Aquatics 4U is a great choice for swim lessons for 4 main reasons:

       1) Safety: Each swim lesson is centered around safety. The #1 safety skill in swimming is floating the ultimate lifesaver.

      2) Skill: We focus on skills through each lesson and ensure that proper skills are being developed.  Including; Swim-float-swim, stroke development, underwater skills, and proper kick development.

      3) Fun: While in the beginning swim lessons may not always be the most fun, your instructor will assist swimmers in learning to enjoy lessons, be safe in the water, and be happy and proud of themselves.  Swimmers have fun in time! 

      4) Mindset:  We heavily focus on developing swimmer confidence and a positive mindset. We leverage the power of the competence/confidence cycle, which helps swimmers gain confidence as they become more competent, giving them additional confidence to continue to work at elevating their competence, skill, and comfort in the water.

See Our Approach for additional information

Mindset is everything. In the water, it is extremely important to have confidence in your skills while still respecting the water. In our lessons, children are not allowed to say that they can't do something, because they absolutely can. Speaking in a negative or doubtful tone automatically tells our brain that we are unable to do something. Their learning can become a lot more difficult if we allow negativity in our lessons. We always encourage our swimmers to be proud of themselves and believe that they can do anything they put their minds to. This does not only apply to lessons but to every area in life.

Strong-willed children often learn the fastest once they decide they want to learn. We are trained to work with crying and strong-willed children so they can still continue to learn safe water skills. Often time, they may be strong-willed out of discomfort or fear of the water. As a parent, it is your responsibility to keep them in lessons. We take each lesson step by step and ensure that we are not pushing them past what they can handle. However, if they cry it is normal and will pass within a few lessons. Remember, we customize our lessons to the child and find different teaching methods to best progress your child to succeed. We will see how your child operates in the water and discuss with you what we think the best way to handle your child in the lesson is.

First, you should know that you are making an amazing decision by putting your child in swim lessons. This will teach them a skill that could save their life and that they will carry for the rest of their lives. Not knowing how to swim can stop them from participating in many activities, especially in Florida. It can also be extremely dangerous. 

To prepare for a lesson make sure you know that this is best for them, even if they do not want to participate or are afraid. Our jobs as instructors are to get them over that hump and make swim lessons fun for them as time goes on. Prepare for the possibility that your child may whine or cry during the lesson. It is essential that you leave them in the lesson so they can keep participating and learn that lessons are important. In time, they will learn to enjoy the water and their lesson. 

Know that our ultimate mission is to serve our swimmers so that they can be safe in the water. We do not do anything to harm them or push them to a point they can't handle. We want what's best for their success. Before the lesson, please encourage them and let them know that lessons are important and fun. Your job is to be their biggest cheerleader from the side of the pool. Listen closely to the instructor's instructions, they may ask you to walk away or stay there and cheer them on. Remember, we only want what is best for their success. After the lesson, give your swimmer a big hug and let them know how proud you are of them. They need to know that they participated in something amazing and important.

Please make sure your swimmer has used the bathroom before the lesson, has their bathing suit on, and is ready to start the lesson. For students with long hair, make sure it is pulled back and out of their face. Use encouraging language so they are excited about their lesson!

Until your child is consistently and reliably potty trained PLEASE DOUBLE DIAPER! This means a disposable swim diaper AND a waterproof layer on top - reusable swim diapers over disposable diapers work well. This allows us to control accidents in the pool without having to shut down the entire pool. Please help us keep the pool clean! Make sure to bring a towel and a change of clothes if needed.

No, not until they start a more advanced level. Goggles can create problems in lessons. Also, your child needs to learn that having water in their eyes is okay and not scary.  If a child is conditioned to use goggles and were to fall into a body of water, there can be a possibility they will panic because having water in their eyes is a scary feeling.  Goggles will be used later on as their comfort and abilities in the water increase. But, until then they are not allowed in lessons.

