Safe N Sound Swimming

This is our second round with safe n sound and I have to say so far I am not impressed. My son is 10 so he is older than most of the other kids taking swim lessons (at least from what I’ve seen). We have tried several different instructors and we have mixed reviews on them. I don’t want to name names here out of respect for the instructors but one didn’t seem into it and my son didn’t get much from that lesson. Another was really strict and my the first thing my son said as he finished his lesson was «I didn’t like her». So it’s a balance of teaching and having fun, for my son if he isn’t having fun he doesn’t learn as easily.
The other issue I have with this program is their online booking. I booked 4 lessons with them online successfully and I tried to log back in to book more and I am unable to do so. Every time I click the book an appointment button it takes me to a page that doesn’t have a calendar or any options for booking. At this point I have been trying daily to book more appointments and I have also emailed them twice about the issues I am having. They responded to the first email 4 days later saying I needed to log in to book an appointment and if I didn’t know my password I could reset it, lol! This was kind of insulting as I was obviously logged in and knew my password. I emailed back explaining that was not the issue and asked for help in booking more appointments, I haven’t heard back. I’m frustrated and about to give up on them and take my son elsewhere for his lessons.

My 6 year old son has become an excellent swimmer thanks to Safe N Sound Swimming and my 3 year daughter is following his footsteps. They taught my kids from the get go.
They are exclusively dedicated to 1 on 1 lessons for young children. Coaches are in the pool with your kids. Nothing else happen in the pool other than 1 on 1 lessons. They have a dedicated area with a safe guard supervising where your kids can swim on their own with or without lifejackets (provided there) while waiting for their coach. Swim coaches are quite well trained by same experienced master coach there, so it is consistent from one coach to the other. Coaches are regularly assessed. You get regular reports on your kids. Pool is conveniently located, heated and clean. Very warm inside. Showers and locker rooms could really use a remodel even if clean. Competent and friendly staff. Easy to book and cancel system online and via phone. Well organized in terms of booking. Never had a mistake happen in years.
I strongly advise to put your kids right away in 1 on 1 ongoing lessons instead of the pay as you go 1 – 1 lessons I started with. Indeed, first you do not have to struggle with booking early in advance as it can get tricky to get a slot with Pay as you go lesson if you do not book well in advance. Second, your child progresses much faster in ongoing 1 on 1 lessons because it is always the same teacher each time instead of a different one — the only available one at the time you pick– in pay as you go lessons. You get also extra perks like drop-​in classes, extra towels… It is more efficient that way and less costly over time.
My only 2 complaints are first that the staff rotates regularly. Even if the coaches are competent despite their youth (university students max), there is a high attrition and rotation of coaches to my mind. It means your kids get a different coach a bit too often to my taste even if they try to minimize impact as much as they can. Second, at certain times pool can be overcrowded, learning swimmers interfere with each others despite coaches, and showers are challenging space wise.

The swim lessons are fantastic, but scheduling for the mandatory drop in classes (required with the weekly lesson pack) is rough. I am super impressed by any parent who manages to make it work. Hope to one day be that parent.

I would highly recommend that you DO NOT enroll your kids at this facility. I would give it ZERO stars if I could. My son has been under their direction for swimming lessons for a year and a half and he still doesn’t know how to swim?! You would think that their instructors would provide feedback regarding your child’s progress but they don’t at all. I talked to their aquatic supervisor who could not provide any constructive feedback. This place is a waste of money and they offer no accountability for their obvious flawed ‘instruction’.

We have been going to safe and sound for nearly 4 years and overall our experience had been good to excellent. Both of my children can swim and the administration was generally responsive to feedback. However, recently I have found them not as responsive and somewhat dismissive to a loyal and devoted families needs. It may be because it has grown and much of the staff has changed and continues to change. I previously would have recommended S&S without hesitation, but now I am considering withdrawing my children in the fall. (Unfortunately, they truly love swimming… And there are not many indoor options for fall and winter) However, if this continues… I will switch and transition to QA.

