Open House:
General Information

Open House Advice

1. Each child should show as many swims off the stairs (without flippers) as they can in the time frame provided on the lesson plan.

2. Have the parents cheer their kids on to beat the others to their color/letter (lane marker) on the side of the pool.

3. Whenever possible, swim the child back to the wall – don’t carry them back. This way, you can show one more swim.

Children Under Four

1. Children under four years old sometimes don’t have an Open House because if their parents come onto the pool deck, they may cry.

   • In our experience, approximately 75% of children will cry if their parent is on the pool deck.

   • We sometimes need to hide these parents and have them watch from the change room doors, or pool deck doors, etc.

2. Ask all parents of children under four years old (written in blue on the schedule) if they think they should be on the pool deck for Open House. 

3. Don’t wait until Open House day to ask, as often there will be grandparents, etc. at Open House who have taken the day off work to come watch, and it will be too late.

4. If parents want to come onto the pool deck, it’s their choice – as long as you have done your part in asking them ahead of time.

5. If parents choose to hide, continue to talk like you would in a normal open house so they can understand the skills they’re seeing.