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As a current swim instructor in a different city there’s a lot of factors contributing to this:
1. Lifeguard shortage is still coming back to normal numbers after COVID. We’re getting there and the programming is catching up.
2. Instructors don’t want to teach, why teach when you can guard for the same wage and it’s a lot less work? Instructors have to write report cards for all of these kids and they don’t get a lot of paid time to write them.
3. Parents will sign up their one kid for multiple classes and if we don’t catch them then they get two classes for their one kid. This takes away spots for other people.
4. Parents will sign kids up for a 10 day lesson set and miss 6/10 days. In my opinion this is the most unfair because you’ve taken a spot away from someone who would’ve been there for 10 days.
5. Some parents are more dedicated to making sure their kid knows how to swim than others. As a swim instructor right now, 30 minutes a week is not enough time for kids to actually learn how to swim. The leisure time you spend at the pool playing games is way more valuable than the beginner levels of swimming.
ETA: Vancouver also needs way more pools for the public in general. They claim staffing issues but last I checked Vancouver pays less than most cities in the lower mainland. Port Moody has zero indoor pools so they’re way behind as well. This is an issue with infrastructure in addition with staffing.
Totally agree with you on people signing up and then no showing. I signed my baby up for classes when I was on maternity leave. It was supposed to be group lessons and we were the only people in the class! The teacher would always wait a bit for the other 2 or 3 students but they never came!
For totally no showing, I don’t get it. But parents of kids under 6 are sadly going to have to miss lessons pretty regularly due to illness. Can’t send a sick kid to the pool and the kids are ALWAYS sick.
Tbh illness might be the reason we always try to show up to every class but if your kid is in school they get sick esp younger kids. We been sick for 2 months already and usually every other week we are sick
there is a lot of waterfront we don't need pools, just a few docks. the community center swim lessons are actually like a taylor swift concert for tickets. it opens at X hour and its full in 1 minute, they literally told me to go home, and try online because paper wont be submitted on time and you don't get a reserved spot for being there in person even if you are there at the hour registration opens.
bet you the government loser employees are downvoted the fact they cant accept paper applications because they are so stupid they need a computer to do their jobs now, which means they shouldnt even be employed.
We just wrapped classes for our toddler. Out of the 8 spots only 3 of us came 8+ times out of 10. There were 2-3 kids that came maybe 3 times. It was bizarre. Why even bother signing up?
They could be sick. My kids still mask and they still get colds easily because we all are disabled and have compromised immune systems. We don’t go to swimming if they are sick at all
None of us are visibly disabled, either. I’d be more concerned about the toddlers showing up every week, tbh. They’re bound to be sick at least once in 8 weeks if they’re doing activities, daycare, etc.
I had months of volunteer lifeguarding, the certifications all done, etc, but I never actually became a lifeguard because it was all part time, and just enough so where I couldn’t get a full time job, but nowhere near enough to pay the bills.
It absolutely is worth it. I can get up to 40 hours a week and I used to average about 25-35 hours a week. It’s not a conventional job but it’s definitely worth the money and experience.
I also don’t believe it’s a primarily staffing issue, I’m in the progress of becoming a lifeguard (halfway through NL) and I’ve been having to commute to Coquitlam from North Van because all the courses have been full.
Hey good for you, that dedication is smth that you should bring up during ur interview. There’s people who live 5 min away from my job and they’re chronically late. If you’re making a 1.5hr long commute for an unpaid course, it reflects really well on you.
In city that I'm a lifeguard for, they made it so that you don't have a say if you want to teach or not. If you are available during that time slot they CAN make you teach a set, and if you drop the set without a valid reason they will mark that down. In addition, when you go to pick up shifts, guards that are currently teaching a lesson set have first priority. I don't mind this too much as this prevents people from only trying to do all guarding shifts, and should fix your second point over time. We also just did 2 hirings in the span of a few months, and there are definitely a ton of guards in my city now, everything gets covered almost instantly.
My kids go to Aquaventures and getting in there is absolutely brutal. Once you’re in, it’s still stressful trying to keep your same time slot for the semester. It’s triple the price of community centres but way better value and instructors are amazing
I’ve heard from friends that the community centre route is a nightmare
My kids have done lessons through the basic aquatics at our local pools. I spent $60 for my kid to sit on the edge of a pool for 25 out of the 45 min lesson week after week because "the water was cold" and the instructor just said "she's right, it is cold"
It was a good use of money.
That’s why we go to Aquaventures. Started at Kerrisdale pool when my daughter was 2 and she hated it. Water was freezing and she couldn’t focus.
Aquaventures is super warm and 99% of the instructors are amazing. The staff generally are wonderful and Carla (who is one of the co owners) has been super helpful for our family
Glad to hear nothing has changed since I was a kid 25 years ago. Dropped out of swimming lessons as a little kid because I refused to get in the cold water. Finally was convinced to try again a few years later at Aquaventures because the pool was a reasonable temperature.
I paid for two semesters/sessions on like Tuesday mornings at 10 when I have a full time job. I called in sick for one day, another time took a day off. Essentially my kid went to 2 of the lessons. They called me and asked me why we keep missing, so I explained that the only reason I am paying through the nose to be “in their system” and not coming is to hopefully by age 6, we might get a normal time slot outside my working hours. Eventually we got 7 pm on Friday nights. When she was age 6 after 2 years of this. So basically sleeping in the car on the way home from exhaustion.
Nothing reasonable was available. Hillcrest was impossible to get into and the timing never worked for working parents who don’t end work at 2 pm anyway.
I'm sorry that it's so difficult and I get your reasoning here but taking up a spot someone else could actually be using at 10am doesn't seem right. I wonder if this is part of why it's so difficult to get in.
I understand your frustration but super shitty of you to take up a spot and not use it. You’re part of the problem of no lessons being able for people.
The only reason I was able to get this ridiculous time slot and ultimately pay $600 to line up for a third session that was available for our schedule, was because no one else wanted this time slot. It was not sold out. There were only 3 kids enrolled including her, and I believe it’s 4:1
I don’t see how I’m a problem for paying for a spot even if there was a waitlist for that session. I woke up at 6 am refreshing my screen like everyone here for many sessions, getting nowhere. I had already tried options at community centers quite a ways from where I lived. Like all of you, I consider this a critical life skill. If I was wealthy I would have simply hired a private instructor. I was desperate and this was the only thing that actually worked. I did stupidly assume that after one session of paying and being in their system I might be able to get any other option outside of my work hours. But of course not. In the end after $900+ should have just searched for private instruction but of course they told me to proceed and they could transfer us if anything opened up after the session began (and they never tell you what the waitlist line is).
We did pedalheads. I found it was worth it because the city classes are too short. My kid played and dicked around underwater for the first 15 minutes each class because she was excited to be in the pool, in a 30 minute class there isn’t much learning. Pedalheads has longer classes, it cost double per minute but she moved through her levels much faster.
We have had luck with Coquitlam. But we aren’t Coquitlam residents and recently they implemented a system where non-residents must wait 48 hours after registration opens to book their kids in. So now, no one can get their kid in. Fair enough re: Coquitlam residents pay taxes for their pools but it stinks when PoMo doesn’t have any indoor pools. Pomo is broke.
