Random: Private Swim Lessons cost

Jells2dot0

So, I'm childless and clueless about anything related to kids. So, I asked my mom what to get my twin 16 month old nephews for Christmas and she said that my brother and SIL are telling those who ask that they are saving for private swim lessons. Anyone have any idea what that would cost? I want to give them enough to cover the entirety of the lessons and since my swim lessons were 30+ years ago, I can't remember how many I had. FWIW, it's in NJ.

TIA!

thisismynickname2

Call up some public pools (or if they belong to a private club, call the club) and ask what the going rates of lessons are. I think this kind of thing is usually pretty easy to find on websites. 
Sounds like a good gift! 

kaos16

I live on Long Island, New York.  Around here the going rate seems to be about $175-200 for a series.  A series is 6 classes.  They usually have coupons and deals.  Do you know, or can you find out where they want to take the boys for the lessons?  You can call them and ask.

Jells2dot0

Thanks for the info!

My mom said they had not decided on where they will take their lessons. They just know they need to take them soon because they have a pool and are obviously concerned with safety. 

I had seen some rates on some websites but they were like $40/class or they broke the rates up into $x for 4 classes $x for 6 classes. I had no clue how many classes were sufficient or the norm. 

lc07

This is such an awesome idea! I think my only concern is that it sounds like your in laws are telling lots of people that this is what they want. I'd be careful of buying something they can't return in case someone else also buys direct from a swim club. I'm not sure what it would cost but I'd err on the side of 6 weeks over 4 weeks. 

TrixieJess

It depends on the area. Where I am for 9 lessons it's $200, (in a class, it's $55). An hour away, it's $400 for 10 lessons. I would see if you could find out if she is going somewhere specific and see if you could get a gift card. 

thisismynickname2

Yeah, sounds like you should buy a Visa gift card for what you believe the amount would be and then specify in your giving that it's intended to be used for those swim lessons they want. The way they phrased it - saving up- and them not having a place chosen yet, this would be better for that flexibility. 
Maybe throw in some swim trunks and swim diapers too! 

Jells2dot0

I am not going to buy anything direct. My intention is to write them a check. That way, if they do receive other monies for the swim lessons, they can use what I give them for other needs. With twins, everything is double the cost  

Heffalump

Jells2dot0 said:

Thanks for the info!

My mom said they had not decided on where they will take their lessons. They just know they need to take them soon because they have a pool and are obviously concerned with safety. 

I had seen some rates on some websites but they were like $40/class or they broke the rates up into $x for 4 classes $x for 6 classes. I had no clue how many classes were sufficient or the norm. 

This is the price schedule for private lessons where my daughter swims. 

Private Lesson Options	Cost
Single 30-minute lesson	$40
Package of 4 x 30 minute lessons	$150
Package of 5 x 30 minute lessons	$185
Semi-Private (2 swimmers) Options:	Cost
Package of 4 x 30 minute lessons	$175
Package of 5 x 30 minute lessons	$220

My son swims at a different pool that is more geared toward younger kids, and their private lessons are $360/8 week session.

Disclaimer: we are in the southeast, where COL is generally lower.

Jells2dot0

Thanks everyone for the info! There are so many options with private, semi private, 4 lessons, 6 lessons, etc. I want to make sure I gift them what they need. 

kaos16

Jells2dot0 said:

Thanks for the info!

My mom said they had not decided on where they will take their lessons. They just know they need to take them soon because they have a pool and are obviously concerned with safety. 

I had seen some rates on some websites but they were like $40/class or they broke the rates up into $x for 4 classes $x for 6 classes. I had no clue how many classes were sufficient or the norm. 

I would imagine, with having a pool especially, they would take a lot of lessons. I know here, living so close to the water, most children who take swimming lessons take them for years.

Jells2dot0

kaos16 said:

Jells2dot0 said:

Thanks for the info!

My mom said they had not decided on where they will take their lessons. They just know they need to take them soon because they have a pool and are obviously concerned with safety. 

