Happy New Year, SwimWest families! We start another year so thankful for our time with your kids, and your support of our mission to keep kids safe in and around the water. This year, as you make your own resolutions (or not! No judgment here!), we hope you find the energy, motivation and time to see them through. In my own family, resolutions come and go. Some years it feels important to set goals and boundaries, and other years, we are at peace without making resolutions at all.
Whether you’re the kind of family that likes to create a list of resolutions each new year, or whether you skip them, I think it’s a great idea to have some general goals and ideas of what you hope the new year will bring.
This year, we’re sharing our top 5 swim resolutions for you and your family! I hope this list helps bring you some encouragement and ideas as you “splash” into 2023!
5 Swim Resolutions for the New Year
- Swim with your child, just for fun. It’s tempting to spend your time in the water with your child “teaching” them something – a new stroke, how to perfect their kick, how to blow bubbles, etc, etc, etc. And spending time doing those things is great! But, this year, think outside the lesson. Hop in the pool with your child and just PLAY. Race to the other side. Hold underwater “tea parties”. Splash. Play tag. Laugh together. Whatever your child is into, try it! The more fun you can make the pool, the more likely your child will be to continue to swim, from lessons to swim team and beyond.
- Visit a pool you’ve never been to before. We live in a great area for swimming, and there are a ton of options both inside and outside to visit. Of course we are only an hour from the Wisconsin Dells, where you can spend a day trying different water features at some of the biggest water parks in the country. But even closer to Madison we have some fun pools. SwimWest offers open swim, and you could book a hotel for a little staycation. Several gyms have pools and you can buy a day pass to try them out. Visiting a new pool is fun for your child, and also gives you the opportunity to reinforce safety rules in and around the water. For example, make sure your child knows about not diving into shallow water, or running on slippery floors.
- Try the Water Watcher system. Safety is always top of mind for us at SwimWest, and we love the water watcher system of safety. Choose a “water watcher” to be in charge of the kids who are swimming (or just near the pool) to make sure they are safe. The water watcher shouldn’t be doing anything but paying attention, sort of like a lifeguard. No phones, books or deep conversations. Having someone on alert is a great way to make sure your children are safe at the pool.
- Help your child learn a new skill. Maybe they’d like to learn a new stroke, or how to dive, or to swim longer without needing to take a breath. Find out what skill they’d like to work on this year, and help them meet their goal. You could look up videos for inspiration and education, or just wing it, but helping them find a challenge to crush this year is a great way to build their confidence and motivation in the water!
- Swim all year long. While there are a ton of reasons to swim in the summertime (hello, hot Wisconsin summers!), there are also great reasons to swim in the winter. And fall. And spring. For one thing, keeping your kids enrolled in year-round lessons helps them continue to build on their skills, develop continuity in their lessons, and bond with their instructors. It’s also fun! Whether you enroll in year round lessons or not, there are tons of ways to keep swimming throughout the year.
Happy New Year!