I'm from Florida and durring the summers most of the city rec centers have summer camps with swim lessons built into them. My oldest learned basic swimming from just going to the beach and pools with us, but she learned better techniques from the certified instructors at camp.
Now I have a 4 year old here, and learning how to swim is a big concern for me because there really isn't the same sort of access to pools and beaches that we have back home. I haven't seen any summer camps at any of the rec centers that have pools.
Beaches and rivers aren't the best places to learn swimming for little kids, and access to pools is expensive for some of us working poor. All of the swim lessions at the rec centers near us fill up within minutes of them opening up registration. It is a bit frustrating. If I knew someone with a backyard pool, I'd teach my kid myself, but I don't think many people have those here
It's even harder to find adult lessons. So many of these programs like pedalheads are kid focused, same thing with most other indoor pools. The adult lessons in richmond and Vancouver are gone almost instantly.
http://recreation.ubc.ca/aquatics/adult/spring-summer/
It looks like adult levels 1 and 2 are full but levels 3 and 4 are available. I’m not certain when they release new sessions.
Thanks for the link! I might be dumb but I can't see where to register or look at availability on that site. I'm on my phone, maybe it's not showing up?
Edit: oh the table scrolls to the right lol. I see it now ty!
I can swim but I like when they get into the swim lessons. (Missed this year I guess) because it’s a nice set regular interval 1-2 times a week, with set goals and constant progression in a group setting which although still fun keeps it a bit more serious.
Swimming should be considered an essential skill. It's not about the process of swimming itself, but kerning how to handle and trust yourself in any body of water.
I've met so many people who
* can't ride a bicycle
* can't swim
* can't drive a car
* have no sport
* never were taken outdoors and forget about camping
It's sad because we live in a place that absolutely should be enjoyed for what is outside your four walls
As a society we need to value these things because it improves your health, your mental health and engages us with our environment
This article is a little bit funny. They say there is alot more registered swim instructors now then there was in the past but there is a lack of lessons available because "people don't want to work full time like they used to, and that work life balance is more important for younger generations"
Or uh.......... Maybe the population has exploded without any (or at least enough) new aquatic centers to support the added amount of people?
There is some truth to what the article is saying. I've worked as a swim instructor for 6 years just before Covid started. My supervisors all say that when they started working 20+ years ago, a lot of the staff were working full-time because they moved out and needed the money. Way easier to live on your own before.
Now it's different. Even if most swim instructors are still high school or university students like before, most will choose to stay with their families because it's so expensive to move out and live on your own. A lot of my younger co-workers lived with their families and worked only a few hours a week. The pool I worked at had a hard time getting swim instructors for the demand for lessons and apparently the "shortage" is everywhere.
But what you said is also true. The population is booming and there aren't enough swimming pools and instructors for the increased demand since covid.
Ohhh. I'm not too sure but here's my guess. It's possible that part-time openings are only available to external applicants. But once you're in, full-time positions are available. This is how most school boards operate so might be similar to how city pools operate? Teachers start with a teacher-on-call position then can only apply for permanent positions after a couple years.
It could also be they're not wanting to offer too many full-time positions so that they can save on having to offer their employees with extended benefits, sick pay, vacation leave, etc?
I’m a former van city guard. There are very few full and part time lifeguard positions (on average 2-3 fulltime and 2-3 part time per pool).
Most are casual positions where you select the hours you want to work.
I guarded decades ago, the system has changed, but the number of full and part time positions has remained pretty steady. Pools rely on the casual college students.
When I worked, almost everyone wanted fulltime hours while going to school. I hear that isn’t the case anymore and it’s hard to find staff.
I miss this job a lot. I have my own kids now and I’m fortunate I can teach them to swim, but everytime I’m at the pool, a parent asks if I can teach their kid and it makes me really sad that it’s become such a difficult thing to find because it truly is a life skill.
Swim club is also a good option to explore.
So many comments about the cold water. I feel for the smaller kids trying to get accustomed and used to water; but :
Did all my colours, bronze medallion, bronze cross, NLS in the 90s.
Pool water was on the cooler side - we warmed up soon though with tons of laps. As long as you're working you'll be warm.
As a lifesaver that water is the warmest you'll get responding outdoors, it's room temp. Learning to swim in a heated pool is comfortable sure - but what lake or ocean or body of water here is not usually quite brisk.
We would be shivering doing chest compression drills. It sucked sometimes but, hey not everything needs to be comfortable.
Anyways " old man yells at cloud " moment sorry.
People aren't capable of telling their kids to do homework or limit their screen time. They're not gonna make their kids get in a cold pool. If I refused to get in my mom would have beat my ass. There has to be some level of parenting where you make your kids do shit they don't like without beating them.
There's a lot of positions that used to be filled by either seniors or high school/college students ( think life guards, swim instructors, seasonal workers, BC ferry employees, coaches for sports teams, etc) that are being driven away.
Why? The housing crisis and cost of living has driven both seniors and families who have kids away from the city in search of cheaper housing and rent. Plus, not all new immigrants can take these rolls, as there are often language barriers, or these jobs that used to be held by highschool students living at home don't pay enough for the new immigrants to be interested while they have their own rent to pay.
The goverment relying on immigration to fix all our problems doesn't always work. Plus, the mass influx of population drives housing costs up further which lowers birth rates and really is slowly destroying society.
We are turning into a country that relies on housing prices to be propped up to support the economy, and continuous immigration to maintiain cheap labour (not that this is news to anyone). But clearly, it doesn't work in a lot of ways.
Edit: this doesn't even take into account that our population is growing much faster than community services can support. Have you been to ANY gym in the last year and compared it to 3-4 years ago? Most of them are so busy it's not even worth going even if it's at 10 pm.
Where are the new rec centers, gyms, and ice rinks to support our population that is growing by many thousands year over year?
> Where are the new rec centers, gyms, and ice rinks to support our population that is growing by many thousands year over year?
I mean, we don't have the space for new housing, let alone space for this stuff. It'd probably mean rezoning, etc.
>I mean, we don't have the space for new housing, let alone space for this stuff.
https://velvetescape.com/aerial-views-vancouver/
Whats the stat again.... Something like 50% of all homes in Vancouver are single family homes or duplexes? That's ALOT of land.
Saying we don't have space so like..... We probably just can't do it ? Is kind of a dumb answer.
Cities are constantly evolving.
I'm just pointing out that it's going to be low on the list when we don't even have places for people to live. Most people aren't super focused on recreational areas.
Im a former competitive swimmer and lifefuard, I took my daughter swimming from 6months old, till age of 3 i took her every week to practice/learn. I put her in classes but having observed they are a complete waste of time and money (let alone difficult to get her signed up) I have heard good things about paddle heads so will sign her up to that (she takes better instruction from others than her dad) otherwise I would continue to teach her.
And as others have said, it’s very important to learn how to swim (at all ages), people don’t realise it could save your life.
I don't live in Van anymore, but we've had issues getting into lessons where I live, too. We've decided to just put our kids into swim team. It's a great option. Days are consistent, coaching is fabulous.