I had seen some rates on some websites but they were like $40/class or they broke the rates up into $x for 4 classes $x for 6 classes. I had no clue how many classes were sufficient or the norm. 

I would imagine, with having a pool especially, they would take a lot of lessons. I know here, living so close to the water, most children who take swimming lessons take them for years.

years??? Whoa! I grew up on a barrier island and only took them for one summer. I just can't remember how many times I went during that summer. 

thisismynickname2

Jells2dot0 said:

kaos16 said:

Jells2dot0 said:

Thanks for the info!

My mom said they had not decided on where they will take their lessons. They just know they need to take them soon because they have a pool and are obviously concerned with safety. 

I had seen some rates on some websites but they were like $40/class or they broke the rates up into $x for 4 classes $x for 6 classes. I had no clue how many classes were sufficient or the norm. 

I would imagine, with having a pool especially, they would take a lot of lessons. I know here, living so close to the water, most children who take swimming lessons take them for years.

years??? Whoa! I grew up on a barrier island and only took them for one summer. I just can't remember how many times I went during that summer. 

Eh. I grew up with a pool in the back yard. I do remember having swim lessons but it was brief, like one summer. You can teach a kid how not to drown (ok, exaggerating but still) pretty quickly. No one says you need to be able to freestyle the length of an Olympic distance pool with perfect form and breathing to have a back yard pool and be safe. My expertise is still the dog paddle. And handstands. And somersaults. 

SaintPaulGal

kaos16 said:

Jells2dot0 said:

Thanks for the info!

My mom said they had not decided on where they will take their lessons. They just know they need to take them soon because they have a pool and are obviously concerned with safety. 

I had seen some rates on some websites but they were like $40/class or they broke the rates up into $x for 4 classes $x for 6 classes. I had no clue how many classes were sufficient or the norm. 

I would imagine, with having a pool especially, they would take a lot of lessons. I know here, living so close to the water, most children who take swimming lessons take them for years.

I grew up very far from the water--well, it's the land of 10,000 lakes, so there's that--but I agree that it has been my experience that swimming lessons are a multi-year thing.  The public pool in my home town had...umm...6 levels I think?  And you could generally get in a couple of levels per summer, since the lessons were once a week for 6 weeks if I recall correctly.  So it took about 3 years to finish the program.

Heffalump

scribe95 said:

We had a pool my entire childhood and I think I took lessons one summer. Once you know how to swim you don't need to keep going.

It depends on whether you want to swim well enough not to drown, or do it competitively.  My oldest swims as a sport and has been swimming for 4 years (not counting the mommy and me lessons we did when she was a toddler).  My youngest has been going once a week since April and is just getting to the point where he can coordinate his breathing with his strokes and kicking. 

I lived on the shores of Lake Michigan and did like 8 weeks of swim (twice a week, I think?) one summer, and that was the extent of my formal swim instruction.  I'm completely competent in the water, but my backstroke ain't pretty, and I can't do butterfly at all.

Jells2dot0

If my nephews want to become Olympic swimmers, then great! However, I don't see these 16 month old boys proclaiming their desire to be gold medalists any time soon. I'm thinking my brother and SIL just want them to have the basics at this point. 

MissKittyDanger

My coworker has her kids in swimming lessons. They're 5 and 7 now, and she plans on keeping them in. She went through it and ended up as lifeguard and wants the same option for her daughters - plus she feels swimming is a life skill.

Heffalump

Jells2dot0 said:

If my nephews want to become Olympic swimmers, then great! However, I don't see these 16 month old boys proclaiming their desire to be gold medalists any time soon. I'm thinking my brother and SIL just want them to have the basics at this point. 

Do they offer independent swim for 16 month olds in your area?  Just wondering, because places around here do not.  16 months is solidly Mommy & Me territory, and independent swim starts at 30 months (DS's program) to 3 years (DD's program). 