My kids (5 yrs. old) are doing great at Safe N Sound Swimming — they get more personalized instruction in one lesson than they do in 5 group lessons at a community pool. This personalized instruction has greatly advanced their swimming skills and justifies the increased cost (vs community pool lessons) in my opinion.
Their online scheduling and payment system could be a lot easier. I pride myself in being able to navigate most online tools, however with Safe N Sound I’ve been unable to crack the code. I always have to call schedule lessons.

My 6 y/​o son has been taking lessons here for about a year or more. He has taken lessons at a variety of other places — the Y, Blue Ridge, etc…, but this is the first place where I feel like he gets noticeably better every week. He swam from one end to the other end of the pool unassisted one day and I was shocked!
His teacher Violet is really good with him. And when we went to Hawaii he was swimming like a pro. When I commented that his swimming is so much improved he said, «Yeah, because of Safe n Sound». Really — it was like a commercial.
All in all, this is the best swimming lesson experience I’ve seen.

I have been taking my children there for a few years. The instructors are good– everything else is hard to impossible to navigate. Kids have instructors changed often. Very poor scheduling management and customer service. Also their cancelation/​registration policy changes too often. Lessons are expensive, and it does not feel like you are considered appropriately.

While these lessons work well for some kids, mine was not one of them and it’s been a very expensive, negative experience that has actually made my son regress. This past summer he was in lessons at the Mounger pool, but we felt like he was so busy goofing around he didn’t actually learn anything. We enrolled him in Safe n Sound on the recommendation of friends and it’s been a disaster:
— his instructor, Jason, has zero kid chemistry to the point my son (who is 3) would burst into tears at the sight of him
— the instructors are frequently out, as a result we’ve had 4 – 5 subs and while some of them are better, the lack of consistency has done zilch to build my son’s trust or confidence
— when you decide to leave, there is a 30 day cancel, so we are being charged a whopping $ 110 for lessons we will not be using
— one lesson was cancelled as a kid threw up in the pool right when we showed up… but we weren’t credited for the lesson and were instead told we could come back for free swim 30 minutes later. Uh… what could you possibly do to clean up that toxic mess in 30 minutes?
— changing room age limits are NOT enforced — my 8 year old daughter did not appreciate older boys in the girl’s changing room (neither did I)
— my son went from having fun splashing in pool, but not understanding how to hold his breath, to being terrified of water and no, still doesn’t know how to put his face in water even after almost 5 months

I am so disappointed in my customer service experience here. I have been a long time customer and have loved the lessons and the growth that my kids have experienced swimming at safe n sound. However, to me a truly good company values it’s customers. My daughter had the flu, the throwing up /​fever flu and I called 20 mins after the designated cancellation time. They had changed their policy on cancellation to 24hours prior unless you buy a monthly membership. Without communicating this to existing customers. Now, my choices are to pay or take my daughter with her flu into the pool. It certainly doesn’t encourage parents to keep their kids home when sick. Even after speaking to a customer service person at the pool, she still declined to wave the fee. So disappointing. It’s a good thing I care more about my child than proving a point or the company would loose vastly more money cleaning throw up out of their pool than loosing my $ 12.

My post is specific to the Safe ‘n Sound Adventure Summer camp, because for some strange reason, parents do not write reviews about camps or schools (c’mon folks, some help here!)
My son (8) has gone to the Adventure camp for two years in a row, and he absolutely loves it. He was already a pretty good swimmer to begin with, but being in the water for 2+ hours, learning to snorkel and getting a 1:1 lesson every day really has helped him improve his skills (he was being taught how to do the breast stroke, for example). Regardless, the team at Safe ‘n Sound has done a fantastic job at putting together events in and out of the pool that are so much fun for the kids. Kids spend a good amount of time at the facility, but they also go on daily trips to different beaches around the area, go to the lake to learn to paddle board, kayak or SPU. They rode the duck one day! And at the end they had a BBQ at Gasworks Park.
We have done a ton of summer camps, and this is one that we highly recommend.