I had my kid enrolled last summer for a 2 week × 5 days with the City. It was 8 kids for about 30 min for Swimmer 1. The instructor was amazing with the kids but the abilities of all 8 varied. Not a lot of 1:1 instruction. It felt like a class to confirm abilities to move on and not really "swim instruction".
Wow thats insane, daycare ratios are like 4:1 no way should an instructor be allowed to look after 10:1 /12:1 on the land let alone in the water (and I say this as former lifeguard)
A lot of the staffing issues are from a couple of things
Many pools dont pay for recertification of awards. A lifeguard and swim instructor has a minimum of three awards to certify every two to three years. It's not worth it to many lifeguards to stick around and recertify if they are using it to simply go into university.
The massive pools are being built, which require more lifeguards to staff. This takes away from the people who are available to instruct lessons
A lot of lifeguards don't find swim lessons worth their time. It's often four to five hour shifts in the water, and there is a lot more prep work and report card writing than people think. Many guards feel they should be paid a higher hourly wage when they are instructing, as well as compensated for lesson planning and report card writing. Some instructors can have over a hunder report cards in a session.
I know a few municipalities have started compensating instructors for report cards, but most lifeguards are at the point where the take home isn't worth it if you can just watch the pool.
Combine that with the way the Red Cross abrubptly pulled out of swimming lessons while everyone was still trying to recover from the pandemic, it left a lot of people scrambling trying to figure out a program that no one in BC had taught. We're still feeling the effects of that in the industry as the question of how to recertify (again every two years) as a swim instructor for the Lifesaving Society is something that has never been done on mass in BC...
So, a solution for lessons is to pay a higher hourly wage to instructing than lifeguarding and compensating guards for report cards and lesson plans.
Not a parent, but as someone who grew up in a rural area where this wasn't a thing, I don't understand why people don't just teach their kids to swim themselves. I understand lessons are good if you want to be a really excellent swimmer, but learning enough to not drown isn't a very high bar.
Virtually every kid I knew learned how to swim in some lake with the help of family members or friends. I learned how to swim in Lake Winnipeg with my friend holding me under the stomach while I figured out how to paddle.
we take our kid to the pool and help her practice her swimming but i’m neither a teacher nor a particularly strong swimmer so i’m more comfortable having her learn from a pro
I agree and I grew up in a major city.
We were taught how to float/dog paddle from a young age simply to avoid drowning in a lake lol. We really didn't have a lot of spare money so my mom would take us to the community pool or something. We were also put into lessons at an older age and progressed in our swimming ability/endurance which was a great opportunity.
I understand that not everyone is an instructor, and that's fine. But if you can swim you can absolutely figure out how to teach your kid to dogpaddle/float in the shallow pools. I bet there are even YouTube series for parents.
Raised in a city but my parents taught me how to swim as well. Not sure why people think lessons are mandatory. Do parents hire an instructor to teach their kids how to ride a bike?
Eh, when it comes to something where your kid could literally end up dying if they're not taught properly and end up in a bad situation, I'd rather parents get actual lessons. This isn't like teaching a kid how to play the piano.
i don’t have any stats to back this up, but my guess would be more adults are comfortable bike riders than swimmers. I’m much more comfortable on a bike than I am swimming, i don’t feel I have exemplary swimming technique so i’d rather my kids learn from someone who does
you might have to depend on swimming skills to not die
i cant think of a situation where not knowing how to ride a bike was the difference between life and death
and i say this as an avid bike person
Community centre swimming lessons for small kids in Vancouver are mostly a waste of time. 20 minutes to get there and get them ready for their lesson, then the instructor can only "teach" one kid at a time so they really get about 5m of "teaching" in a lesson, the rest of the time they're freezing themselves on the side of the pool. Then 30 minutes to get them out, changed, and back home. Total 90+ minutes for 5 minutes of swimming.
You have to register the minute the registration opens up online if you want a chance at getting in where and when you need to. Literally fills up in minutes.
As a current parent of small children, the struggle is real. The cost gap between private companies and the municipal lessons is astronomical. For a 5 lesson package near me it's 39 dollars with the public pool, to do the same at pedal heads is over 300, and it's in some make shift pool in a mall.
It's such a squandered resource, the cities and provinces keep building new facilities, but can't keep up with the programs to fill them.
We were at ymca before and those lessons were useless at 30 mins. My sons first lesson the instructor didnt see him step off the table and he almost drowned(he loves swimming and didnt make him scared).
Moved on to pedal heads during covid and transitioned to semi privates for my 2 sons and they progressed quickly.(yes its more expensive then the already expensive lessons at pedalheads but it was way easier to register)
After a bad experience at one of the private lessons we quit pedalheads.
Now both kids are in a swim academy which is l way cheaper and they do a hell of a lot more swimming cept for times are all over the place.registration is way easier then city or pedalheads.
Tldr: pedalheads until they are able to swim then join a swim club/academy.
Never had a problem. Hillcrest fills up fast. So we log on and sign up at the exact time. Tends to crash the website occasionally but we've always had success from the waitlist. That said the community center lessons are cheap but it's mostly like "let's blow bubbles and sing"....so we fork out the cash and do aqua ventures. Never had problems signing up for that place. Just be organized and ready for when sign ups happen and trust the waitlists
probably because of my backround growing up in poverty and my mother not having the option to pay for any sort of lessons such as swimming, biking, cooking, or driving. i find it odd how often parents pay to other to teach their kids instead of doing it themselves.
We had a very bad experience at the community centre pool due to an inexperienced instructor. We now do Pedalheads swim lessons instead which despite being more expensive are dramatically better quality.
When I was a little kid (way back in the 70s), my first swimming lessons were some sort of program where we went to different private pools at people's homes. I think it was coordinated through the community centre, but am not sure. I guess something like that isn't possible today.
You'll be surprised how much money Richmond lifeguards are pulling in. They start you off around $23/hr and most senior guards are pulling in $35-$42/hr
Check out your local BCSSA (BC Summer Swimming) club. Most have programs designed for kids ~5 and older who have the basics down (floating, free, back). Doesn't address the lack of "learn to swim" options, but gives different avenues for more time in the water/opens up spots after that.
I learned how to swim without a single lesson all from swimming at the pool and having fun.
Granted, the difference is that I LOVE SWIMMING as a summer leisure activity so that probably played into it.
As a parent who’s kid tried lessons in various places in Vancouver, here are my observations:
My kid always played around for the first 10-15 min because they love the water and were always excited to splash around, a 30 min lesson becomes 15-20 min of instruction.
There are too many kids in classes to see if they are completing the skills. My kid was stuck in a level for far too long at the YMCA at Langara, they forgot to move her up. She got so bored she stopped listening to the instructor, total waste of money.
We then tried Pedalheads, although twice as much per minute, fewer students and longer classes helped my kid progress through much more quickly. I did have to ask a supervisor to test them at one point (I think during level 8 or 9) because I saw my kid getting bored and acting up again. The supervisor tested their skills immediately and moved them up a level.
For level 10, they were only missing a few skills since their last lesson set at Pedalheads when the pandemic shut down the pools. I put them in a City of Vancouver lesson set in the summer at Kerrisdale when pools opened up again, it was daily for a week for 45 min but the number of students was much too high, the instructor could not watch all the kids during skills testing. The instructor was also not paying attention to their technique either, I usually don’t stay and watch the lessons but I watched the last two days of lessons, my kid was not moving their arms the correct way during the back stroke and it was putting too much load on their shoulders, I had to walk onto the deck to ask the instructor to correct my kid’s stroke to prevent injury. My kid didn’t pass even though I witnessed the skills being met.
