It takes time for a child to learn to swim well. Longer than some parents expect. And a lot of effort too. Not just from your wannabe swimmer, but also you.
Remember how long it took for your child to learn how to walk and talk. How much effort you both put in for them to take their first step or utter their first word. (Or at least you think it was a word!) Skills practised every day, and usually, with no costs involved.
But formal swimming lessons cost money. So, consider some of the following suggestions that can make the overall cost of swimming lessons much cheaper.
1. Taking a break may be a mistake
When learning a new skill, repetition is a crucial focus until the skill becomes “second nature”. This state is known as “unconscious competence”.
Younger and/or less advanced swimmers can struggle to store learnings in their long-term memory in a way that can easily be recalled. After a break, it may take them longer, or they may need extra instruction, to get back to where they were. Even advanced swimmers will suffer some sort of setback after an extended break.
Consistency and routine also help to build momentum. When kids lose this, they often lose their confidence and interest too.
So, it’s important to avoid regression, the loss of learned skills, or worse, going back to square one. That will cost you more money in the long run and will slow down your child mastering vital water safety skills.
We usually see an increase in extended breaks during the cooler months. We get it. When it’s cold outside, it’s tempting to huddle up indoors. Think about the annual goal a lot of people have for a “summer beach body“. They’ve got to start, or keep up, their diet and exercise regime throughout autumn and winter. Similarly, your child, to be safer in and around water in the warmer months, needs to practise regularly in the weeks and months ahead.
Our pools are a toasty 30 degrees all year round! As colds or flu are spread by a virus, not by swimming in cold water or having wet hair, we hope to see you at the pool all year round too!
2. Immersion therapy – School Holiday Intensive Programs
Our School Holiday Intensive Programs are intensive – but not intense!
Offered during every school holiday, these back-to-back days of lessons can improve and accelerate your child’s progression. A big advantage is pure chronological frequency. They’ll be learning specific skills more often, so those skills will be easier to recall. With one month’s worth of lessons packed into one week, children can easily pick up from where they left off the day before. Those learnings will be fresh in their minds and can be more easily reinforced during the intensive program.
Your child will also likely be taught by a different teacher, in a class with different students. Providing the opportunity to learn how to adapt to new people and new situations; teaching them resilience and how to cope with change. Skills that can help speed up overall learning – both in and out of the pool by the way!
When a child’s struggling, a new teacher, with a different personality and/or different approach, can sometimes achieve a breakthrough. Being in a class with different students can also be a positive. It might boost your child’s competitiveness, or they might find a new friend to buddy up with and they can learn from each other.
Adding School Holiday Intensives into your child’s swim program can speed up their learning. They can develop the skills they need to succeed much sooner, which means you’ll be spending less money on swimming lessons in the long run. Especially when each week offers a discount of one free lesson per week.*
3. Swim more than once a week
Speed up your child’s learning by enrolling in swimming lessons more than once a week – and enjoy the discounts. There’s a 20%* discount for the second lesson. For the third, and any subsequent lessons, the discount increases to 25%* (of the original full priced lesson).
As mentioned in Points 1 & 2, it’s all about repetition, consistency, intensity. And there’s the added opportunity of building swim fitness too!
4. Private lessons or group lessons?
There are lots of benefits from learning in a group situation. The main one is that a lot of kids like to keep up and are often spurred on to learn faster. For our very young fishes, swimming lessons can be their first introduction to a formal lesson structure. They’re learning and practising how to wait for their turn; how to share the teacher’s attention; how not to get distracted by others in their class. We strongly recommend group lessons.
However, sometimes a parent will raise the concern that their child is taking the same regular group class over and over; practising the same skill over and over. There’ll always be a strong repetitive component to regular lessons because that’s how children learn. That’s how we learnt. We touched on the importance of repetition in Point 1. So private lessons could be one way to speed up your child’s progress, especially if they have missed lessons because of taking an extended break. Sometimes, a child might just need some one-on-one time, to get them over a specific hurdle that’s been holding them back for a while.
Naturally, private lessons are more expensive. But they’ll speed up learning due to the one-on-one attention, or in cases where there’s a hurdle, achieve a quick breakthrough.
5. Practice outside of lessons
your local pool to practise. And in the warmer months, hit the beach or find friends with a backyard pool if you don’t have one!
The more practice the better. Remember, ensure there’s safe supervision at all times, even for the land-based exercises!
6. Use First Lap, Active Kids Vouchers and Aquabliss Gift Cards
We accept First Lap Vouchers ($100 per year)* and Active Kids Vouchers ($200 per year)*, making swimming lessons more affordable. And you can always drop a hint to family and friends about our Aquabliss Swim Gift Cards for your little fish’s next birthday or Christmas present. Valid for three years, but the skills learnt will last a lifetime. They’ll also be giving your child the chance to make new friends and a heap of character-building traits too. Such as teaching your child about
success and failure, discipline and routine, setting goals and how to push past the limits – and so much more.
Faster is cheaper
Legendary Aussie Swim Coach Laurie Lawrence explains why children should be doing more swimming lessons:
“The reality with swimming lessons is that most children will only attend one 30-minute lesson per week when they are learning to swim, and parents wonder why it can sometimes be a slow process. If you miss 4 weeks out of 52 in the year, and your swimmers attend EVERY lesson without missing any others, that is just 24 hours of swimming instruction per year. That’s one day out of 365 each year. That’s nothing! Boost your child’s swimming skills whenever possible!”
Any, or a combination, of the above suggestions, can help speed up the development of your child’s swimming skills so that they can be swimming well sooner. Sooner is safer, as well as being cheaper. Avoiding regression and taking up all the discount offers, will contribute to swimming lessons costing less money in the long run.
Enquiries and bookings
Contact our friendly bookings staff to speed up your child’s swim journey so that you’ll spend less in the long run.
*Discounts/programs current at the time of publishing. Please verify when enquiring/booking.
