Learning new swimming skills at foss.

Linna at 7 months old (top) and at 23 months (bottom),
with one of her FOSS swim instructors, Miss Lorrie!

When we're back in Minnesota for a visit, I sign Linna up for swimming lessons at FOSS Swim School in Chanhassen, to keep improving on her swimming skills and safety lessons. I fully credit FOSS for getting Linna comfortable in the water as an infant, and turning her into the little fish that she has become!

Linna started taking lessons at FOSS when she was 7 months old, and at 21 months old Linna was able to swim on her own without wearing floaties. While she's still going strong as a 2-year-old, we signed her up for a few lessons at FOSS while we were home for two months this summer, to learn some new things that we can work on at our pool in Singapore. Linna took two classes each week for about a month this summer, and one lesson that we learned from her teachers (Miss Lorrie and Mr. Chad), was incredibly helpful.

While Linna swims well without floaties on, when she comes up for a breath, her body goes from a horizontal position to a vertical position. Linna is in the Backfloat Baby 3 class, and her FOSS teachers explained that when little ones lift their heads up in the water, their bodies go vertical... THIS is when drownings can happen. Scary stuff, and something I never really thought about, but completely understandable. So, Linna's swim instructors worked on teaching her how to roll over to a back-float position when coming up for a breath.

This is something kids are usually taught around age 3 or 4, but since Linna is swimming on her own, her instructors thought it was a good safety lesson for her to learn. We've taken this lesson with us to Singapore, and after a lot of practice, Linna is starting to master her unassisted back-float skills! With her floaties on, she's completely comfortable doing an unassisted back-float. However, we're still working on a completely unassisted back-float.

Linna with one of her classmates Paige, waiting for their lesson to start.

Here are a couple videos of Linna practicing this skill she learned at FOSS...

(Video of Linna with floaties on, doing a 

10-second back-float at our pool in Singapore.)

(This is a lesson we learned at FOSS: Having Linna

flip to a back-float when coming up for air. As you

can see, she isn't completely comfortable yet with the

unassisted back-float. Funny girl!)

(Linna at age 23 months, swimming with her 

instructor Mr. Chad at FOSS in Chanhassen.)

(Swimming with noodles at FOSS.)

(Balance and jumping lessons at FOSS.)

Can't wait to see what we'll learn next at FOSS! Many parents will agree with me when I say that FOSS is the BEST swim school in the Twin Cities.