Category: Our Blog

Baby FINS Water Safety Rules

An adult student receiving personalized feedback from a swim instructor during a private session in a heated indoor pool.

Teaching Your Baby to Wait for Permission Before Entering the Water

We hope you are having a FINStastic day! You have been in swim lessons for weeks now and we hope you and your baby are having a blast together! In the 2nd email we sent (insert blog post here), we talked a lot about water safety and the skills you and your baby will practice in class that are safety focused.You have probably heard the instructor count with you to cue your baby by saying “Ready/OK 1, 2, 3”. This simple cue has a BIG purpose in drowning prevention efforts!

It is of utmost importance that a parent or caregiver establishes strict rules when it comes to being in and around water. During our classes we teach all Baby FINS skills with a “Ready/OK 1, 2, 3 cue.” While this rule does indicate to the baby that the skill is coming, it is more importantly letting the baby know they are not welcome to enter the pool or attempt a skill without your permission/presence. In class, when a baby jumps before the cue, it is important to put them back at the starting position and say “No. I did not say it was time to swim. You wait for me to say “Ready 1, 2, 3” and then go,” to reinforce the safety driven cue. In the beginning, when the baby is younger or perhaps timid around water, this may not seem as important. Trust us, before long they will view themselves as an invincible baby with Olympic-worthy swim skills. Establishing your strict rules in and around water in the beginning will be beneficial in the long run! Remember, our ultimate goal is to make your child a safer and stronger swimmer. By adhering strictly to this rule of proper pool entry, you are helping this process. The more this skill is practiced, the more the baby understands that it is NEVER okay to enter the water without you and your permission. In the event that your child finds their way to a pool or body of water without you there, our hope is they will be conditioned by this cue and remember not to go into the water because you are not there and have not given your permission. Be on the lookout next week for our final email in this series: ways you can help further advance your baby’s skills by practicing at home!

Baby FINS Parent Portal

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Use the FINS Parent Portal to Follow Your Baby’s Progress

We hope this email finds you well and that our weekly emails are answering all of your questions while also teaching you about things you didn’t even know to ask about! Our goal is to have every parent at FINS feeling very informed about what their baby is learning, why it is important and how they can expect to see everything play out during swim lessons.

Today’s blog post is going to divert from what is happening in the classes to show you how you can use FINS Parent Portal online to check on your child’s skill progression, email your child’s instructor, see class openings, make updates to your account, and more! Instead of writing a long post about all of the things you can do, here is a 2 minute YouTube video all about the FINS Parent Portal. If you attempt to log in and do not know which email address we have on file, please give us a call or stop by the front desk and we are happy to help! Additionally, we can always do a quick password reset for you if needed! Tablets are available at our facility if you would like to try the portal while you are here, we’re happy to help! Thanks for watching, reading, and learning! We hope each week you find the provided information helpful and that you are learning something new. Be on the lookout for an email next week where we will discuss another very important safety focus – Parental Cues!

Baby FINS Breath Control & Swim Progression

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An adult student receiving personazalized feedback from a swim instructor during a private session in a heated indoor pool.

Congrats! You’re rolling right along and getting into a new groove of swim lessons with your baby. Before long, your baby will recognize this as a pattern in their weekly schedule and an activity that they look forward to! Babies are creatures of routine and habit, they learn best through repetition. Remember, we talked a few weeks ago about how the baby is not bored and in fact loves repetition and consistency (think of the same show on repeat, the same book over and over again, same favorite toys, etc).

With repetition and consistency comes muscle memory and the formation of strong synapses (connections) in the brain. What do we do when we have muscle memory and strong synapses? We develop instinct. From there we build upon the now instinctual skills to learn even more things like breath control and swimming longer distances. Let’s dive in and learn more!

Since you are a few weeks into classes, you have learned that we don’t “dunk” a baby in the water right away. We prefer to ease them into it with more gentle approaches such as using our rain bucket to begin to feel the water over their faces and in their ears, etc.

When baby (and parent) are ready, we will move forward to a quick trauma-free submersion. Each time we practice submersion, we always use our “ready, 1-2-3” cue. This conditions the baby to know what is coming and to hold their breath in response to the verbal prompt. We practice gentle, cue-driven submersion with passes between the parent and instructor. Many times you will hear the instructor counting out loud, this is to indicate the number of seconds your baby has learned to hold their breath while motoring through the water. Learning to hold your breath while motoring your arms and legs is no small feat. Your baby's brain is hard at work building multiple connections while practicing this! How cool is that? It will very quickly become instinct.

