Hello. I have a terrific and energtic 2.5 year old son. He is home cared. I need to get him enrolled in a swimming program. We live in the Gold Coast in Chicago. Please let me know if you have had success in any programs in the surrounding areas that are also reasonably priced. Any other suggestions on facilities that offer other activities for kids this age are also welcome. Thanks for your time.
Thank you all for your response. I'm going to look into each one and see what programs fit our schedule. I'll keep you posted.
Hi, not sure how far you are from Lincoln Park area but Lakeshore Athletic Club in Lincoln Park has a great program for kids. My nephew attended since he was 1.5 yrs old....it's a really good program for kids. Good luck.
Check out www.kidwinks.com to search for all sorts of kid-friendly events, activities, restaurants (there's a calendar in the restaurant section where you can click on a day to find out where kids eat free or at a reduced price) and more. There are some swimming classes listed in the Services section, but not sure if they're in your area. If you become a member of kidwinks, which is free, you can sort search results in order of distance from your house.
If you really want your son to learn how to swim, you're probably better off spending some money and going to a "real" place... either the YMCA (the Lakeview location) or one of the health clubs in your neighborhood should have a pool...
We had our son in swim classes through the Chicago Park district for about 2 years, off an on, starting around 18 months old. Other than a chance to be in the water, they were basically worthless. The "instructors" never even entered the water with us. They just stood outside the pool and had us sing songs and walk around in circles bouncing the kids around in the water. Needless to say, at 4 our son still doesn't know how to swim. But he does LOVE the water... those classes are very inexpensive, so if you're looking for just exposure to water, then they are great... but you could just go to open-swim time for that.
I've heard great things about Northside Aquatics... I'm going to go with that this winter for our son and hope that he can actually learn how to swim : )
Hello B.
My son is 16 moths and he is attending the swimming class in the swimming pool from UIC (Halsted location). THe pool is great, this is not the best class but I think kids have fun. GOod luck!
