Ms. Cathy Swim Lessons

I’ll preface my review by saying that our daughter has been enrolled in group swimming lessons at a popular Austin facility since she was 4 months old. She is 20 months old now. Also, I was a lifeguard for 5 years during my teens. I took her to the group lessons and Ms. Cathy’s lessons alone, without my wife, for consistency. We are not parents which coddle, hover, helicopter, or overreact emotionally. Ms. Cathy guaranteed that after four 30-minute private sessions our daughter could swim 15 feet and get out of the pool without assistance. We paid $1200. Therefore, $10 per minute. Our daughter cried for 120 out of 120 minutes of lessons. We followed her pre-swim dietary requirements to a “T” but our daughter swallowed so much water the second day that she vomited everywhere. Day 1 had zero conversation about our daughter’s swimming history/personality/etc. At $600/hour, I expected a little back and forth. Ms. Cathy later asked about her history on Day 3. Every day was treated the same – it is all about the reps. Upon concluding the fourth day, it was clear that things weren’t ideal and our daughter wasn’t comfortable or capable of meeting the “guarantee.” Upon exiting the pool, Ms. Cathy asked that we hang out while she ran inside for a few. This was at 6:45 PM. We left at 7 PM, after she didn’t come out, as we were already passed our daughter’s bedtime. Ms. Cathy never called or followed-up. Ms. Cathy failed to honor her guarantee. She was rude, careless, and lacked follow-through. I gave her numerous chances to make things right. In the end, we paid $1200 for 2 hours and had a horrible experience. I have no faith in Ms. Cathy’s techniques or abilities to run a business which claims to aid in children’s safety around water. more

My little boy can swim and pool time is fun again. Leo is our youngest of 3 kids and he is the most challenging; always curious, always on the go and always adventurous. It can be very scary to have a busy 4 year old son that has no fear of the water. We wanted to be responsible parents and ensure his success if he were to accidentally fall into the water (they are fast at this age!) and to progress him from floats to swimming independently. He amazed us in 2 days with Ms. Cathy! I was so anxious and was really worked up emotionally on the first day because as a child I had a near drowning experience at the beach when I was very young. I love the water but have a healthy fear of the power of water and the danger it posses. I think my Leo could sense my fear for him too. He was scared and cried and kept asking "is that the last one" as he exited the pool stairs and got back into line with me. At the lessons conclusion today he declared, "I was scared and now I am not. I am brave, mommy!" (holding back a few tears as I type. All of our kids have gone though swim lessons in Austin; one with Emler, one with Nitro and Leo was the last to go through lessons a youngster. With Emler and Nitro it was very long and dragged out, very exhausting and looking back very unnecessary. I am a little bit of a helicopter parent and our youngest responds better to the opposite. Ms. Cathy and her methods fit the bill. She is fun, focused and knows kids and swimming. The most impressive element Ms. Cathy demonstrates is her firm but nurturing approach and how kids respond to her. Leo knew from the first dive into the water she means business with a sweetness that he took to immediately. I knew day one we had made a great choice as parents for our son. We are finishing up our lessons and I feel confident when we are at Lake Travis or our pool we will be a little more relaxed knowing that Leo can swim successfully. It does not make us turn our back on our kiddos near water but lets me relax a bit more