Infants learn swim safety at Alpharetta swim school

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It's almost summertime, and that means more trips to the pool, lake and beach are right around the corner but being safe around water is always an important lesson. It's never too late to start swim lessons for babies, toddlers, and big kids.

Cuteness overload, as these infants hit the pool at Aquatots Alpharetta. 7-month old Luke Garver screamed through his first class and now he loves it. "We started at 4 months and now at 7 months he's pretty comfortable and a happy tot in the pool," says Luke's mom, Mary Garver.

Aquatots is a swim school dedicated to teaching kids ages 4 months old to 12 years old . "Our goal is really working on the foundation of swimming, learning to be comfortable in the water, before we can ever have control and actually learn to swim strokes," explains Aquatots Aquatics Manager, Gregory Morgan.

They also want mom and dad to feel comfortable. "The goal with our parent/baby classes is really educating our parents, so teaching a parent how to work with their child in the pool," adds Morgan.

"You hear all these stories in the news about tragic accidents in the water and I think the more experience that we have coming into the summer months was just going to make all of us more comfortable," says Garver.

It's those tragic accidents Aquatots hopes to cut down on. "Our mission is to affect our community and help to prevent drowning in our community," Morgan states.

The children learn when to rest, breath control, boundaries, and safe places around the pool. "We're going to compare swimming in the water, to being on a highway. Everybody trains their children to have respect for boundaries around the road," Morgan explains.

And with any new skill, swimming doesn't happen overnight. "A lot of parents come with the goal of, 'I want my kids to swim this summer' but we need to realize that it's going to take time. It's going to take that constant effort of practicing in order to really learn water safety," Morgan encourages.

Aquatots does have some tips for parents. They say, be soothing and gentle in the way you act and speak around water, make sure you learn how to safely hold your baby and keep practicing with them.