Traditional Swim Lessons vs Survival Swim Lessons. Knowing the Difference!

By Water Safety Advocate & Aquatic Behavioral Specialist Audrey Harrer

One of the most common questions I get asked is in regard to the differences between Traditional Swim Lessons and Survival Swim Lessons. Parents, grandparents, aunties, uncles, caregivers and enthusiasts often want to know which type of lesson is best suited for their child's development and safety needs. Both types of lessons have their place and understanding the key differences can help you make an informed decision on the appropriate lesson type for your child.

What Are Traditional Swim Lessons?

Traditional swim lessons are structured to teach children how to swim in a progressive, rhythmic and step-by-step manner. These lessons focus on building a foundation of comfort in the water, learning basic skills like water acclimation, kicking, big arms and eventually progressing towards strokes. Once strokes are mastered then some instructors go on to work more on swim endurance and fine tuning techniques.

Key Features of Traditional Swim Lessons:

• Gradual Skill Development: Traditional lessons typically emphasize skill development over a longer period of time, starting with water acclimation, submersions, independent swimming and progressing to full swimming strokes like the freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and sometimes even butterfly & diving.

• Focus on Technique and Fitness: These lessons prioritize proper form, swimming efficiency, and overall physical fitness, with an emphasis on developing lifelong swimming skills.

• Class Structure: Lessons can be one-on-one private lessons or groups lessons with children of similar age or ability levels. These lessons might last 30 minutes to an hour and meet once or twice a week.

• Comfort and Confidence Building: One of the first goals in traditional lessons is to get children comfortable in the water. With time, they could learn to submerge their faces, swim independently, float on their backs and develop a sense of comfortability in the water.

Advantages of Traditional Swim Lessons:

• Comprehensive Development: They allow for a long steady progression of skills, giving children a chance to learn and master all facets of strokes.

• Social Interaction: Group settings encourage socialization, making lessons a fun and interactive experience.

• Long-Term Skill Building: With enough time and commitment, children develop swimming skills that can lead to participation in competitive swim clubs or simply recreational swimming for fitness.

  
  

What Are Survival Swim Lessons?

Survival swim lessons, on the other hand, focus specifically on the essential skills needed to survive if children ever reach the water alone. Unlike traditional lessons, survival swim programs are more frequent and often condensed into a several weeks (about 6) of intensive training. The emphasis is on life-saving skills, such as independent swimming, independent floating and independently getting into a float. These skills can help children save themselves if they were to find themselves in a dangerous situation (like falling into a pool or any body of water unexpectedly).

Key Features of Survival Swim Lessons:

• Focus on Water Safety & Self-Rescue: The primary goal of survival swim lessons is to teach a child how to survive if they ever fall into a body of water. This includes skills like independent swiming and floating, rolling to their back to float, resting while taking calm breaths in their floats, searching for an exit and calling for help. Children who complete survival swim lessons ultimately become Aquatic Problem Solvers.

• Age-Appropriate Techniques: Survival swim lessons can be started with infants as young as 6 months old and can go up to10 years old and older. Generally children that are under 12 month old and not yet walking with learn to immediately get to an independent float if they ever reach the water alone. Children that have a strong stable walk, typically 12 moths old or older, will learn the swim-float-swim sequence. All children in these types of classes will be taught self-rescue techniques. These lessons are made to be age and developmentally appropriate. Lessons are one-on-one and are tailored to each child’s individual needs.

• Intensive and Short-Term: These lessons are often shorter in duration about 10-15 mins a day, several days a week and typically last about 6 weeks on average. The focus is intense and it also incorporates child development, child psychology, behavioral sciences and sensorimotor learning.

• Real-World Application: Skills taught in survival swim lessons are meant to be applied in real-world situations. While the emphasis is on survival, once completing the program many children will move on to developing basic swimming strokes and skills. Children that go through survival swim lesson first will end up learning strokes, especially freestyle and backstroke, even faster than those going straight into Traditional Swim Lessons.

Advantages of Survival Swim Lessons:

• Immediate Life-Saving Skills: Children in survival swim lessons learn life-saving techniques very quickly, which can be a critical advantage in preventing drowning incidents.

• Quick Results: Parents can often see results in a very short period—sometimes within just a few lesson or a couple weeks.

• Peace of Mind: Survival swim lessons are often seen as a necessary investment for parents who want to ensure their child is prepared for aquatic emergencies, even before they are ready for traditional lessons.

• Additional Water Safety Education: Survival Swim Instructors are often times Water Safety Advocates. Therefore, a great Survival Swim Instructor will also education parents and children on how to be safe in and around water. Providing additional tips and resources to keep the whole family water safe.