Depending on how you define the basics, I would be prepared to put in at least a year of weekly lessons, starting from the point at which they begin classes without a parent.

http://charlotteaquatics.com/classes/parent-child-classes/

http://swimmaccarolina.org/sites/default/files/documents/SwimSchool Level Descriptions.pdf

littlemushroom

Swim lessons was multi-year for me too. Each summer was one level. By the end you learned how to do forward crawl and hold your breath for x long. Beginners was front float, back float, etc. Last level did not mean you were good enough to be competitive, just taught you basics of certain strokes.

Being able to not drown is not the same as knowing how to swim which is not the same as being able to swim competitively.

kahluakoala

I took swim lessons for years but I loved it and also joined the swim team. I started them to learn how to be safe since we had a pool in the backyard. I continued because i loved to swim. 

SP29

There are usually various levels (leading up to life guard training), but they aren't all required to learn to swim. I did a few levels as a kid (I think I started in the toddler groups), and while I am not a great swimmer by any means, I can swim. I don't think either of my brothers took lessons, but they learned how to swim via parents.

OP's nephews sound pretty young. I would think a session or two worth would be enough to start them off for now.

lovesclimbing

I took swim lessons for years. I believe I was up to level 7 or 8. 

I had no goals of being a professional or competitive swimmer, but I think it's nice to be able to do the different strokes somewhat well even for casual swimming. 

I did go on to become a lifeguard for a couple years in high school. 

sparklepants41

I taught swim lessons (Red Cross, not YMCA) throughout high school and college (actually how H & I met). While the baby/toddler classes I honestly think are kind of a waste of $$, I highly recommend swim lessons for older kids. Not everyone will be on the swim team or make the Olympics obviously, but having confidence and strength in the water (being able to tread water, swim away from possible danger, etc.) is a valuable skill, IMO. 

TrixieJess

Jells2dot0 said:

kaos16 said:

Jells2dot0 said:

Thanks for the info!

My mom said they had not decided on where they will take their lessons. They just know they need to take them soon because they have a pool and are obviously concerned with safety. 

I had seen some rates on some websites but they were like $40/class or they broke the rates up into $x for 4 classes $x for 6 classes. I had no clue how many classes were sufficient or the norm. 

I would imagine, with having a pool especially, they would take a lot of lessons. I know here, living so close to the water, most children who take swimming lessons take them for years.

years??? Whoa! I grew up on a barrier island and only took them for one summer. I just can't remember how many times I went during that summer. 

My son is turning 4 this year and he takes swimming lessons two to three times a year. 

ETA: We live near a large body of water and have tons of friends and family who have pools. We needed him to be comfortable with water and able to tolerate life jackets. He'll also be learning how to sail in a couple of years. 

ILoveBeachMusic

I'm on my local YMCA's advisory board. One of our big initiatives is to get swim lessons to kids before 2nd grade because the school age that has the most incidents of drowning are 2-3rd graders! I'm glad see many of you are in favor of young swim lessons.

TrixieJess

I had my Bronze Star and Cross. I was qualified to be a life guard. Again, we spent summers at cottages and on massive bodies of water where people drown to death every year. 

vikinganna87

Kinda late to this thread but I feel like private swim lessons - especially for toddlers - sounds quite exclusive and spechul snowflakey.  I understand private lessons if you're an adult or have special needs or if you're trying to hone your craft at something you're decent at.  But isn't part of the point of swim lessons for kids the social interaction?  I swam competitively age 7-18 and at no point before or during that did I hear of anyone getting private lessons or even private coaching.  The Olympians got special training but little of it was 1-on-1 for the entire practice.

This is a great topic because I'm thinking a gift certificate to a neighborhood health club is a cool gift idea for the right type of person...

ei34

vikinganna87 said:

Kinda late to this thread but I feel like private swim lessons - especially for toddlers - sounds quite exclusive and spechul snowflakey.  I understand private lessons if you're an adult or have special needs or if you're trying to hone your craft at something you're decent at.  But isn't part of the point of swim lessons for kids the social interaction?  I swam competitively age 7-18 and at no point before or during that did I hear of anyone getting private lessons or even private coaching.  The Olympians got special training but little of it was 1-on-1 for the entire practice.

This is a great topic because I'm thinking a gift certificate to a neighborhood health club is a cool gift idea for the right type of person...

