Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Classes: Water Tots & Water Babies

~A post from Daddy!

It looks like LG and I are on the waiting list for Water Tots this time around. Make sure to sign up in the early morning whenever registration begins. (this reminds me of the competition for classes in college!)

Although I won't be swimming on Saturday mornings this spring, I figured I might as well post an overdue review of the classes.

I really enjoyed both Water Tots and Water Babies. It gave me an assigned time with my daughter every week and gave her something to look forward to doing with daddy. I also learned the delicate skill of changing a diaper on a locker room bench.

Water Tots is designed for kids ages 1.5 to 3 years old and teaches them some basic swimming skills like paddling and kicking and just gets them more time in the water. Water Babies is for babies 6 months to 1.5 years. The only major difference is the skills you are working on, with the Babies class mostly focused on getting used to the water and having fun in it.

The classes are fairly small (about 8 kids if I remember correctly) and only last about 30 minutes. Adults get in the water with their child and move them around the water while the instructor tells you what activity/skill to be working on. LG most enjoyed playing with the toy ducks and doing the hokie pokie each week. She also got pretty good at kicking and paddling by the time the class was done.

There are lockers in the changing rooms, so I recommend bringing a lock to keep your gear in. I took the class at Washington-Lee HS and always found parking available.

Oh and kids are required to wear a swim diaper. I brought a training diaper by accident once and LG's bathing suit blew up like a balloon.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Water-Tots Class through Arlington County Parks and Recreation is an "Awesome" class. I am taking this class currently at Washington-Lee HS pool in Arlington, VA on Saturday morning. The instructor Liz Coleson is a very knowledgeable instructor. Her classes are very educational for parents and develop children's gross motor skills. The class educates parents on how to help children to enjoy the water and help children reduce developing a fear of the water. This is the only water tot class that I have ever taken where I have submerged my child and my 2 year old now swims 5 feet to the wall, can crawl out of the pool and loves to jump in. If you have a chance to enroll your child in one of her classes, It is well worth the time and is an affordable as a county program. There are classes starting in April but Registration is at the end of March. Go online the first minute it opens because she has over 30 children on her waiting list if you miss the first hour of registration.
Make sure you have your household number before the day of registration, You don't even have to live in Arlington County to enroll in these classes at no additional cost! Go To Web Site -
http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/ParksRecreation/scripts/classes/

Map of Parks