Our philosophy on educating Children

Step by step

All effective educational programs break the learning process down into small, attainable steps. For a child to learn triginomitry, they will first need to know their times tables. Same thing with swimming. Before a child can Dog Paddle, they will need to have some sort of

breath control. Students thrive in programs where the goals are achievable and their confidence builds gradually. One achieved skill is usually all it takes to provide the motivation to perform the next. It is up to the teacher to make the student aware of the goal or skill and communicate how it will be mastered.

Postive environment

Children learn best in the long term when in a positive environment. Bullying or threatening children to try harder may work once or twice, however will soon destroy confidence and the natural desire to improve.

Personal motivation

We all know what its like to be told or ordered to do something. Whether it was at school or by your parent, completing a task feels better if it was 'our' idea we feel empowered, we feel in charge of our destiny - same with kids. Great instructors make children feel that improving their swimming is 'their' idea.

Consistency

One of the great parts of being a swim teacher is the range of parenting styles you witness. By far the most common form of 'poor parenting' in our view is when parents are inconsistent about behavior.

A quick example. Parent and 3 year old are in the shopping center, 3 year old wants an ice cream. Mum sais no. Child starts screaming. Mum smacks the child and walks out of shop. But next week the same thing happens, mum is tired and she buys the ice cream. This has now confused the child more than you could possibly imagine. One week screaming brings a smack, the next week an ice cream.

Consistency in swim lessons is crucial not only to learn well, but it is also a safety issue. Telling your young swimmer 'not to do something' (such as dive into shallow water), if disobeyed needs to be met with the same response every time. What that response is, is up to you and your parenting style.

Honesty

Kids are great lie detectors. You may get away with it a few times, but eventually they will cotton on, and gone is your credibility. Try to be really honest with your feedback. If they made a mistake but tried hard, tell them. If they got it perfect, tell them. Remember, if everything is great, nothing is great. Find a balance with your praise and your correction.

Our Philosophy on 'Learning to swim'

Seek quality Professional lessons

uSwim strongly advises your child be taught to swim by a professional. Good Swim teachers are more able to deal with problems that may arise. We also find it is good for children to have someone other than mum and dad to learn from. Swimming with other children also has many benefits for kids such as taking turns, waiting safely, encouraging others and general social interaction.

However, uSwim's better than guessing or poor lessons.

uSwim was created because only a fraction of the world's population have access to or can afford great professional lessons. For most families, its mum and dad who are going to get the kids swimming. In the past you would need to rely on something 'Aunti Betti' said worked for her kids. uSwim allows you to feel confident you are using a systematic and safe approach.

Challenge

Kids can loose focus really quickly. Think back to when you were on holidays or in the car with nothing to do. It drives kids crazy. In the pool, the most common sign a child is bored is misbehavior or attention seeking. The message is don't make lessons too easy. Keep them moving, keep them engaged and challenged.

Enjoy the journey, its not a race

The opposite of being bored, is being overwhelmed. While keeping your lessons challenging, be careful not to be obsessed with time-frames or what other kids are doing. All kids are different. As long as your little champion is trying their best, results will come. We see far too many parents at swim lessons get frustrated when they don't see immediate results. Children pick up on frustration just as well as fear. Its a confidence destroyer, and ultimately will slow their progress. Learning to swim is a journey with peaks and valleys, enjoy them all, it only happens once.

Just cause you did it, doesn't mean your kids will

The amount of times we get people telling us that "the best way to learn how to swim is throw the kids in the pool and make'em fend for themselves, cause thats how I learnt " it's amazing. However what's more amazing is the amount of parents we get in our swim schools who have never been in a pool since their childhood - because they were thrown in and could not fend for themselves, therefor never went near a pool again. Nostalgic bravado about the good old days sounds great. We'd prefer that all kids learn, not just the ones who find swimming initially easy.

Conventional wisdom isn't always right

The classic example we use is blowing bubbles. Many parents tell kids to blow bubbles in the pool. It looks fun and engages the young swimmer and seems right - until they inhale water and get the fright of their lives. If you ever have trouble getting a young child to put their eyes in the water, chances are they are hesitant because last time they got a mouthful of water because they were not controlling their breath. The message here is that because something seems right, doesn't mean it is.

Good technique first, speed later.

Kids want to be fast swimmers. But technique is what creates speed, not thrashing around. So concentrate on building sound fundamentals before you worry about breaking the 6-year-old Freestyle record.

Race the clock, not other kids

When child begin to see swimming as a competitive endeavour (earliest probably 6 years) we recommend you have them record their times instead of racing other kids. We feel racing other kids can sometimes deflate a child if they lose after lots of hard work. The fierce competitors will want to improve, all the others wont want to swim anymore.

In squads, children need to 'want' to train

Lots of parents ask us at the swim school what they should do because "Johnny doesn't seem to want to train for 5 days a week, after school when all his mates are playing". How dare he! Swimming is hard work. If a child is to become a great competitor while maintaining their sanity, the desire must burn from within. Sometimes a break is the best thing for worn out athletes.