Swim lessons are more to teach a survival skill than to socialize, if we're talking about toddlers who are around pools a lot. If a two-year-old's parents wanted their child in private ballet lessons I may say that's special snowflaky, let the kid socialize.  May depend on the area, but by me (NYC/LI border), toddler swim lesson class sizes rarely go over four kids per class.  OP's twin nephews would take up half that class, at that point they'd be considered semi-private.

And just to chime in as other PP did on my own swim lesson experience- i took swimming lessons (like, learning how) for 6-8 weeks when I was quite young.  PP describing swim lessons that went on for years...I always thought that was being on a swim team 

Jells2dot0

vikinganna87 said:

Kinda late to this thread but I feel like private swim lessons - especially for toddlers - sounds quite exclusive and spechul snowflakey.  I understand private lessons if you're an adult or have special needs or if you're trying to hone your craft at something you're decent at.  But isn't part of the point of swim lessons for kids the social interaction?  I swam competitively age 7-18 and at no point before or during that did I hear of anyone getting private lessons or even private coaching.  The Olympians got special training but little of it was 1-on-1 for the entire practice.

This is a great topic because I'm thinking a gift certificate to a neighborhood health club is a cool gift idea for the right type of person...

When they were looking into different places that offer lessons, they were told that private lessons made the most sense because there are two of them, their age, and the reason behind the lessons. My brother and I were older when we took lessons and we did them in a group environment. He would not purposely keep his kids from socializing. 

climbingsingle

vikinganna87 said:

Kinda late to this thread but I feel like private swim lessons - especially for toddlers - sounds quite exclusive and spechul snowflakey.  I understand private lessons if you're an adult or have special needs or if you're trying to hone your craft at something you're decent at.  But isn't part of the point of swim lessons for kids the social interaction?  I swam competitively age 7-18 and at no point before or during that did I hear of anyone getting private lessons or even private coaching.  The Olympians got special training but little of it was 1-on-1 for the entire practice.

This is a great topic because I'm thinking a gift certificate to a neighborhood health club is a cool gift idea for the right type of person...

Private swim lessons are neither exclusive or "spechul snowflakey". I think it's a little ridiculous to say that.
My brother and I had private swim lessons (together) because my mom wanted us to learn for safety. We spent a lot of times around pools because our relatives had them. I grew up in a very blue collar family, where my parents worked multiple jobs. Trust that there was nothing exclusive about it. It was the best option to get us to quickly learn how to swim over one summer. This was not for us to learn to swim competitively. 

So, maybe don't make sweeping generalizations. Just a suggestion. 

TrixieJess

eileenrob said:

vikinganna87 said:

Kinda late to this thread but I feel like private swim lessons - especially for toddlers - sounds quite exclusive and spechul snowflakey.  I understand private lessons if you're an adult or have special needs or if you're trying to hone your craft at something you're decent at.  But isn't part of the point of swim lessons for kids the social interaction?  I swam competitively age 7-18 and at no point before or during that did I hear of anyone getting private lessons or even private coaching.  The Olympians got special training but little of it was 1-on-1 for the entire practice.

This is a great topic because I'm thinking a gift certificate to a neighborhood health club is a cool gift idea for the right type of person...

Swim lessons are more to teach a survival skill than to socialize, if we're talking about toddlers who are around pools a lot. If a two-year-old's parents wanted their child in private ballet lessons I may say that's special snowflaky, let the kid socialize.  May depend on the area, but by me (NYC/LI border), toddler swim lesson class sizes rarely go over four kids per class.  OP's twin nephews would take up half that class, at that point they'd be considered semi-private.

And just to chime in as other PP did on my own swim lesson experience- i took swimming lessons (like, learning how) for 6-8 weeks when I was quite young.  PP describing swim lessons that went on for years...I always thought that was being on a swim team 

To be fair, the classes for toddlers are usually rather small, no more than 5 children and they usually have 2 teachers per class. 

ETA: My brother and I took private lessons because it was easier on our parents to ensure that we took classes at the same time.