  
  

Key Differences Between Traditional and Survival Swim Lessons:

1. Purpose:

   • Traditional Lessons: Focus on building all-around stroke swimming ability for fitness, leisure or competitive purposes.

   • Survival Lessons: Focus on water safety and self-rescue skills, teaching life-saving techniques that can be used in emergencies.

2. Approach:

   • Traditional Lessons: Progressive, with an emphasis on stroke technique, endurance, and long-term skill development.

   • Survival Lessons: Intensive, short-term lessons focused on survival techniques that can be used immediately in a crisis situation.

3. Duration:

   • Traditional Lessons: Can last for many months or even years, depending on the child’s progression and goals.

   • Survival Lessons: Typically 6 weeks, with frequent lessons during each week to quickly learn and master essential survival skills.

4. Age Group:

   • Traditional Lessons: Suitable for children and adults of all ages, with different programs for different stages of skill development.

   • Survival Lessons: Can be started as early as 6 months and can go all the way up to adults. Making sure anyone can learn these skills in order to prevent drowning.

5. Environment:

   • Traditional Lessons: Can be one-on-one or group classes. They often take place in larger pools with a focus on long term development, social learning and fun.

   • Survival Lessons: Are one-on-one personalized instruction with the goal to gain independent life saving skills at the end of a session in about 6 weeks.

     
     

Now, Which One is Right for Your Child?

The decision between traditional swim lessons and survival swim lessons ultimately depends on the parent's goals for your child's safety and swimming journey.

• For Parents Prioritizing Water Safety: If your primary concern is ensuring your child knows how to survive in the water in the event of an emergency, survival swim lessons are an excellent choice. Especially for younger children since drowning is the leading cause of death for ages 1-4 years old wordwide. Survival swim lessons provide vital life skills that can give you peace of mind, knowing that your child can swim, float and self-rescue in any dangerous aquatic situation.

• For Families Looking for Water Acclimation and Long-Term Comprehensive Skill Development: If you're looking to build your child's swimming skills in a gradual, well-rounded way, then traditional swim lessons are another path to learning how to swim. These lessons are ideal for developing strokes techniques, stamina and the foundations for swimming.

Many parents also choose to incorporate both types of lessons into their child's swimming journey: beginning with survival swim lessons for water safety and progressing onto traditional lessons to refine and expand their swimming strokes and abilities. Remember, children going through survival swim lessons FIRST will learn strokes faster than those starting with only traditional swim lessons. This is because through survival swimming, children have already master independent swimming and floating. Just like you must teach a child to walk before they can run. **Note: the rollback to float in survival swimming is the same skill used for side breathing in freestyle. So yes, survival swim students tend to have a beautiful freestyle with side breathing. This balanced approach of survival swim lessons FIRST then traditional swim lessons SECOND, ensures that children are safe in the water first and then equipped with the more advanced swimming skills to continue to progress into strong, confident swimmers as they grow. While also opening the door to future and more advanced aquatic opportunities.

Final Thoughts

Both traditional swim lessons and survival swim lessons are important and both play crucial roles in a child’s aquatic education. If you could only go with one type of program or pick which program to go with first then survival swim lessons is the obvious winner. Programs such as Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) Survival Swim Lessons have over 800+ documented cases of children that have gone through their program and used their survival skills to save themselves in an aquatic emergency. So yes, it works! Safeguarding your child from drowning should be ever parents ultimate and primary goal. Traditional swim lessons definitely have their time and place. They are perfect for children who are already water safe and posses survival swim skills. I like to remind parents that in order to start strokes you need to make sure your child is water safe, age appropriate and developmentally ready. As an experienced aquatic professional, I personally have found about 4 years and up to be the perfect age to learn strokes. Yup so sorry mom and dad your son is not going to be the next Michael Phelps, mastering freestyle and backstroke at the age of 2 years old. At least not yet. We will work on that of course once your child is water safe FIRST!

I also believe that any swim lesson program is better than no swim lessons. So if you aren't ready to make the commitment or you do not have survival swim lessons near you, then exposing your child to water as much as possible and participating in some type of swim lesson program is better than nothing. Participation in formal swimming lessons is associated with an 88% reduction in the risk of drowning in the 1-4 year old range for children (National Institute of Health).

What I like to do is make sure families know the facts and are able to make the best decision possible for their own family. As a Water Safety Advocate, yes I am biased. I want to put an end to drowning and make every child water safe! Overall, I am here to support my community in every family's aquatic journey. Mahalo (thank you!) for taking the time to read and educate yourself. Please reach out if you ever have any questions in regard to water safety, swim lessons, drowning prevention or anything water!