Over time, as your baby continues to practice cue-driven submersion, the instructor will watch for improvement and find opportunities to extend the swim a little further. When we say a little, we mean it. A typical increase is about 1 second and there might be gaps of time in between increases.Remember, our goal is to build skills through love and repetition. If we push a baby too far too soon, it can greatly set back the progress. Trust us and our process. Your baby is learning at the perfect pace - their own!

By the time your baby graduates from our parent-child Baby FINS program, they will be able to swim 5 feet and hold their breath for at least 5 seconds. Doesn’t seem like a long time? Look at your baby and count to 5 in your head. Pretty impressive considering how small they are, huh?

Thanks for reading and learning! We hope each week you find the provided information helpful and that you are learning something new. Be on the lookout for an email next week where we will tell you all about the FINS Parent Portal and all the cool things you can do, like check on your child’s skill progression, see class openings, make updates to your account, and more!

Baby FINS Swim and Safety Lessons

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By now, hopefully, you have had a chance to bring your baby to swim class at least once maybe even twice. We certainly hope you both are loving the time together. If your sweet baby seems less than thrilled to be in the water,or is not yet doing what you see other babies doing in the class, remember that is OK! Check back on the blog post from last week (insert link here) where we chatted about how your baby might be feeling in the beginning. They will enjoy the classes and be learning so much very soon, we promise!

This week, we want to dive deeper into FINS main focus:water safety,and more specifically what that looks like in our Baby FINS program. You now know, as we do, that drowning is the leading cause of accidental death in children ages 1-4. FINS is on a mission to change those statistics. Thank you for joining in the fight by giving your baby the gift of swim lessons! We will focus on 2 main water safety skills in these classes: how to get back to the wall if they fall in and floating on the back. These 2 important water safety skills are actually repeated over and over again throughout class. Remember, we believe in teaching methods that include: Love, Bonding, Repetition, and Safety. When babies attempt and perform these skills, we want them to feel celebrated, safe and loved. We want to create positive experiences with rhymes, songs, encouragement AND plenty of repetition. Our goal is for your baby’s brain to associate these positive experiences with the water and to be able to utilize the skills to save themselves in a potentially life-threatening situation. Fall In, Turn Around, Climb Out is a skill that is built in to the classes with activities like: Humpty Dumpty, Ring Around the Rosies, Bump and Jumps and Walk Walks on the big blue mat. We like to practice these skills with babies and toddlers from the step/ledge, the side of the pool, or on a big float because we want them to have continuous practice on a variety of areas in and around water where they can potentially self-rescue. We emphasize this water safety skill in addition to the very important back float, because statistically most babies and toddlers fall in very close to a self-rescue area. It is rare for them to wind up way out in the middle of a body of water all alone, especially since a majority of accidental falls into the water are a result of reaching for something. Back float is incorporated throughout our classes with a range of methods including: London Bridge, rolling to float after swim outs, walk walks and much more. We have 2 goals when teaching the back float; first is for the baby to be comfortable in the position. We want them to sustain the back float so that they can get air and rest if they ever get into trouble in the water. We never rush a baby out of the back float position. We encourage baby to take a rest, take a few breaths and relax. The second goal is to create muscle memory. If this is achieved, the baby will know to flip over on their back when they need air. The back float is useful for self-rescue, but can also help them progress their swim endurance as they learn to swim further and further. Speaking of swimming longer distances, be on the lookout for an email next week where we dive deeper into breath control progression within our Baby FINS program. You’ll find out just how far your baby will learn to swim, and how long they can safely hold their breath!

Private Infant Swim Lessons

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We are thrilled that you have chosen FINS as your swim school! FINS is a locally owned, family-run business with a big passion for teaching water safety and developing a love for swimming. By giving the gift of swim lessons to your child, you have taken an amazing step forward in the fight against the drowning statistics. Did you know that drowning is the leading cause of accidental death in children ages 1-4? Drowning is preventable. Read on and learn a bit more about what you and your baby have to look forward to while swimming with FINS!

FINS has been around for over 20 years. Throughout that time, we have taught thousands of babies to learn to swim. Our goals remain the same while our methods vary over time since we are constantly finding ways to advance our techniques while providing a safe and fun environment for you and your little one. Read on and learn a bit more about what you and your baby have to look forward to while swimming with FINS!

