This post is brought to you by Goldfish Swim School

Growing up, my family had a pool - in fact, the summer my mom was pregnant with me, my parents sprung for central air conditioning and a big in-ground pool. It must have been a hot summer!

I learned to swim at a young age because the pool was our main source of summer entertainment. We didn’t go to camp, it was too hot to do much else, so we were in the pool from sun up til dinner time.

At the Adored House, we do not have the luxury of a pool (yet), but we do frequent the beach, friends’ pools, and we spend a lot of time at the pool when we go on vacation. We never got our oldest, Emmeline, any formal lessons, but we did our best to train her ourselves over the last 5ish years. She actually swims pretty well under water, but she cannot swim above water, she doesn’t use her arms as much as she should, and she cannot float. Cecilia, our rambunctious 2 1/2 year old is a whole other story… she has zero fear when it comes to pools, will not hesitate to jump right in, and has no clue on what to do when she is actually in the water. Needless to say both of the girls need formal swimming lessons for their own good, and for our peace of mind. May is also Water Safety awareness month, so what better time to have them learn life-saving water safety lessons?

When Goldfish Swim School reached out to me about partnering with them, I jumped at the chance to take this opportunity for my girls (and for my sanity). Today was our first day, and I was beyond impressed with the facility! It was so clean, the staff was so welcoming, and my favorite part was how kid-friendly it is was. Other facilities that I toured for swimming lessons were not as kid and family friendly - most of them in old gym buildings, in large pools designed for adults, not kids. At Goldfish the pool is shallow, with built-in ledges around the perimeter for little ones to safely stand or sit while they listen to the instructor. They also have these moveable platforms at the bottom of the pool for smaller children to safely swim back and forth from. Like I said - the whole set up is designed for young children, from the cheerful decor, to the structure of the pool - it’s all about making children feel comfortable and safe so they can learn.

Another attribute of Goldfish that really hit a home run with me is the family-friendliness. Most of the time I will be taking the girls to lessons by myself and their lessons are a half hour apart. So, that means that I have to keep one kid occupied for a half hour. Fortunately, they have a great little play center to keep the kids entertained, a fish tank full of the cutest goldfish I have ever seen, and for desperate times - a snack bar with a great assortment of pretty healthy snacks! The changing rooms are also nice and big so we fit comfortably during changes.

Overall, we are already so impressed with Goldfish Swim School in Manalapan. The staff, the facility, and the structure of each class has already exceeded our expectations!

At the end of our two month trial, I will be writing another post about our experience with Goldfish and most importantly - how to girls progress!

Thanks for reading,
Dana