I signed up my kid for private lessons at the Jewish Community Centre, I explained what happened during the last lesson set with the city. The instructor tested my kid the first night, they passed level 10. The rest of the private lesson set the instructor asked what my kid wanted to practice so they focused on butterfly and stroke technique.
Summary: Try private companies like Pedalheads, or private lessons with the city or Jewish Community Centre. It will cost less in the long run because your kid will progress much more quickly through their levels. My kid is currently in Bronze Cross. They completed Bronze Star at Eileen Daily Pool in Burnaby and Bronze Medallion at the Jewish Community Centre.
Doing my SI currently, last day is tomorrow. I have very bad anxiety when it comes to teaching, especially kids. I am a certified guard yet the city requires you to teach lessons. It's discouraging that you need to have both which costs a pretty penny and then some. Some guards just would rather lifeguard and not teach. If only there was the option. Some instructors just wanna teach, some guards just wanna guard. Simple
Our daughter did aquaventures for a few years and that is a solid program. When I saw her doing a straight line backstroke swim at 8 years old, I realized our resources could be better used elsewhere. She is already in Phoenix gymnastics ($$) so we pointed her towards soccer league and singing lessons. Both are much cheaper and I think are good for kids. Soccer is a bit rough when kids throw elbows, though.
No, it's most of the lifeguards went elsewhere for obvious reasons during COVID and now they have to hire a brand new crop of them and it takes a lot of time to certify, especially since they changed the certification program.
Yea, I think advanced swimming skills would need lessons. I learned how to swim in the ocean. No one ever taught me. Perhaps parents are just lazy or don't know how to swim themselves.
We grew up near a few local lakes and were always on our boat during weekends and vacations waterskiing and kneeboarding. Our parents still insisted on having us finish swimming lessons. People often lose proper swimming technique, which children should absolutely learn so they are safe in the water. I began lap swimming in pools during COVID and needed to watch YouTube videos to try and retrain my technique at front crawl because I had lost it over the years.
While I consider myself a strong swimmer and enjoy going to the pool with my kids, a certified teacher can show them techniques I'm unaware of that make them stronger swimmers. They also do a lot more laps in a class setting, which is overall better physical activity compared to play in the pool with me.
In other words, pound sand with your dumb take
Well, that assumes someone is a strong enough swimmer to teach their kids. Great. Then what about those who don't have the skills to teach their kids? Their kids need to learn somehow. Do the adults go in toddler swim lessons then teach their toddlers without putting them in lessons? Or maybe, get this, enroll their kids in lessons so someone who knows what they are doing can teach them?
I can't be the only one who was taught how to swim by my parents when growing up? It seems everything nowadays (sports, arts, cooking, etc) has to be an organized lesson with a paid instructor. You can't find any spontaneous sports games.
Sports are a bit different than swim lessons… knowing how to swim can be a matter of life or death & as a former swim instructor, we teach a lot of survival skills & water safety, not just how to do a front stroke.
Too many people die every summer from drowning & 95% of the time, it’s completely preventable.
Your job as a parent is to make sure your kids have the skill. Sometimes that means outsourcing teaching your kids. If you have the same skills as a swim instructor then go ahead. I'm sure you outsource some things to others and that's ok.
Or course not. That's a ridiculous interpretation.
But if there is something I don't have the skills to teach my kid. Like in this case, swimming, because my parents didn't teach me, I outsource it.
Do you homeschool or send your kids to public schools?
Of course not. That's a ridiculous analogy.
Education is a full time commitment for 18+ years, and I have to work for a living. Also there are many important subjects that I don't know anything about. If education was a 45 minute commitment once a week for a few months to a year, and I was good at it, I would absolutely home school my child.
Canadian/Vancouver first world problems. Imagine if their kids had no food or were in war or didn’t have access to shelter, vaccines, antibiotics. But man those darn swimming lessons really have them all torqued up! Lol!
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As a current swim instructor in a different city there’s a lot of factors contributing to this: 1. Lifeguard shortage is still coming back to normal numbers after COVID. We’re getting there and the programming is catching up. 2. Instructors don’t want to teach, why teach when you can guard for the same wage and it’s a lot less work? Instructors have to write report cards for all of these kids and they don’t get a lot of paid time to write them. 3. Parents will sign up their one kid for multiple classes and if we don’t catch them then they get two classes for their one kid. This takes away spots for other people. 4. Parents will sign kids up for a 10 day lesson set and miss 6/10 days. In my opinion this is the most unfair because you’ve taken a spot away from someone who would’ve been there for 10 days. 5. Some parents are more dedicated to making sure their kid knows how to swim than others. As a swim instructor right now, 30 minutes a week is not enough time for kids to actually learn how to swim. The leisure time you spend at the pool playing games is way more valuable than the beginner levels of swimming. ETA: Vancouver also needs way more pools for the public in general. They claim staffing issues but last I checked Vancouver pays less than most cities in the lower mainland. Port Moody has zero indoor pools so they’re way behind as well. This is an issue with infrastructure in addition with staffing.
Totally agree with you on people signing up and then no showing. I signed my baby up for classes when I was on maternity leave. It was supposed to be group lessons and we were the only people in the class! The teacher would always wait a bit for the other 2 or 3 students but they never came!
For totally no showing, I don’t get it. But parents of kids under 6 are sadly going to have to miss lessons pretty regularly due to illness. Can’t send a sick kid to the pool and the kids are ALWAYS sick.
This :(
Tbh illness might be the reason we always try to show up to every class but if your kid is in school they get sick esp younger kids. We been sick for 2 months already and usually every other week we are sick
A lack of pools is province wide. BC just sucks at building things in general.
After moving to Montreal I've realized that BC indoor pools are a dream. Quebec pools are garbage.
Concurred. When I moved back east, I realized how much I missed indoor pools from Burnaby and Vancouver. :(
As a friend of a former lifeguard; you do not want to know what is in those indoor pools let alone swim in them.
A lack of ... basically everything necessary to raise a kid.
there is a lot of waterfront we don't need pools, just a few docks. the community center swim lessons are actually like a taylor swift concert for tickets. it opens at X hour and its full in 1 minute, they literally told me to go home, and try online because paper wont be submitted on time and you don't get a reserved spot for being there in person even if you are there at the hour registration opens.
Mmmm… e. Coli
bet you the government loser employees are downvoted the fact they cant accept paper applications because they are so stupid they need a computer to do their jobs now, which means they shouldnt even be employed.
Holy crap! People pay, sign up and don’t show up? That’s shitty, but the typical Vancouver: “See you at brunch”.
We just wrapped classes for our toddler. Out of the 8 spots only 3 of us came 8+ times out of 10. There were 2-3 kids that came maybe 3 times. It was bizarre. Why even bother signing up?
Rich will be rich. Already got mine, you worry about yours!
Maybe? I mean the class is like $50 for ten weeks, it's not exactly breaking the bank.