Floaties can do more harm than good. They provide children with a false sense of buoyancy that can make them think they can swim when they cannot. Floaties also teach children to not respect boundaries in and around the water, and can often condition them to think they can do whatever they want.  It does not teach them what they can and can't do in the water.
This means that if that floaty comes off, they will likely not realize it is off and jump right in.
Children 3 years and under can lack that sense of awareness, causing them to sink straight down to the bottom, and not have any understanding of how to save themselves.  Additionally, floaties condition children to kick vertically which creates a bad habit that can be dangerous. To effectively kick, they need to learn to keep their head down so they will move forward to safety. A vertical kick will cause them to have a backward or stationary kick that can lead to drowning. Floaties also do not guarantee a child's safety in the pool, they can be dangerous if not accompanied by an adult. We encourage parents to not use floaties from the start of swim lessons so children can rely on their bodies to learn to swim safely.

Back floating is everything, a young child needs to learn this essential survival skill. Lifting your head to breath and kicking vertically can only last a few minutes with young children because they get tired. But, when you float on your back you can stay in that position much longer, which will lead to a greater chance of getting help. Submersion is also important so they learn what that feels like and learn how to get from that position to their backs.

This does not happen very often as we do our best to teach your child to hold their breath correctly however, it can and has happened!  As children - especially young babies - learn to hold their breath in the water they can swallow a lot of water.  This is NORMAL.  Throwing up from it is a reflex. They will soon move to swallow air and then figure out how to hold their breath. This is why we ask you not to have them eat before lessons. As their bellies are full of water they can throw it up. We do our best to frequently help them burp and empty that water out of their bellies and try to be sure they are emptied before we hand them off to you, but sometimes they may still throw up some water after lessons. 

As for dry drowning... Dry drowning is actually called secondary drowning and only happens AFTER a drowning incident where water has entered the LUNGS.  It happens when a person has had to be revived after a drowning.  In our lessons, the children will swallow water- but it is going into their bellies, not their lungs.

It depends on each swimmer. It also depends on your definition of “swimming.”   We believe there is always more to learn, no matter what age or level.  Becoming a strong and independent swimmer does take time.  It is important to be patient throughout this process, everyone will eventually achieve their goal through dedication and consistency.  We encourage you to keep students in as long as possible so they will continue to develop skills and become strong swimmers.

Yes! This is what we encourage. We want you to view swim lessons as your child's sport and recreation. There are many levels they can move through. It is our goal for Aquatics 4U to develop a developmental swim team and a competitive swim team in the future. Goal setting is an amazing way to keep your child engaged and excited to keep learning!

We try to keep our instructors with the same clients so they can mold their teaching style to the swimmer's needs.  However, if for some reason your instructor is switched out, don't worry our instructors are all trained the same way and will work on developing a relationship with your child.  This sometimes does happen if an instructor is covering a shift for another instructor.  Also, keep in mind that having the same instructor does have a lot to do with your schedule and what you choose to schedule for your lessons.  

We do not currently offer drop-in classes, but we will do our best to try to make it work for you scheduling-wise!

This year we will be closing in December-February.  Therefore, we are seasonal and teach lessons 10 months out of the year.

Yes, payments are made on a monthly/session basis.

Yes, we offer Military & First Responder discounts. Due to limited slots, we do not currently offer any outside discounts.  We do our best, however, to keep our prices fair!  For us, the most important thing is to keep your child safe.

If we know in advance we can make adjustments to your account.  We will either give excused makeup credits that you can use, or if we know before the next month is charged we can also prorate those classes.  We MUST know a week ahead of time if more than one class will be missed to be able to excuse all missed lessons.  

We have put in a cancellation policy for many reasons. Having an inconsistent schedule for your child can hinder their learning and change their behavior. Consistency is key! Also, we have a high lesson volume. Canceling lessons last minute hinders others from getting the opportunity to learn to swim. We do understand that things can pop up, emergencies happen, and sickness can occur. This is why we provide several options discussed in our cancellation policy section to help make it easier for everyone!  Please see our policies here.

No, we do not offer refunds. If there is an emergency and a session or several lessons need to be canceled, please make sure we are notified so we can credit this for future lessons. Any cancellations made by instructors for weather or emergency purposes will be made up or credited to future sessions as well.