Long Island swim lessons for babies, toddlers 

How young is too young to start teaching a child water safety?

Many Long Island swim schools start babies as young as 4 to 6 months; others start at age 2. But "swim" classes aren’t just for children to learn freestyle or backstroke. They drill young children in preventive skills such as asking permission from an adult before they enter a pool and how to save themselves if they fall in without an adult around to rescue them, instructors say.

Drowning is the leading cause of death among children between the ages of 1 and 4 and increased in that category by 28% in 2022 compared with 2019, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On Long Island this year, within 24 hours over the Fourth of July holiday, three people ranging in age from 7 to 79 drowned in residential pools. A 7-year-old also drowned in a backyard pool during a barbecue in Bay Shore on July 20.

"Our concern is not to get him to the Olympics, it’s to keep him safe when we go to the pool or the beach," says Andrew Zarriello, 34, an attorney from Garden City whose son, William, started formal swim lessons at Long Island Swim School in Garden City at age 2.

BABIES TO 18 MONTHS

Typically, infants are familiar with being bathed; in the pool, they acclimate even more to a water environment, says Zachary Healy, director of regional operations at Goldfish Swim School's Centereach location; Goldfish Swim School is a franchise with multiple individually owned sites on Long Island. Healy recommends starting babies at 4 months.

"They have no bad habits; we’re starting with a clean slate," he says. It can be an uncomfortable feeling to be underwater; starting early helps overcome "the tears and fears," he says.

Beginners learn to blow bubbles underwater (so they don’t inhale liquid) and how to roll on their back to get their faces out of the water, says Mike Holdorf, general manager for Saf-T-Swim of Smithtown.

As they become more physically developed, they’re taught to open and close their hands, how to use their arms to pull themselves through the water, how to kick, how to turn in the water and how to grab a wall, Healy says.

At both Goldfish and Saf-T-Swim, which has 13 Long Island locations, babies begin in the pool along with a parent or caregiver and without flotation devices. That’s because instructors don’t want children to rely on it, he says. "It gives children a false sense of security. If they fall in without that life jacket, they are going to panic," Healy says. And most accidents involve children falling in without a flotation device. Classes also practice without goggles for the same reason, Healy says.

"Think of swim lessons not just as another activity but as an investment in their safety and their future," advises Healy.

18 MONTHS TO 4 YEARS

Multiple instructors teach from Day 1 that children don’t enter the pool — they don’t just jump in — until they are given permission by an adult. They must ask first.

"If they see a pool and there’s not an adult around, they would have to go ask an adult for permission to enter the pool. I taught my own children that," says Holdorf, who has a two 5-year-olds and a 3-year-old.

Every pool is shaped differently, and instructors suggest teaching children to look over every pool before getting in so they know how to get out. Where is the shallow end? Where is the ladder?

"Familiarity with the water and comfort in the water is one of the most important things in being safe," says Stephen Chan, 47, an elementary school teacher from Rockville Centre and a former lifeguard who has his son, Ethan, 2, in lessons at the Long Island Swim School in Syosset. "When panic sinks in, that’s when things go really awry."

Continuing classes help students develop swimming skills, and also survival maneuvers. "Learning to swim is a progression," Healy says. "We want our kids to be a black belt in karate, it’s not going to be in one session."

Alexis Skelos, executive director of Long Island Swim School, and Holdorf both agree.

"Part of learning to swim is developing muscle memory, so that it becomes automatic," Skelos says.

Says Holdorf: "Young children learn through repetition and patterning — doing the same thing over and over in the same order. The key is to stick with the program year-round. I’ve seen 2-, 3-, 4-year-olds be able to execute these lifesaving techniques."

The YMCA teaches two survival maneuvers during classes: swim-float-swim and jump-push-turn-grab, says Christina Frank, aquatic director for the Patchogue Family YMCA and Brookhaven Roe Y Center, two of the YMCA of Long Island’s six locations. The former teaches students to roll on their back and float, swim a little more, then roll on their back to rest again. This survival technique allows them to swim a farther distance without getting tired, she says. The latter technique teaches students, if the water is shallow enough, to push off the bottom of the pool, turn and grab a wall.

Long Island Swim School starts 2-year-olds working one-on-one with an instructor, then transitions into group lessons at age 3 and 4. Long Island Swim School chooses to use flotation bubbles around the children during lessons. "It’s easier to learn with it, is what we find in our program," Skelos says.

Toddlers and preschoolers learn body positions, breath control, inhaling and exhaling, kicking and using their arms to pull against the water to propel forward. "They need to be able to move themselves. That’s what’s going to ultimately be able to save them," she says.

Rebecca Weiner, owner of Aquafinz Infant Aquatics, which meets in the pool at the Long Island Hilton in Melville, will even have students get in the water fully clothed to practice under those circumstances, as it’s likely they would fall into a pool while dressed in regular clothing, she says.

By Beth Whitehouse

beth.whitehouse@newsday.comBethWhitehouse1

Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.