My kids received two free months of lessons and an ongoing discount in exchange for this post. Like always, all opinions are my own.

If you’ve been reading this blog, or know me at all, you know that I’m literally obsessive about my children’s safety. (I know, I know, I’m working on it, I swear.)

That said, there are some places where safety is a good thing, and the water is one of them. My parents live on a lake. I don’t care if my kids don’t become the next Michael Phelps, but I do want them to be drown-proofed as soon as humanly possible.

Enter: British Swim School.

Now, going in, I admit that BSS had the deck stacked against them. My kids had already started lessons at the gym that is two blocks away. (BSS’s nearest location was about a 20-minute drive). The gym also has childcare, so I can focus on one child at a time. Also, the gym is cheaper, so I knew I would have a hard time justifying the switch after my two free months were up.

But, determined to make the most of the two months we had, we geared up and went.

A fun start…

At first, my kids had an absolute blast. I saw them getting more confident, and having lots of fun as they became comfortable with submersion, jumping into the pool, and floating on their backs. Unlike our previous lessons, they really seemed to push my kids, and my kids seemed to be gaining a new skill every other week.

 

Nate amazed me a month in when he could jump into the pool by himself, and spin to his back with minimal help from his teacher. I was so excited, because I knew if he could just get to his back, he could keep himself safe until help could get to him.

Grace, similarly, was a little fish. She quickly learned the cues to hold her breath and was so anxious to get into the pool that every time I asked her if she wanted to go swimming, she started clapping and saying “yay!!!”

One step forward, two steps back…

And then, all of a sudden, Nate got scared. He told me he didn’t like swim lessons, and was defiant in class. I didn’t understand. What happened to my little go-getter? He didn’t even want to get into the pool with us on vacation. It was like a switch had been flipped and my once-fearless swimmer had become terrified of the water.

Class was a battle.

So I let him skip a lesson. (He had to come, because his sister still had to go, and I hoped that seeing her have fun would encourage him to try again).

They told me that this kind of regression is normal, and you never really know what’s going to cause it.

Great, I thought. We put all this work in and he’s gone backwards.

What came next, however, was wonderful.

They kept working with him. They brought in a second instructor, just to work him through his fears, and I swear, this man is the child whisperer, because the kid who was screaming in terror two weeks prior was laughing again.

Is he totally back? No. But the patience and consistency of BSS has really impressed me, and that’s why I’ll drive out of my way and pay a little extra to stay with them.