One of the most important things St. Augustine Social parents should think about for their littles is swimming lessons. Safety around our gorgeous pools and beaches, and the ability to enjoy boat trips and time around the water worry-free is HUGE! I have a four-year-old daughter, and it wasn’t long after she was walking that I knew I needed a solid game plan. We frequent the beach and have a community pool, so any time near the water is heavily supervised, but I needed to know she had the skills to float and get out of the water if she found herself in an unsafe situation. 
We’d had her in the water since she was a baby, but it was time to get serious. We tried group classes, but they focused on confidence in the water, which was not our problem! If anything, I was concerned that she felt a little TOO good about herself in the water and didn’t recognize the dangers that were present for developing swimmers. 
Some of our friends had loved the group lessons, but our little socialite was too chatty to focus…plus I wasn’t loving the early morning rush every day to see her only get 10-15 minutes of attention in an hour session. A few others swore by ISR, but that wasn’t a fit for our family at that time. So after worrying and spending too much time doing research online, I came across AquaMobile Swim School. 
AquaMobile Swim School began in 2003 when Founder Diana Goodwin was frustrated by the lack of attention she was able to give her students in large, community center swim classes that she taught. She thought, “There must be a more effective way to teach in a comfortable learning environment that is also convenient for parents.” That is exactly what I was looking for! So I hopped on their website, entered my kid’s information, pool location, and payment info, and sat back and waited. Before you know it, I got a text from our instructor confirming the lesson time! So we were ready to go. The beauty of their program is not only that your kid gets one-on-one attention in his or her comfort zone… but you also can bring other kids along and get your tan on! 
Our instructor (Joanna M.) arrived with plenty of enthusiasm and swim toys to get my daughter excited. She started by going over safety on deck and preparing to enter the pool, and then had a wealth of skills to practice to get my baby safe in the water. Over the course of only three lessons, I was amazed to see her go from afraid to put her face in the water to a little fish! 
She also learned self-rescue skills like Monkey Climbing around the pool wall and “Butt Drops” to get her to the shallow end. And she loved every minute of it! I mean, what kid doesn’t love to say “butt” without getting in trouble? 
I never even had to beg or bribe to go to the lessons because she just loved Coach Jo.
Lessons ended with reviewing key skills and a few fun songs, plus one very happy Mom! You can find Aqua Mobile Swim School online here and on Facebook here.