LOVE-BONDING-REPETITION-SAFETY:

These are the foundational elements of our unique Baby FINS program.Let’s dive in and learn a little more about those words and how we use them in our Baby FINS 1 and Baby FINS 2 classes! LOVE – You have heard it since the day your sweet baby was born. They thrive on feeling loved! Being in a pool for the first time can make anyone feel anxious, but in your arms, your baby knows they’re safe! That’s one reason it is SO important for them to be in the class with a parent or caregiver they know and trust!Don’t worry if your baby cries for the first few classes, it’s all-new; new environment, new people, new smells, and new sounds. Spend the first few classes just reassuring them that you are there and they are OK. Don’t feel the need to dive right into the skills if your baby isn’t ready. We promise you will both be enjoying every activity in the class before you know it! Rushing an anxious baby could result in taking longer to learn the skills because the fear will build instead of dissipate. Remember, we have been at this for 20 years! Trust us. If you stick with it, your baby won’t be scared forever! BONDING – This is a subject we could go on and on about. One of the best things about our Baby FINS program is the bonding time. The extra skin to skin contact helps to strengthen your already growing bond, and also teaches your baby from an early age that you need to be with them them in the pool! REPETITION – Babies thrive on repetition. Have you noticed they love the same book? Same toys? Same bedtime routine? Same foods? Well, the same thing goes for their swim lessons. Week after week, we will practice the same skills, using the same songs and the same class routine. Trust us, the baby is not bored! They LOVE knowing what comes next! Each child is different but every one of them will advance their skills with time. Our trained instructor is continually watching for cues from your baby to detect when they are ready to gain more skills or go a bit further! In the meantime, just settle into the routine with your baby! Speaking of Safety, be on the lookout next week for an email where we dive deeper into FINS’ water safety techniques!

Swimming Tools & Training Skills

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Essential Equipment for Developing Swim Skills

We hope you are having a FINStastic day! You have been in the Advanced Swim and Safety lessons for weeks now and we hope your child is having a blast. We get questions all the time about equipment and tools needed for swim lessons. Today we are here to answer all of your questions about goggles, flippers and swim caps, oh my!

Goggles:

At this stage of swim lessons, most, if not all students will want to use goggles. Prolonged water exposure, whether in a pool or natural body of water, can irritate the eyes. Students in these levels will be swimming longer distances, so most will prefer goggles. The ability to keep their eyes open underwater and not have to worry about splashes coming their way will also free up a lot of distractions for your child. If your child does prefer to wear goggles, we do ask that they have their own pair. FINS has a limited number of pairs available to borrow for the occasional use by children who forget to bring their own. Having their own good pair of goggles helps the instructor to focus the entire class time on learning to swim, not adjusting goggle straps every time a different child wears them. Your child will also be familiarized with their own pair and will be able to keep the straps set to fit them the way they prefer. How do we define a “good pair” of goggles? First and foremost is comfort. The child must like the way they feel. Secondly, you must make sure the part around the eye seals tightly on the face. If the goggles are too big (or too small) water will constantly leak in making the goggles essentially useless. FINS sells goggles we LOVE and work well for many swimmers. In addition, there are a few local swim shops who sell other brands if you would like to explore further. Buying goggles at a big box store may not be the best plan. We tend to notice more leaking and quicker breaking of those goggles. A good pair purchased a FINS or a local swim shop will only cost a few more dollars, but will be worth it’s weight in gold!

Swim Caps:

We get a lot of questions about swim caps. While yes, it is true that all professional swimmers use swim caps, FINS does not require them. At this point it is a personal preference. Keep in mind that if your child does have long hair, it will need to be either tied back or in a swim cap during lessons.This helps avoid hair getting into the eyes,over the face and/or tangled in arms while practicing their swimming skills. FYI, swim caps will not keep the hair completely dry, or all water out of the ears. While the hair will not get quite as wet wearing a swim cap, it does not completely protect the hair from getting wet. Swim caps are not designed for keeping water out of a swimmer’s ears either.

Flippers/fins:

We normally refer to them as fins, but since our name is FINS we also call them flippers to avoid confusion. They are one and the same! Students will begin using flippers/fins in our Bronze FINS level and each student will need to bring their own pair to each lesson. While we do have a few pairs for students to borrow if they forget their own, we do not have enough for every student. Flippers/fins in these levels are used to help students elongate their kicks, encourage proper body positioning, balance, swim endurance and to build foot, ankle and leg strength. The use of fins/flippers activates different muscles which will help build stronger swimmers! Not to mention that the kids find them very fun as they swim faster in them! Be on the lookout next week for our final email in this series. We will talk about ways you can help further advance your child’s swim skills by practicing at home, and about the available options for swim team if your child has expressed interest!