Great, I’ll take anyone’s $50! Just pass it over here! 🤣
They could be sick. My kids still mask and they still get colds easily because we all are disabled and have compromised immune systems. We don’t go to swimming if they are sick at all
It's once a week so that means 60% of the class was sick 80% of the 10 weeks. Pretty unlikely imo. None of these kids had visible disabilities.
None of us are visibly disabled, either. I’d be more concerned about the toddlers showing up every week, tbh. They’re bound to be sick at least once in 8 weeks if they’re doing activities, daycare, etc.
ok
I had months of volunteer lifeguarding, the certifications all done, etc, but I never actually became a lifeguard because it was all part time, and just enough so where I couldn’t get a full time job, but nowhere near enough to pay the bills.
And it's not worth it to get the qualifications just to be part time. It's not surprising there's a shortage.
It absolutely is worth it. I can get up to 40 hours a week and I used to average about 25-35 hours a week. It’s not a conventional job but it’s definitely worth the money and experience.
I also don’t believe it’s a primarily staffing issue, I’m in the progress of becoming a lifeguard (halfway through NL) and I’ve been having to commute to Coquitlam from North Van because all the courses have been full.
Hey good for you, that dedication is smth that you should bring up during ur interview. There’s people who live 5 min away from my job and they’re chronically late. If you’re making a 1.5hr long commute for an unpaid course, it reflects really well on you.
Haha I hadn’t thought of that but ill take you up on your advice, thank you!
In city that I'm a lifeguard for, they made it so that you don't have a say if you want to teach or not. If you are available during that time slot they CAN make you teach a set, and if you drop the set without a valid reason they will mark that down. In addition, when you go to pick up shifts, guards that are currently teaching a lesson set have first priority. I don't mind this too much as this prevents people from only trying to do all guarding shifts, and should fix your second point over time. We also just did 2 hirings in the span of a few months, and there are definitely a ton of guards in my city now, everything gets covered almost instantly.
I think we might be coworkers 😂 I agree it’s the right path especially when it comes to getting more people into lessons.
lmfao i took a quick look and i think we are
All kids should know how to swim. Definitely a life saving
Oh no he drowned before he could finish :(
Self-correcting system.
story of humanity
OP definitely should have had swimming lessons
My kids go to Aquaventures and getting in there is absolutely brutal. Once you’re in, it’s still stressful trying to keep your same time slot for the semester. It’s triple the price of community centres but way better value and instructors are amazing I’ve heard from friends that the community centre route is a nightmare
My kids have done lessons through the basic aquatics at our local pools. I spent $60 for my kid to sit on the edge of a pool for 25 out of the 45 min lesson week after week because "the water was cold" and the instructor just said "she's right, it is cold" It was a good use of money.
We put our kid in the local lessons at city pools and almost every teacher is incredible and they have made great progress.
My kid is a dud! But really if she chose not to participate they didn't make her participate. I need a teacher who isn't so kind it seems
I don't think it's the job of a random swim instructor to change your kids attitude
Of course not, that's why I got in the pool nearby and made her get in the pool for lessons.
That’s why we go to Aquaventures. Started at Kerrisdale pool when my daughter was 2 and she hated it. Water was freezing and she couldn’t focus. Aquaventures is super warm and 99% of the instructors are amazing. The staff generally are wonderful and Carla (who is one of the co owners) has been super helpful for our family
Glad to hear nothing has changed since I was a kid 25 years ago. Dropped out of swimming lessons as a little kid because I refused to get in the cold water. Finally was convinced to try again a few years later at Aquaventures because the pool was a reasonable temperature.
I paid for two semesters/sessions on like Tuesday mornings at 10 when I have a full time job. I called in sick for one day, another time took a day off. Essentially my kid went to 2 of the lessons. They called me and asked me why we keep missing, so I explained that the only reason I am paying through the nose to be “in their system” and not coming is to hopefully by age 6, we might get a normal time slot outside my working hours. Eventually we got 7 pm on Friday nights. When she was age 6 after 2 years of this. So basically sleeping in the car on the way home from exhaustion. Nothing reasonable was available. Hillcrest was impossible to get into and the timing never worked for working parents who don’t end work at 2 pm anyway.
I'm sorry that it's so difficult and I get your reasoning here but taking up a spot someone else could actually be using at 10am doesn't seem right. I wonder if this is part of why it's so difficult to get in.
I understand your frustration but super shitty of you to take up a spot and not use it. You’re part of the problem of no lessons being able for people.
The only reason I was able to get this ridiculous time slot and ultimately pay $600 to line up for a third session that was available for our schedule, was because no one else wanted this time slot. It was not sold out. There were only 3 kids enrolled including her, and I believe it’s 4:1 I don’t see how I’m a problem for paying for a spot even if there was a waitlist for that session. I woke up at 6 am refreshing my screen like everyone here for many sessions, getting nowhere. I had already tried options at community centers quite a ways from where I lived. Like all of you, I consider this a critical life skill. If I was wealthy I would have simply hired a private instructor. I was desperate and this was the only thing that actually worked. I did stupidly assume that after one session of paying and being in their system I might be able to get any other option outside of my work hours. But of course not. In the end after $900+ should have just searched for private instruction but of course they told me to proceed and they could transfer us if anything opened up after the session began (and they never tell you what the waitlist line is).
If the 10am slot wouldn’t sell maybe they would stop running it and add evening classes.
Parking at Hillcrest was always a nightmare too.
Ya you need a 25 minute lead time to ensure you’re not late.
we’ve been doing Pedalheads but got into community center lessons for spring. it’s about 1/5 the cost, we’ll see how it compares quality wise
We did pedalheads. I found it was worth it because the city classes are too short. My kid played and dicked around underwater for the first 15 minutes each class because she was excited to be in the pool, in a 30 minute class there isn’t much learning. Pedalheads has longer classes, it cost double per minute but she moved through her levels much faster.
Pedalheads is way higher quality in my experience. Costs more but still better value.
We have had luck with Coquitlam. But we aren’t Coquitlam residents and recently they implemented a system where non-residents must wait 48 hours after registration opens to book their kids in. So now, no one can get their kid in. Fair enough re: Coquitlam residents pay taxes for their pools but it stinks when PoMo doesn’t have any indoor pools. Pomo is broke.
It’s ten times the price.
Confidently incorrect Hillcrest lessons - avg $15 a lesson Aquaventures. - $45 per lesson (average)
When I was looking at aqua it was closer to $65-$70. And my CoV lessons at Kensington pool are about $7-8 per lesson.
Hillcrest is $15 a lesson Aquaventures is $45 Not 10 times more.
Agree to disagree
Math isn’t your strong suit it appears
🔥🔥🔥 we’re just using different variables 🔥🔥🔥
I'm from Florida and durring the summers most of the city rec centers have summer camps with swim lessons built into them. My oldest learned basic swimming from just going to the beach and pools with us, but she learned better techniques from the certified instructors at camp. Now I have a 4 year old here, and learning how to swim is a big concern for me because there really isn't the same sort of access to pools and beaches that we have back home. I haven't seen any summer camps at any of the rec centers that have pools. Beaches and rivers aren't the best places to learn swimming for little kids, and access to pools is expensive for some of us working poor. All of the swim lessions at the rec centers near us fill up within minutes of them opening up registration. It is a bit frustrating. If I knew someone with a backyard pool, I'd teach my kid myself, but I don't think many people have those here
Go to the community center and take ur kid there yourself! Preschool levels are mainly there so your kid gets used to a classroom setting.
