Survival Swimming Classes for Infants and Children
Serving the Durham and Chapel Hill, NC Areas
Survival Lessons are 3 days per week, 15 minutes each class
(Crawling infant through age seven.)
What Are Survival Swimming Classes?
Serving the Durham and Chapel Hill, NC areas, PhD Swim School offers a premier water survival program designed to teach independent swimming and self-rescue skills. We specialize in lessons for infants, toddlers, and young children, with programs available starting as early as newborn swim classes. These ISR lessons are a core part of our curriculum, and we also offer general baby swim lessons to build water confidence.
We begin by gently introducing your child to the water. Our focus is teaching them to attain and maintain a back float from any fall-in situation. Older children also learn to swim a short distance between back floats to reach a safe location. At the end of the course, your child will practice their skills in clothing and shoes to simulate a real water accident. You will also learn how to work with them yourself to maintain their skills and safely enjoy the water together.
Survival Swimming Class Program Information:
- This class is designed to teach independent swimming and survival skills to toddlers, infants, and young children.
- Lessons are 15 minutes a day, one-on-one, three days per week.
- After being gently introduced to the water, children will learn to float on their backs to rest and breathe in the event of an aquatic accident.
- They will also learn to swim a short distance (depending on age) in between back floats to reach a safe destination.
- Pre-walking infants will learn to roll into a survival back float fully clothed.
- Infants and toddlers who can walk unassisted will learn a "swim-float-swim" sequence.
- To graduate from this program, children will complete a simulated drowning scenario fully clothed.
Why Trust PhD Swim School with Your Child's Safety?
We understand that teaching your child survival skills is a significant decision. Our program, serving families in Durham and Chapel Hill, is built on a foundation of trust, gentle methods, and proven results.
- Focus on Self-Rescue: We don’t just teach swimming; we teach life-saving self-rescue skills, including the critical swim-float-swim sequence.
- One-on-One Instruction: Every 15-minute lesson is tailored to your child’s pace and needs, ensuring focused, individual attention.
- Real-World Preparation: Our course concludes with students practicing their skills fully clothed, simulating a real-world water accident to ensure they are prepared.
Survival FAQ'S
- All children will learn to attain and maintain a survival back float from any fall-in situation and wait until help arrives.
- Children walking (usually around 15 months and up) will learn to swim float swim short distances.
- Babies not yet walking, independent floating is the focus of the course.
Breath control is a skill; submerging the head is not. All students will submerge their head starting on Day 1. Please be aware and prepared for this.
Please do not begin our program unless you understand that you will probably see crying/fussing at first. We do everything we can to make learning to swim an enjoyable experience for your child. Many children take a few weeks to work through their feelings about the water. It is a new environment where they are being asked to work very hard without Mom or Dad. Your teacher is always happy to talk through suggestions and address your concerns. Some amount of resistance is to be expected during the learning process.
Yes. Your child will not forget their new skills, but they will outgrow them as their center of gravity shifts. They may also lose confidence if they do not practice. For this reason, we strongly recommend our weekly maintenance classes where your child will prepare to learn formal competitive strokes and strengthen their survival swim lessons skills. Children who attend weekly classes do not need refreshers. If you must take a break, please do not take more than two sessions (4 months) off from weekly classes.
Register for Survival Swim Classes Today
Ready to give your child the gift of life-saving water skills? Due to high demand, our survival swimming classes in Durham, NC, fill quickly. Register today to secure your spot on our waitlist!
