Raising children can be hard work, but it’s the most important job you’ll ever do. At Goldfish Swim School, we’re proud to be on your parenting team, even if just for a small portion of your week.

Many of us are parents and we know how difficult it is to cram in all the little life lessons we want to impart on our children in the hustle and bustle of daily life. After all, we are raising tiny humans who need so much in a day and we all lead busy, active lives that make time one-on-one in short supply.

However, we know that swim lessons – or time spent in and around water – can facilitate easy conversations and an opening to discuss important life lessons with our children. And the best part is, your little guppies won’t even know you are giving them these gifts because they will be having so much fun splashing around in the water.

We call that a parenting win and we love that we can give this gift to families. It’s really something to celebrate!

So how do you impart these life lessons? Well, it’s easy. You just add WATER!

What life lessons can your children learn in and around the water? So many. Read on:

Sharing

At Goldfish Swim School, we offer classes with no more than a 4:1 student to teacher ratio. There are many reasons behind this plan and one of them is that it allows our students to learn to share. They share the teacher’s time and attention and sometimes, the equipment. They also learn to share the pool or share a lane. Even the youngest swimmers learn the value of sharing during lessons.

If you want to take it a step further, the next time you are at the pool or beach with your children, take a minute to encourage the sharing of sand toys, pool toys or things like snacks and drinks.

Patience

Patience can be a hard thing for little kids to learn – and demonstrate – but there’s no better place than the pool or lake to learn it. We demonstrate patience during lessons when our staff uses integrity, compassion and trust to give personal attention to a child in a group lesson.

On your own, you can encourage patience by enforcing swimming breaks to give your kids a chance to refuel and rehydrate.

Persistence

How many times have you thought to yourself: Am I raising kids with persistence? Am I raising kids who work to achieve something without throwing in the towel?

If you have your children in swim lessons at Goldfish, you can rest assured that during their lessons, they are learning all about persistence by being encouraged by their teacher to work, work, work at a skill until it’s perfect. We love giving our swimmers the encouragement and rewards they need to keep trying time and again and we adore seeing that work pay off with extraordinary results.

At home, you can model this behavior by asking your children to show off all they’ve learned at Goldfish, asking them to demonstrate their skills over and over (and over!) again.

Confidence

We can’t tell you how many shy or sad little swimmers cross into our pool and in a such a short time blossom into confident kids who jump right into the water – and life. Swim lessons can really bring a reluctant hermit crab out of his or her shell by building confidence. We aren’t entirely sure what it is about the water that can inspire children to splash right into life, but we see it every single day. And it’s a golden experience each time.

At home, you can foster that confidence out of the water by talking with your children about their strengths and even weaknesses. Your words become their words and inner voice, so choose carefully.

Goal setting

This one is mainly for older children, but it is crucial to teach our children to set and achieve goals, so they become adults with ambition and drive. Swim lessons can facilitate this life lesson because every lesson is a new chance to set – and smash – a goal. Swimming an extra lap, treading water for an extra second or two or even perfecting that challenging stroke can all be goals your children can set and achieve in weekly lessons. And if they are in Swim Force https://www.goldfishswimschool.com/programs/swim-force/, there are even more goals to achieve – both in practice and in our quarterly swim meets.

At home, it’s easy to translate this new life skill. Encourage your children to set weekly or monthly goals for sports, school or even a hobby or activity and then watch them achieve greatness.

Goldfish Swim School

With Goldfish Swim School locations across the North America it’s easy to find your swimming home away from home. We also have benefits that even non-members can enjoy like family swim. Visit us today and check out our WOW! customer service for yourself.