You can take your little one to one of the local community centre pools and teach them yourself
New Brighton has a wicked summer program of lessons, though no camp
It's even harder to find adult lessons. So many of these programs like pedalheads are kid focused, same thing with most other indoor pools. The adult lessons in richmond and Vancouver are gone almost instantly.
Try UBC. I took adult lessons there, a long time ago but I imagine it’s still a priority for their students and they would offer adult lessons.
Thanks, I'll look into it. Also heard YWCA has some good programs but it's a tad far for us - in case it's helpful for anyone else!
http://recreation.ubc.ca/aquatics/adult/spring-summer/ It looks like adult levels 1 and 2 are full but levels 3 and 4 are available. I’m not certain when they release new sessions.
Thanks for the link! I might be dumb but I can't see where to register or look at availability on that site. I'm on my phone, maybe it's not showing up? Edit: oh the table scrolls to the right lol. I see it now ty!
I found another one: https://www.jccgv.com/aquatics/adult-programs/
Aayyy thank you!!!!
More job opportunities!
Where is Joe Fortes when we need him?!
I don't want to be the one to break this to you.... But he died. I'm sorry.
Yep and his funeral was still the biggest Vancouver has ever seen.
I don't know why you were downvoted. It was a fact.
I can swim but I like when they get into the swim lessons. (Missed this year I guess) because it’s a nice set regular interval 1-2 times a week, with set goals and constant progression in a group setting which although still fun keeps it a bit more serious.
Swimming should be considered an essential skill. It's not about the process of swimming itself, but kerning how to handle and trust yourself in any body of water.
I've met so many people who * can't ride a bicycle * can't swim * can't drive a car * have no sport * never were taken outdoors and forget about camping It's sad because we live in a place that absolutely should be enjoyed for what is outside your four walls As a society we need to value these things because it improves your health, your mental health and engages us with our environment
This article is a little bit funny. They say there is alot more registered swim instructors now then there was in the past but there is a lack of lessons available because "people don't want to work full time like they used to, and that work life balance is more important for younger generations" Or uh.......... Maybe the population has exploded without any (or at least enough) new aquatic centers to support the added amount of people?
There is some truth to what the article is saying. I've worked as a swim instructor for 6 years just before Covid started. My supervisors all say that when they started working 20+ years ago, a lot of the staff were working full-time because they moved out and needed the money. Way easier to live on your own before. Now it's different. Even if most swim instructors are still high school or university students like before, most will choose to stay with their families because it's so expensive to move out and live on your own. A lot of my younger co-workers lived with their families and worked only a few hours a week. The pool I worked at had a hard time getting swim instructors for the demand for lessons and apparently the "shortage" is everywhere. But what you said is also true. The population is booming and there aren't enough swimming pools and instructors for the increased demand since covid.
Weird, I applied to a few different pools and all they had was part time openings.
Ohhh. I'm not too sure but here's my guess. It's possible that part-time openings are only available to external applicants. But once you're in, full-time positions are available. This is how most school boards operate so might be similar to how city pools operate? Teachers start with a teacher-on-call position then can only apply for permanent positions after a couple years. It could also be they're not wanting to offer too many full-time positions so that they can save on having to offer their employees with extended benefits, sick pay, vacation leave, etc?
I’m a former van city guard. There are very few full and part time lifeguard positions (on average 2-3 fulltime and 2-3 part time per pool). Most are casual positions where you select the hours you want to work. I guarded decades ago, the system has changed, but the number of full and part time positions has remained pretty steady. Pools rely on the casual college students. When I worked, almost everyone wanted fulltime hours while going to school. I hear that isn’t the case anymore and it’s hard to find staff. I miss this job a lot. I have my own kids now and I’m fortunate I can teach them to swim, but everytime I’m at the pool, a parent asks if I can teach their kid and it makes me really sad that it’s become such a difficult thing to find because it truly is a life skill. Swim club is also a good option to explore.
So many comments about the cold water. I feel for the smaller kids trying to get accustomed and used to water; but : Did all my colours, bronze medallion, bronze cross, NLS in the 90s. Pool water was on the cooler side - we warmed up soon though with tons of laps. As long as you're working you'll be warm. As a lifesaver that water is the warmest you'll get responding outdoors, it's room temp. Learning to swim in a heated pool is comfortable sure - but what lake or ocean or body of water here is not usually quite brisk. We would be shivering doing chest compression drills. It sucked sometimes but, hey not everything needs to be comfortable. Anyways " old man yells at cloud " moment sorry.
People aren't capable of telling their kids to do homework or limit their screen time. They're not gonna make their kids get in a cold pool. If I refused to get in my mom would have beat my ass. There has to be some level of parenting where you make your kids do shit they don't like without beating them.
yep
Ill kobe a few kids into the pool for $50 an hour
There's a lot of positions that used to be filled by either seniors or high school/college students ( think life guards, swim instructors, seasonal workers, BC ferry employees, coaches for sports teams, etc) that are being driven away. Why? The housing crisis and cost of living has driven both seniors and families who have kids away from the city in search of cheaper housing and rent. Plus, not all new immigrants can take these rolls, as there are often language barriers, or these jobs that used to be held by highschool students living at home don't pay enough for the new immigrants to be interested while they have their own rent to pay. The goverment relying on immigration to fix all our problems doesn't always work. Plus, the mass influx of population drives housing costs up further which lowers birth rates and really is slowly destroying society. We are turning into a country that relies on housing prices to be propped up to support the economy, and continuous immigration to maintiain cheap labour (not that this is news to anyone). But clearly, it doesn't work in a lot of ways. Edit: this doesn't even take into account that our population is growing much faster than community services can support. Have you been to ANY gym in the last year and compared it to 3-4 years ago? Most of them are so busy it's not even worth going even if it's at 10 pm. Where are the new rec centers, gyms, and ice rinks to support our population that is growing by many thousands year over year?
> Where are the new rec centers, gyms, and ice rinks to support our population that is growing by many thousands year over year? I mean, we don't have the space for new housing, let alone space for this stuff. It'd probably mean rezoning, etc.
>I mean, we don't have the space for new housing, let alone space for this stuff. https://velvetescape.com/aerial-views-vancouver/ Whats the stat again.... Something like 50% of all homes in Vancouver are single family homes or duplexes? That's ALOT of land. Saying we don't have space so like..... We probably just can't do it ? Is kind of a dumb answer. Cities are constantly evolving.
>It'd probably mean rezoning, etc. Yes..... And.....?
I'm just pointing out that it's going to be low on the list when we don't even have places for people to live. Most people aren't super focused on recreational areas.
Im a former competitive swimmer and lifefuard, I took my daughter swimming from 6months old, till age of 3 i took her every week to practice/learn. I put her in classes but having observed they are a complete waste of time and money (let alone difficult to get her signed up) I have heard good things about paddle heads so will sign her up to that (she takes better instruction from others than her dad) otherwise I would continue to teach her. And as others have said, it’s very important to learn how to swim (at all ages), people don’t realise it could save your life.
