My 3 year old son and I came here last Saturday for his first ever swimming lesson with the Parent and me class. First of all, let me start with what I thought was good about the place. The water is heated, they have restrooms, a changing area and showers.
Okay, now on to why I only gave it 1 star. Coming in to the class, I was expecting less students with kids in the 2-4 age range. There were definitely more than 10 kids in this class not to mention a parent for each child for the one instructor, which I'm assuming is Daniel; he had an accent. Too many people in the water at once, kids splashing, talking, and crying all makes it hard to hear the instructor talking. Not to mention the other 3 one-on-one swim lessons going on at the other end of the pool. The age range was another issue. I had signed up for the Toddler Swim class which states ages 2-4. Part of the email I received...
"Your appointment for Long Beach Location-Toddler Swim 2yrs.-4yrs. (Long Beach) on Saturday, August 2, 2014 1:00pm PDT lasting 30 minutes has been successfully scheduled."
There was a mother there with her baby that looked about 8 months old and another mother with her son who clearly looked older than 6 years.
From the website..
"Please note that the lessons are a guide to assist scheduling a class only - each swimmer is taught according to their own individual level."
Not true, my son is deathly afraid of big swimming pools. Not sure why as he hasn't had experience with swimming pools in the first place, so he hasn't had a traumatizing event. I'm thinking it's a "can''t touch the ground" issue. Anyway, my son sat on the steps of the pool the whole time. Only once did the instructor try to get him in the pool by giving him a swim toy. My son took the toy and didn't get in. Now I know, it's going to be a slow approach with getting my son into the pool but what the website states and what is actually being taught is contradictory. No child in that class was getting taught by their individual level. Especially the mother with the baby.
About Us section on their website...
"We specialize in unique methodology, which combines a holistic and developmental approach."
Key word: HOLISTIC. Half way through the class, the instructor took one of the girls from her mother to do a demonstration and went about 4 feet away from the mother. The little girl started crying out loud and calling for her mom. The instructor continued to talk ignoring the girls crying. He even continued to demonstrate by holding her under her arms with his hands, dunked her under water with her crying still and "swam" her up to the wall of the pool, where he then gave her back to her mother and she continued to cry. WTF?! I watched the whole thing play out in front of me and that little girls mouth was open when he put her under the water. Holistic approach my ass. I can't imagine my son feeling encouraged to do the same after watching that.
Oh, one other thing... Why is the door to the restrooms/showers/changing area locked on the inside so that you have to walk all the way around back to the entrance. My son had to go pee before and during the lesson and it was annoying to have to walk all the around. Minor issue compared to the above. If none of the above happened, this wouldn't have kept me from returning.
I won't be returning with my son. I won't be getting my money back either as it's too late to cancel to get a full refund. Although I did pay using the Amazon Local deal so I'm not as disappointed in getting my money back as much as how this class turned out to be. read more