next swim level. Do not just throw your child in to test their skills after months and months of not using them.
- Your child may or may not cry during lessons. This does not mean your child will not like the water outside of lessons, it simply means they either do not like being away from you, are nervous because they do not know what to expect, or they are having a hard time adjusting to what a lesson is, some kids are just so independent they get a little feisty when made to do something instead of doing what they want to do. They will still learn on the same pace as other children, and be able to do everything I am teaching them. Please be patient with the process. 90% of 3 year olds cry the first 2 days and then are jumping in , loving it and swimming half way across the pool on their 3rd lesson. Also 90% of the infants 1-2 years old that do cry during lessons, don't cry at all when mom or dad hops in on Friday. At that point they know how to swim and suddenly just start jumping in and want to do it over and over and then cry when their time is up.
- It really makes a big difference if you are able to swim outside of swim lessons during the basic training. Your child will be learning at a fast pace and deserves a chance to show off their skills and just have fun. Please plan to wait until after the first fun Friday to swim outside of lessons with your child so you know exactly how to work with them.
- It is very important that you do not make swimming at home work or like a lesson, please make it play and fun time only. I will show you on the first Friday you get in how to swim with your child at home. After the basic training i will show you the best way to 'work' with your child at home.
- Be sure that when you are talking to your child about the lessons, to always be positive, and never refer to lessons as being "scary" or in any other negative way. This will impact your child's perception of the lessons, and may make them feel more uncomfortable. Happy encouraging faces and proud comments after lessons make a big difference.
- It is also very important that your child no longer uses flotation devices in the pool or while swimming. This will mess up your childs form and make it harder to roll to a float.
PLEASE DO NOT ALLOW YOUR CHILD TO DEMONSTRATE THE “FLOAT OR ROLL OVER TECHNIQUE” OUTSIDE OF OUR SUPERVISION until I am confident that they can execute them properly. At that point I will tell you, but it normally comes after their clothes checkout. This is for their safety!!!
REFRESHERS
Once your child has gone some time without swimming, typically winter months, your child will most likely have lost their confidence to swim and roll to float and act very timid of the water. This happens usually all the way up to 6 years old. Of course some children are different, and never lose their confidence to swim, but they may still lose their skills of self rescuing in a panicked situation. So it is very important every year to do a one 1 to 4 week spring refresher prior to taking them swimming. Refreshers are everyday Monday –Friday and they will remaster what they knew and move on to the next level.
Video Recording and Pictures
I love when people post pictures and videos on FB or social media it really helps spread the word about these lessons! please feel free to post and please tag me (Sarah Dodge, so other parents can reach out to me for these lessons :) However, on occasion, videos and pictures have been taken during the learning process and posted on social media with no explanation (for example: a clothes checkout) then people viewing the post may get the wrong idea of my lessons or untrained individuals may attempt these techniques on children and possibly put that child in danger. In addition, some think the clothes checkout is the first lesson, because it is the only video one has ever posted of the lessons :( SO Please for me, explain your videos. Thank you!
I do have a few rules for videoing lessons:
- only a 1-2 minute video per lesson may be taken. you may not video the whole lesson. It is important to put your phone down and just watch and be supportive of your child.
- please be courteous and let me know when you are video recording
- no tripod set ups
- you may video the entire clothes checkout
IN NO WAY DO THESE LESSONS REPLACE ADULT SUPERVISION AROUND WATER!!
Please continue to keep your pool fence up, alarms on, and pool doors locked! No child is ever considered "drown-proof". Even with the skills they will acquire, they are still children and cannot guarantee survival if they were to fall into water.
TO SCHEDULE LESSONS OR GET MORE INFORMATION YOU MAY CALL or TEXT 352-586-6695 and I will try to get back to you within 48 hours.