The past four months my seven-year-old and my three-year-old have been taking swim lessons at Goldfish Swim School in West Plano/ Carrollton, just outside of Dallas. They both look forward to their lessons every week and, to be honest, I look forward to them too!
Let me tell you why!
This blog post is sponsored by Goldfish Swim School in exchange for my children’s lessons. All opinions and experiences are my own.
We spend a lot of time in and around the pool every summer! We started lessons in February to prepare for the summer by getting a head start on pool safety knowledge. Also, it seems like every summer it takes little kids a few trips to the pool before they get comfortable and excited about swimming. I’m confident that by having my three year old in swim lessons now, we can eliminate his initial fears and bypass the ‘warming up to the pool’ phase and go straight to the fun!
Before I rave about all the great things at Goldfish Swim School, there are a few other points I should make you aware of. My complaints are few, and minor, but for the sake of transparency, I believe I should include them! The first thing I would change if I could is I would add daytime classes during the week at our location. I know evening and weekend class times are beneficial to a lot of people, but I would love to take my preschooler during the day instead of driving during rush hour. Speaking of driving, I also wish there was a Goldfish location closer to my home! Goldfish Swim School is in a great part of town, which unfortunately is a 45 minute drive for us. I do believe it is worth it though! I love that Goldfish meets each child where they are at, and guides them along at a pace that the child is comfortable with. My three-year-old, J, is very stubborn and resistant to trying anything new, and it’s because of this pace that J loves his lessons! However, from a parent’s perspective, I would love it if my child was pushed to progress a little faster. I brought this up with his teacher and who was very receptive to my feedback. As long as you clearly, respectfully, and realistically communicate your expectations, this shouldn’t be a problem!
Now I’m excited to share all the things I love about our swim lessons at Goldfish Swim School!
I love the variety of classes they offer, based on skill level. Both my boys are in classes that meet them where they are at and that challenge them to reach the next level.
We love that Goldfish has an indoor heated pool, which means no last minute change of plans due to weather, and no cold shivers getting in and out of the pool!
I love that every teacher is on the same page as to what the kids should be working on based on their class level. I meet with the teachers at the end of every class to discuss where my child is improving and what they still need to work on.
I love the facility. The facility is big, clean, bright, and cheery. The parents sit in the waiting room behind big windows to watch their children’s lessons. The waiting area provides books and puzzles for younger kids who may not be participating in the lesson, or to entertain kids until their lesson starts. After my children’s classes, I pick them up from the pool, walk them to the showers which are in the same room as the pool, give them their towels, then head to the changing rooms. I change them into dry clothes, then we take our suits to the swimsuit dryers. The facility also has bathrooms and hair dryers, making it easy to leave the lesson clean and ready for the rest of the evening.
My three year old has been working on gliding from the edge of the pool to the platform, holding his breath under water, floating on his back, and falling from the side of the pool, turning around, grabbing the edge, and pulling himself out. The instructors for his class sing songs and use phrases that appeal to younger children just learning to swim.
My seven year old’s lessons are very different. He can already swim, he loves the water and has no problem staying afloat or getting from point a to point b in a pool. However, he is scrappy and has no technique or knowledge or form when he swims. He’s been working on the correct ways to do backstroke, side breathing, and different ways to maneuver his body through the water.
Both my boys smile through their whole lesson and always seem to have fun no matter what they’re doing!
The classes are 30 minutes long and after the 30 minutes my boys are always so excited to tell me what their favorite parts were.
We only have a few more classes before our pool season starts here in Dallas! I’m so excited to see how my boys apply what they’ve learned in class to our days at the neighborhood pool! Let me know if you have any questions!
Gold fish school is a wonderful place for you children to learn to swim. The Swim Force swim team is a joke! Many of the kids do not swim well enough to be on a swim team. The main teacher in charge, Michael, talks entirely too much.
The bulk of the hour the kids are just standing in the water.
He should be removed or stop talking. If you are looking for a quality swim team do Not consider GoldFish in Johns Creek GA. IIt would be a waste of your money!
100% agree!
Staff at my location are 99% teenagers. On the phone when I called them they made it sound like these were swim instructors. After having issues with the school and 5 weeks of absolutely no progress because all they teach the kids is to play in the water, I found out that most are just kids who took lifeguard classes.
Hi, I have spent 3 pointless months with my 3 year old at the YMCA with very little progress. He is still testing into the very first level that Goldfish has to offer, which is frustrating. My kid is very comfortable and capable of pulling himself out of water. However, he hasn’t learned how to hold his breath under water. I just want to make sure Goldfish is the right fit for actually teaching the kids to swim. How long did it take your child to progress to level two and level three?
Hi Kally. I own a small, private swim lesson business in So Cal and I do not teach my kids how to hold their breath in the water but to blow slow bubbles and come up for air. All my 3 year olds are usually swimming the front crawl and floating on their backs after 8 1-hour hour lessons. Some are learning faster, depending on the child. I teach strictly American Red Cross curriculum.
This is an issue here in Florida as well!
My daughter was in the swim school 5 weeks and didn’t learn anything but how to play in the water. When I told then to move her to another class the teenage swim teacher told the manager whom is older than her that she isn’t ready to move up. Which is completely false! This swim school and their staff and curriculum is a joke! I would find a private swim instructor who is actually qualified! By the way I am just finding out that some of these teachers are not even qualified instructors they are only lifeguards.