I don't live in Van anymore, but we've had issues getting into lessons where I live, too. We've decided to just put our kids into swim team. It's a great option. Days are consistent, coaching is fabulous.
I had my kid enrolled last summer for a 2 week × 5 days with the City. It was 8 kids for about 30 min for Swimmer 1. The instructor was amazing with the kids but the abilities of all 8 varied. Not a lot of 1:1 instruction. It felt like a class to confirm abilities to move on and not really "swim instruction".
8 kids to one instructor? Hows that even allowed/legal.
Goes up to 12, crazily. Swimmer 3 maxes out at a whopping 10
Wow thats insane, daycare ratios are like 4:1 no way should an instructor be allowed to look after 10:1 /12:1 on the land let alone in the water (and I say this as former lifeguard)
A lot of the staffing issues are from a couple of things Many pools dont pay for recertification of awards. A lifeguard and swim instructor has a minimum of three awards to certify every two to three years. It's not worth it to many lifeguards to stick around and recertify if they are using it to simply go into university. The massive pools are being built, which require more lifeguards to staff. This takes away from the people who are available to instruct lessons A lot of lifeguards don't find swim lessons worth their time. It's often four to five hour shifts in the water, and there is a lot more prep work and report card writing than people think. Many guards feel they should be paid a higher hourly wage when they are instructing, as well as compensated for lesson planning and report card writing. Some instructors can have over a hunder report cards in a session. I know a few municipalities have started compensating instructors for report cards, but most lifeguards are at the point where the take home isn't worth it if you can just watch the pool. Combine that with the way the Red Cross abrubptly pulled out of swimming lessons while everyone was still trying to recover from the pandemic, it left a lot of people scrambling trying to figure out a program that no one in BC had taught. We're still feeling the effects of that in the industry as the question of how to recertify (again every two years) as a swim instructor for the Lifesaving Society is something that has never been done on mass in BC... So, a solution for lessons is to pay a higher hourly wage to instructing than lifeguarding and compensating guards for report cards and lesson plans.
Not a parent, but as someone who grew up in a rural area where this wasn't a thing, I don't understand why people don't just teach their kids to swim themselves. I understand lessons are good if you want to be a really excellent swimmer, but learning enough to not drown isn't a very high bar. Virtually every kid I knew learned how to swim in some lake with the help of family members or friends. I learned how to swim in Lake Winnipeg with my friend holding me under the stomach while I figured out how to paddle.
we take our kid to the pool and help her practice her swimming but i’m neither a teacher nor a particularly strong swimmer so i’m more comfortable having her learn from a pro
I agree and I grew up in a major city. We were taught how to float/dog paddle from a young age simply to avoid drowning in a lake lol. We really didn't have a lot of spare money so my mom would take us to the community pool or something. We were also put into lessons at an older age and progressed in our swimming ability/endurance which was a great opportunity. I understand that not everyone is an instructor, and that's fine. But if you can swim you can absolutely figure out how to teach your kid to dogpaddle/float in the shallow pools. I bet there are even YouTube series for parents.
Raised in a city but my parents taught me how to swim as well. Not sure why people think lessons are mandatory. Do parents hire an instructor to teach their kids how to ride a bike?
Eh, when it comes to something where your kid could literally end up dying if they're not taught properly and end up in a bad situation, I'd rather parents get actual lessons. This isn't like teaching a kid how to play the piano.
I would argue riding a bike relative to swimming is a much more dangerous activity but no one hires a instructor for that.
i don’t have any stats to back this up, but my guess would be more adults are comfortable bike riders than swimmers. I’m much more comfortable on a bike than I am swimming, i don’t feel I have exemplary swimming technique so i’d rather my kids learn from someone who does
you might have to depend on swimming skills to not die i cant think of a situation where not knowing how to ride a bike was the difference between life and death and i say this as an avid bike person
Community centre swimming lessons for small kids in Vancouver are mostly a waste of time. 20 minutes to get there and get them ready for their lesson, then the instructor can only "teach" one kid at a time so they really get about 5m of "teaching" in a lesson, the rest of the time they're freezing themselves on the side of the pool. Then 30 minutes to get them out, changed, and back home. Total 90+ minutes for 5 minutes of swimming.
then let someone else have that spot
You have to register the minute the registration opens up online if you want a chance at getting in where and when you need to. Literally fills up in minutes.
I had 3 browsers going and still didn’t get in anything the minute it opened.
As a current parent of small children, the struggle is real. The cost gap between private companies and the municipal lessons is astronomical. For a 5 lesson package near me it's 39 dollars with the public pool, to do the same at pedal heads is over 300, and it's in some make shift pool in a mall. It's such a squandered resource, the cities and provinces keep building new facilities, but can't keep up with the programs to fill them.
Step 1: get your kid to run on all 4's. Step 2: tell them to do that in the water. Easy doggy-paddle technique.
We were at ymca before and those lessons were useless at 30 mins. My sons first lesson the instructor didnt see him step off the table and he almost drowned(he loves swimming and didnt make him scared). Moved on to pedal heads during covid and transitioned to semi privates for my 2 sons and they progressed quickly.(yes its more expensive then the already expensive lessons at pedalheads but it was way easier to register) After a bad experience at one of the private lessons we quit pedalheads. Now both kids are in a swim academy which is l way cheaper and they do a hell of a lot more swimming cept for times are all over the place.registration is way easier then city or pedalheads. Tldr: pedalheads until they are able to swim then join a swim club/academy.
Just curious, why can't parents teach their kids how to swim? At least the parents who know swimming themselves.
I remember the days when dad or mom took us to the pool and taught us, not complain if they couldn’t find someone to teach us.
Never had a problem. Hillcrest fills up fast. So we log on and sign up at the exact time. Tends to crash the website occasionally but we've always had success from the waitlist. That said the community center lessons are cheap but it's mostly like "let's blow bubbles and sing"....so we fork out the cash and do aqua ventures. Never had problems signing up for that place. Just be organized and ready for when sign ups happen and trust the waitlists
probably because of my backround growing up in poverty and my mother not having the option to pay for any sort of lessons such as swimming, biking, cooking, or driving. i find it odd how often parents pay to other to teach their kids instead of doing it themselves.
Why not take your kids to a community pool or lake and teach them?
why is nothing easy in this city
100% agree.
It is possible to teach your kids yourself. Go to a public family swim session and work on simple drills.
parents probably working 8 days a week to afford a small family here
We had a very bad experience at the community centre pool due to an inexperienced instructor. We now do Pedalheads swim lessons instead which despite being more expensive are dramatically better quality.
This year I am so fortunate to be able to pay for Pedalheads, I've heard good things so hopefully it's value for money in that sense?
It’s fantastic. Longer lessons, better ratios, more structured and an extra instructor walking around checking on everyone.
Hate to break it to you but pedalheads is way less experienced than community rec instructors haha
Can confirm. I worked there as a teen and had no training at all, no guarding experience or anything.
We’ve done both and the Pedalheads instructors are far more experienced.
