As important as selecting the swim school that is the best fit for your child’s learn-to-swim experience is ensuring that your child has the instructor that is the best fit.
First of all, each instructor must be a good fit for the classes they teach. We go to great lengths at Little Otter to make sure each swim instructor’s skills are matched to the classes and the age of the children they teach. This is very important! At each level, your child’s instructor should nurture your child, bond with your child and extend your child’s skills.
Little Otter does its part very well in matching instructors to classes, but you, as parents, can have a role in selecting the instructor that is the best fit for teaching your child. There are some traits that you can use to find your child’s fit.
Here are four of them:
Gender
Male or Female? Which gender does your child bond with more easily? Choosing an instructor the opposite gender of the one that your child is more comfortable with can sometimes upset the apple cart from the very crucial beginning.
Personality
Out-going or Subdued? Is your child the one bursting with energy or the opposite – the quiet observer? Matching your child’s personality traits to an instructor who will nurture without intimidating is important to your child’s development. Instructors can be the calm and nurturing type and some are more boisterous and outgoing. It’s important to make this part of your choice criteria.
Comfort Level
It’s great when instructors make a deep connection with their students and connections translate into comfort for the student. This can happen for several reasons: they are parents themselves, they’re experienced in teaching children in some other capacity, they have a large family with lots of siblings or cousins, through other personal common traits like where they were born or what their ethnic backgrounds are. The important thing to realize is the connection point, regardless of what it is, will most likely be what makes your child feel comfortable with their instructor. If it fits, it will be comfortable.
Availability
Does your schedule work with that of your preferred instructor? Every instructor is not available during all of the hours your swim school operates. You may have to adjust your schedule to get the instructor who is the best fit for your child.
Connection Point Creates Comfort
We talked to one of our moms, Heather Auch, about the importance of her kids reaching their comfort zone with their instructor and she indicated that selecting an instructor who is also a parent was important to her. Heather has two swimming boys, which makes her a veteran of the Otter Babies series and a mom who has participated in and observed lots of classes.
Heather loves the fact that the first instructor both of her boys had in their “learn-to-swim” process is a mom herself.
Heather comments: “When we started Otter Babies, we were fortunate to meet Miss Laurel who is not only a mom but a mom of a boy the age of my oldest son. This was my sons’ connection point with Miss Laurel. Her intuition for exactly what inspires and relaxes my boys is amazing. And her connection with them has given them trust in her and confidence in themselves to learn quickly and try new things.”
Benefits of an Instructor that Fits
An instructor who is the right fit does several important things for tiny swimmers:
- Calms their fears
- Earns their trust
- Understands their needs
- Reads their quirky moods
- Reduces their anxiety
- Makes them comfortable
- Sparks their interest
- Holds their attention
- Inspires their confidence
- Builds a connection
As you can see, Heather’s experience shows that the fit with their instructor is a big part of her little swimmers’ success – but not just in swimming skills. Heather has seen her boys’ social skills and self-confidence blossom. They are growing in ways that have a very positive impact on future development because they share the process of learning with others their age before they start school. They are learning that they aren’t the only people in the world and becoming more vocal and outgoing. They are also comparing what they can do with what their peers can do.
“My oldest son has grown out of Miss Laurel classes, but he still wants her to know how he’s doing. It’s still important to him that she is proud of him for his progress. His connection with her is definitely a long-lasting one,” adds Heather.
Get Help Finding the Fit
You don’t have to do this alone. Discuss your child’s instructor fit with swim school office managers and owners, deck supervisors, and the instructors themselves so that you learn the information you need to select your child’s instructor and swim class. The start your child gets as a tiny swimmer can impact their desire to learn, their excitement for swimming, their overall personal development and their lifelong love of water.
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