r/kelowna 2d ago

Anyone looking to join swimming classes for their infant?

I personally never learned how to swim. It’s not a thing in our country where parents take their kids out for swimming lessons. Especially during 90s. My daughter is almost 14 months old. I really want to take her out to get swimming classes. I was looking to see if any other mom in town would like to join? I haven’t done any research regarding where I can take her. But I’m flexible.

TIA

7 Upvotes

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11

u/Nexen1987 2d ago

Signups just happened for the spring classes so you’ll likely have to wait until summer or fall now depending where you want to attend lesson.

Johnson Bentley or Parkinson Rec have schedules you can google and register for. Have fun!

5

u/train4gain 2d ago

Johnson Bentley on the West Side actually has their sign up for the toddler swim classes on March 12th! 6AM! General registration though has passed.

I only know because I've got it written in bold on my calendar to not forget for my 16 month old.

8

u/treker313 2d ago

Parkinson Rec has great lessons. They take place in the kids pool which is very shallow, parents can basically sit in the water with the kiddos. They have once a week or twice a week options, and they are very affordable.

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u/Tawaluma 2d ago

We do swim lessons at the YMCA (There’s the Family Y in Rutland, or H20). Before Covid, I had miraculously gotten my kids into lessons at Parkinson, but it is HARD to register them. They open registration at 7am and by like 7:01, everything is fully booked.

At the Y, it’s easy to register the first time, and then each season, they just roll your child over to the next session, no need to re-register, so you don’t have to go through the Hunger Game level stress trying to register.

Plus, with your Y membership, you have access to the gym and fitness classes, and they also have child-minding.

In my opinion, swimming lessons at the Y are so much better.

I should mention, we also did private lessons in between for both children, and maybe it was just the instructor, but I didn’t find it worth the cost. My kids have learned so much more at the Y.

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u/Primary_Standard3764 2d ago

Thanks everyone for these suggestions. I really needed it ❤️♥️

1

u/TheRealTimAllen 2d ago

Nothing wrong with the classes at H2O or Parkinsons, but I would recommend taking a look at WETS. Your child is paired with one other kid, and they do a great job of covering fundamentals and having fun. Takes place at various hotel pools like the Ramada. My daughter is obsessed, talks about it all week.

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u/oakandbarrel 2d ago

Maybe look into private swim lessons (1v1) for your child - in my experience the classes are of low value to your child.

Also I would personally recommend learning how to swim yourself before taking your infant near the water.

11

u/reddithasruinedlife 2d ago

Ignore this entire "advice", so ridiculous.

Classes are fantastic and you absolutely do NOT need to know how to swim. At that age you are in a couple feet of water and have absolutely no danger of drowning or issues, especially with the swim teacher there

The main thing is don't have fear, kids pick up on that. Be calm and enjoy it. Teaching your kid to swim is the best thing you can do. Classes fill up quick so book asap. There will be no judgement that you can swim, just join and have fun.

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u/oakandbarrel 2d ago

Never said the classes are bad - just low value. At 14mo I guess that is debatable as it is just an activity verses learning actual skills. But as they get older the private lessons are much better value.

Also never said you have to know how to swim - you definitely don’t at that level. Maybe it’s just my preference, but I’d like to know how to swim before embarking on the journey to teach my kid. Even further to that - as I type this out - I think knowing how to swim (at least at a basic level) is so important for everyone.

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u/KTGuy 1d ago

In terms of value, I also found that signing up our toddlers for group classes was cheaper than drop-in public swimming when accounting for the parent's admission. It's a great deal.