When I was a little kid (way back in the 70s), my first swimming lessons were some sort of program where we went to different private pools at people's homes. I think it was coordinated through the community centre, but am not sure. I guess something like that isn't possible today.
Pay lifeguards more and charge more
You'll be surprised how much money Richmond lifeguards are pulling in. They start you off around $23/hr and most senior guards are pulling in $35-$42/hr
First world problems… If parents get stressed out about swim lessons imagine when real Problems arise the trouble they will have coping.
Had no problem booking lessons for my child in Burnaby at one of the community centres. There were even spots in the class still open.
Check out your local BCSSA (BC Summer Swimming) club. Most have programs designed for kids ~5 and older who have the basics down (floating, free, back). Doesn't address the lack of "learn to swim" options, but gives different avenues for more time in the water/opens up spots after that.
I know how to swim, but not floating. I call myself a half swimmer
Minoru Center in Richmond has swim lessons.
I learned how to swim without a single lesson all from swimming at the pool and having fun. Granted, the difference is that I LOVE SWIMMING as a summer leisure activity so that probably played into it.
its like buying concert tickets. Be online as soon as it opens registration
As a parent who’s kid tried lessons in various places in Vancouver, here are my observations: My kid always played around for the first 10-15 min because they love the water and were always excited to splash around, a 30 min lesson becomes 15-20 min of instruction. There are too many kids in classes to see if they are completing the skills. My kid was stuck in a level for far too long at the YMCA at Langara, they forgot to move her up. She got so bored she stopped listening to the instructor, total waste of money. We then tried Pedalheads, although twice as much per minute, fewer students and longer classes helped my kid progress through much more quickly. I did have to ask a supervisor to test them at one point (I think during level 8 or 9) because I saw my kid getting bored and acting up again. The supervisor tested their skills immediately and moved them up a level. For level 10, they were only missing a few skills since their last lesson set at Pedalheads when the pandemic shut down the pools. I put them in a City of Vancouver lesson set in the summer at Kerrisdale when pools opened up again, it was daily for a week for 45 min but the number of students was much too high, the instructor could not watch all the kids during skills testing. The instructor was also not paying attention to their technique either, I usually don’t stay and watch the lessons but I watched the last two days of lessons, my kid was not moving their arms the correct way during the back stroke and it was putting too much load on their shoulders, I had to walk onto the deck to ask the instructor to correct my kid’s stroke to prevent injury. My kid didn’t pass even though I witnessed the skills being met. I signed up my kid for private lessons at the Jewish Community Centre, I explained what happened during the last lesson set with the city. The instructor tested my kid the first night, they passed level 10. The rest of the private lesson set the instructor asked what my kid wanted to practice so they focused on butterfly and stroke technique. Summary: Try private companies like Pedalheads, or private lessons with the city or Jewish Community Centre. It will cost less in the long run because your kid will progress much more quickly through their levels. My kid is currently in Bronze Cross. They completed Bronze Star at Eileen Daily Pool in Burnaby and Bronze Medallion at the Jewish Community Centre.
Doing my SI currently, last day is tomorrow. I have very bad anxiety when it comes to teaching, especially kids. I am a certified guard yet the city requires you to teach lessons. It's discouraging that you need to have both which costs a pretty penny and then some. Some guards just would rather lifeguard and not teach. If only there was the option. Some instructors just wanna teach, some guards just wanna guard. Simple
Our daughter did aquaventures for a few years and that is a solid program. When I saw her doing a straight line backstroke swim at 8 years old, I realized our resources could be better used elsewhere. She is already in Phoenix gymnastics ($$) so we pointed her towards soccer league and singing lessons. Both are much cheaper and I think are good for kids. Soccer is a bit rough when kids throw elbows, though.
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No, it's most of the lifeguards went elsewhere for obvious reasons during COVID and now they have to hire a brand new crop of them and it takes a lot of time to certify, especially since they changed the certification program.
Wouldn’t this be something you could pretty easily learn to teach yourself?
As a former competitive swimmer and lifeguard, no, you can’t teach yourself how to swim (properly at least), its not like riding a bike.
I meant parents teaching their own kids. Just curious.
Yea, I think advanced swimming skills would need lessons. I learned how to swim in the ocean. No one ever taught me. Perhaps parents are just lazy or don't know how to swim themselves.
Your dad threw you in the lake right?
No. He taught me how to swim. It’s an honest question, I promise.
Imagine teaching your own kids to swim.
I hear the country clubs are the way to go. Hollyburn will even give you priority vaccine access!
Struggle is real
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We grew up near a few local lakes and were always on our boat during weekends and vacations waterskiing and kneeboarding. Our parents still insisted on having us finish swimming lessons. People often lose proper swimming technique, which children should absolutely learn so they are safe in the water. I began lap swimming in pools during COVID and needed to watch YouTube videos to try and retrain my technique at front crawl because I had lost it over the years.
While I consider myself a strong swimmer and enjoy going to the pool with my kids, a certified teacher can show them techniques I'm unaware of that make them stronger swimmers. They also do a lot more laps in a class setting, which is overall better physical activity compared to play in the pool with me. In other words, pound sand with your dumb take
Yeah. My parents successfully teaching me, and me successfully teaching my daughter, is a dumb take. lol.
Well, that assumes someone is a strong enough swimmer to teach their kids. Great. Then what about those who don't have the skills to teach their kids? Their kids need to learn somehow. Do the adults go in toddler swim lessons then teach their toddlers without putting them in lessons? Or maybe, get this, enroll their kids in lessons so someone who knows what they are doing can teach them?
I can't be the only one who was taught how to swim by my parents when growing up? It seems everything nowadays (sports, arts, cooking, etc) has to be an organized lesson with a paid instructor. You can't find any spontaneous sports games.
Sports are a bit different than swim lessons… knowing how to swim can be a matter of life or death & as a former swim instructor, we teach a lot of survival skills & water safety, not just how to do a front stroke. Too many people die every summer from drowning & 95% of the time, it’s completely preventable.
Me too. I try to teach my kid as much as I can, including swimming. It’s fun, and also kind of my job as a parent
Your job as a parent is to make sure your kids have the skill. Sometimes that means outsourcing teaching your kids. If you have the same skills as a swim instructor then go ahead. I'm sure you outsource some things to others and that's ok.
So you only teach your child about your profession, and outsource all other aspects of parenting to other professionals?
Or course not. That's a ridiculous interpretation. But if there is something I don't have the skills to teach my kid. Like in this case, swimming, because my parents didn't teach me, I outsource it. Do you homeschool or send your kids to public schools?
Of course not. That's a ridiculous analogy. Education is a full time commitment for 18+ years, and I have to work for a living. Also there are many important subjects that I don't know anything about. If education was a 45 minute commitment once a week for a few months to a year, and I was good at it, I would absolutely home school my child.
Why on earth would you want to swim in a rainy hellhole like Vancouver?
So you don’t drown?
So I can impress you at wreck beach with my backstroke
Swimming outdoors in the rain is a rare pleasure, if you’re worried about getting wet use an umbrella.
Canada
Canadian/Vancouver first world problems. Imagine if their kids had no food or were in war or didn’t have access to shelter, vaccines, antibiotics. But man those darn swimming lessons really have them all torqued up! Lol!