Group swim lessons or private swim lessons

We get this question a lot, "should I put my child in group or private"? Both swim lessons have their pros and cons. Let me first say I am going to stay away from talking about prices and which one would save you money or not. Money aside I have always felt it depends on the child and what stage of swimming they are in.

When you have a child under the age of five I always say to put them in private swim lessons because you will see faster results. There are several things that are easier to do when it is just you and the teacher and one of them is getting over the fear of water. In group swim lessons children feed off of each other's emotions which is great when you know they aren't going to start crying any second. But once one child starts crying they all start crying. You have no idea how many swim lessons I have seen where over half the kids are crying and that poor swim instructor is trying to calm them down. Just make sure if you do group lessons they are a good group of kids with the same attitude.

Once your child has the basics down like being able to kick across the pool, and being able to use their arms and legs simultaneously to get from point A to point B then it is more beneficial to put them in a good group swim lesson class. A good swim lesson group size is one instructor to about three kids any bigger then that and your child isn't getting enough one on one attention to really continue to improve at a steady pace. Most places call this ratio size a semi-private swim lesson. If your child is a great swimmer and you are looking for someone to keep them swimming then I would find a good swim team to put them in.