This is a paid piece from SafeSplash Swim School.

Simplified: In less than a year of lessons with SafeSplash Swim School, my daughters went from a fear of water to begging me to take them to the pool. Here's how SafeSplash's approach to teaching made all the difference.

Tell me more

I have vivid memories of the first time my now-6-year-old daughter took swimming lessons at an outdoor city pool.

• It was an unseasonably cold June morning, and she was sobbing because she didn't want to go in the water. She spent the whole lesson sitting in my lap, watching her peers from outside the pool fence while I worried I'd scarred her for life.

This fall – more than two years after the initial outdoor pool trauma – we started lessons at SafeSplash.

The fear of water was still there, but this time, things felt different.

• For one, she had her little sister with her, and they got to take lessons at the same time, in the same pool with their respective instructors.
• The pool was also nice and warm, in an indoor, climate-controlled setting.
• And both of my girls were in classes with only a couple of other kids – meaning that even when they were scared or unsure, they had plenty of guidance and attention from their teachers.

SafeSplash also felt different for me as a parent. I wasn't sending my kids into a big, fenced-in pool area where I was far-removed from them. I could watch them from mere feet away in a warm, comfortable waiting room. They saw me, knew I was watching, and felt safe to keep learning and develping their skills.

What happened next?

We kept going back, and it was that consistency that made all the difference.

• After only a couple lessons, the girls were greeted by name when we walked into SafeSplash. They also became close with their instructors – greeting them by name and getting excited to see them.
• They also began looking forward to lessons each week – frequently asking "how many days until we get to go to swimming lessons?" We moved from feeling dread to go to the pool to waiting with excitement and anticipation.

I remember the first time my six-year-old held her breath under water for 30 seconds. She was so excited to share her progress, and even wanted to call grandma and brag about her new skill.

Unlike other lessons where we went for a couple weeks and then stopped, SafeSplash's consistent weekly lessons made water part of our regular routine.

• Over the course of six months, both girls gained enough confidence and skills to level up. They even got little ribbons to track their progress – and you better believe those ribbons have a place of honor on our refrigerator.

Don't get me wrong, they've both still got a ways to go before they're ready to jump off the high dive or swim laps.

• But what I've seen improve significantly is their willingness to try. They're not scared of the water. They're not clinging to me crying when it's time to start swimming lessons.

Instead, they're empowered to keep working on their swimming skills. Family trips to the pool are less instances of, "Mom, hold onto me!" and more instances of, "Mom, watch this!"

Some of that change is just the nature of kids getting older, but I know a good deal of both girls' confidence around water was due to the skills they learned and the attention they received at SafeSplash Swim School.

How do I get my kid signed up?

You can sign up for lessons at the SafeSplash Swim School Sioux Falls locations here.

From one parent to another, it's worth every penny to invest in knowing your kids feel safe and comfortable around water.