Preparing kids at Goldfish Swim School for water safety while traveling

Traveling often inevitably brings us to a lot of places where water is involved. Sometimes it’s simply the hotel pool we are using, but other times we are near the ocean, walking alongside canals without a guardrail, or near a lake. Honestly, I have a huge fear of water. And I am not gonna lie, before a trip, the “drown fear” always crosses my mind.  Water safety is a legit concern that we, as parents, need to be cognizant of.  So something that we have done to combat that fear and potential tragedy is giving our kids swim lessons. 

Two years ago, we started swim lessons at Goldfish Swim School. Today, both Dylan and Christopher can swim on their own and they know water safety skills to help them survive if anything bad ever did happen.  Matt and I love swim lessons and if you know me, you know my kids are not in hockey, baseball, or soccer... but swim lessons are non negotiable. It’s something that could save their life someday. I don’t care in my kids can ride a bike or shoot a basket, but they must know how to swim. 

A quick story for you: a while back, Christopher fell underwater and I had to run over and pulled him out of the pool. The whole thing definitely shook me up, and Christopher was scared of the water for a very long time after that. I remember bringing him to his swim lesson and he would just cry and cry, not wanting to go into the water because he was afraid that he would fall under again.  It was horrible. However, I was so impressed with the strategies Goldfish Swim School uses to help kids overcome their fear of the water. Using water play helps Christopher a ton.  Also, something as simple as receiving a ribbon after class for small improvements made him proud of himself and helped him to love the water and attending lessons. We were so impressed! And then only a few months later, we were watching him jump into the water and swim BY HIMSELF to the edge of the pool- it was just the best feeling ever. 

I know it’s Covid, but I believe now is the best time to start lessons with your kids. Here’s some of the ways that Goldfish is taking precautions to keep our kids safe from germs. First, before entering the building, everyone is required to answer a verbal questionnaire about travel and sickness.  It’s reassuring to know that everyone permitted to enter is healthy. All instructors have a face shield on when they work with your child; parents are also required to wear masks in the waiting room while they watch their children. Each child uses the same equipment throughout the lesson, and every manipulative is cleaned after class before the next group of students comes in. Even the chairs that the parents are sitting on are also sanitized each class, in addition to the changing rooms. I am confident that Goldfish Swim School is one of the cleanest facilities you will enter this winter. 

If you have a child who doesn’t know how to swim, or one who you’d like to increase their swim and safety skills, I would highly recommend signing your child up this winter.  In fact, I have a code for you- when you sign them up, use SARAHCTRAVELS to waive the registration fee for each child!