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By Chris DeJong, Founder & President, Big Blue Swim School
My mom enrolled me in swim lessons when I was five years old. I’ll be honest with you—my first lesson did not go well. The pool was cold and echoey, the class was crowded, and I was scared. I went home not wanting to go back.
But I did go back. And somewhere in those early lessons, something shifted. I stopped being afraid of the water and started feeling at home in it. By the time I was eight years old, I was competing. By the time I was in college at the University of Michigan, I was on the U.S. National Team.
Swimming gave me so much more than strokes and speed. It gave me discipline. It gave me drive. And above all, it gave me confidence—the kind of confidence that starts when you are very young, in a pool, doing something hard, and discovering that you can.
That is what I have spent the last decade building at Big Blue Swim School. And it starts with toddlers.
Why Start Early?
People sometimes raise an eyebrow when I tell them we start swim lessons at three months old. But there is nothing arbitrary about that number. The earlier a child is introduced to the water in a positive, supportive environment, the more natural it becomes. Comfort in the water is not something you are born with. It is something you build. And the best time to build it is before fear has a chance to take root.
I was lucky. Even though my first lesson scared me, I had a mom who kept bringing me back and a teacher who helped me find my footing. Not every child gets that second chance. Some kids have one bad experience and spend the rest of their lives anxious around water. We can change that. Starting early, with the right approach, we almost always do.
Confidence Is the Real Lesson
When parents ask me what their toddler will learn in swim lessons, they expect me to talk about kicks and strokes. And yes, those things matter. But they are not the most important thing we teach.
The most important thing we teach is confidence.
When a toddler pushes off the wall and makes it to the other side for the first time, something happens in that child that goes way beyond swimming. They learn that they are capable. That hard things can be done. This lesson does not stay in the pool. It follows them into every classroom, every sports team, every challenge they will ever face.
I have said it many times: I might not have made it to the Olympics, but swimming still gave me the confidence to start my own business. To build something from nothing. To keep going when it was hard. That is something no one can take away from me. And it is something every child deserves.
Safety Is Not Optional
Water safety is not an abstract concept. It’s a fact of life.
Per the CDC, drowning is one of the leading causes of accidental death in young children. That is a fact, and I never shy away from it. But here is the other fact: it is largely preventable. A child who knows how to move toward safety, how to float, how to stay calm in the water is a child whose parents can breathe a little easier at every pool party, every beach trip, every backyard barbecue with a body of water nearby.
Swimming is a lifesaving skill. And the best time to learn a lifesaving skill is before you ever need it.
What We Do Differently
When I started teaching swim lessons, I knew what I wanted every child to feel when they got out of that water: capable. Excited. Ready to come back.
That is still the standard at every Big Blue Swim School today. Our instructors go through 100 hours of training before they ever teach a lesson on their own. Our classes are small, so every child gets real attention. Our approach is built around meeting each child exactly where they are, building comfort first, then confidence, then skill.
A Note to Parents Who Are on the Fence
I understand the temptation to wait. Life is busy. Toddlers are a handful. Getting everyone out the door and into swimsuits is not always the path of least resistance.
But I think about my mom, who kept bringing me back to the pool even after that first cold, scary lesson. She had no idea she was raising a five-time national champion. She was just a mom who knew her kid needed to learn to swim. That decision, made early, changed the entire course of my life.
Your child will probably not end up racing at the Olympic Trials. That is not the point. The point is that every child who learns to swim early gains something that stays with them forever: comfort in the water, safety around it, and the deep-down knowledge that they can do hard things.
That is worth getting out the door for. We will take it from there.
Ready to get started? Sign up today and let’s build something great, one stroke at a time.