My 9 year old daughter had been traumatized by group lessons elsewhere when she was 3 and it took 6 years for me to convince her to try again. One on one lessons at Safe N Sound came recommended by a friend, and we had a good experience with teacher Mian. Within 6 lessons she was doing backstroke with confidence and is now slowly getting the hang of freestyle side breathing and learning the rudiments of breaststroke.
They let your kid practice for 15 minutes before and after the lesson, which makes it much more worth your time, considering lessons are only 15 min.
A word of advice for anyone doing lessons during the summer: At around 10am the summer campers often descend upon the practice area of the pool like a hoard of insects. There were over three dozen children crowded in the shallow end one morning while my daughter was trying to practice (she couldn’t, there was no room for anyone to move). After that experience I rescheduled lessons to earlier in the day and afternoon to avoid the crowd.

I read about Safe N Sound Swimming on Red Tricycle and was really excited to try it out. I have a 4 year old son, who loved the water as a baby, but has recently developed a fear of it to the point where he won’t go in water past his shins. We camp a lot in the summer near a lake so I want him to learn to swim so he can be safe and maybe even enjoy the water a bit.
I thought Safe N Sound would be perfect because its short, one one one lessons.
First the good stuff!
His instructor Gretchen was great. She was patient with him and kind, appealing to his love of Spiderman and using that in lessons. The pool area, though noisy, is clean and there are bench’s provided for parents. There’s a life guard on duty every time I’d gone. They have changing areas, and a locker room. We only ever used the changing area’s with curtains, haven’t ventured into the locker room at all.
Now the not so good stuff.
I found the front desk staff to be a little uneven. Sometimes I felt very welcomed and other times it seemed like they couldn’t care less if I was there or not. Today when I received my son’s progress report the receptionist just slapped the paper down on the counter and said ‘progress report.‘
Getting in a lesson for the first time is tough. Using their website is confusing and lesson booking has turned out to be not great either. UPDATE! I received an email from Safe N Sound after we missed one of our lessons. I wrote an email back expressing my disappointment with the way their scheduling works and received an email back the next day. Basically I misunderstood the policy. I signed up for a 4-​lesson pack and will keep our spot with Gretchen until I cancel it. I’ll just be charged for a 4-​lesson pack until I change it. In addition to taking the time to explain the scheduling to me, I was also given our missed lesson back so we can still use it. I think that’s pretty nice of them, especially after it was apparent that I just misunderstood the scheduling. So at this point I feel like I can recommend Safe N Sound Swimming!

We tried various public pool swimming lessons and my son found them scary and the water cold. He turned 6 and could not swim at all or even put his face in. We went to Safe and Sound a bit reluctantly.
At his first lesson he was able to go underwater, float, and make strokes while being supported! After 3 lessons he could swim a tiny bit on his own (with his teacher by him).
The short lessons, personal instruction and WARM WATER make it ideal. We are so glad we finally came down here (like everyone had been telling me to).

My kid loves it here and the 1:1 lesson, while short, has been more helpful in teaching him to swim then the YMCA

Let me first say that the instructor seemed really nice, and none of my problems were with her. Here is a list of my issues:
1. Customer service was really lacking. The email communication was so bizarre I couldn’t help but wonder if it had been transcribed by Siri. It rarely made any sense, and was so grammatically incorrect that it was hard to understand. The phone conversations were no better, and the staff came across as really accusatory. I had taken my 3 year old daughter for a trial lesson and felt that is was just too expensive for the quality of the entire experience. I wanted to pay for the lesson and move on. The woman on the phone made it seem like I was trying to renege on some agreement I never made.
2. The pool is small and the deck has no area for the kids to play while waiting. A day are that has an agreement with Safe N Sound and uses the pool over the summer had set up a play area, but the lead counselor very rudely made it clear that other children were not welcome. (As a side note, might I just tell that woman to pick on someone her own size.)
3. IT COSTS OVER $ 1.50/MINUTE! Not including the $ 50 annual pool fee they also tack on.
4. The parking is horrendous.
5. The online payment system is completely jacked up.
Staff member rescues 6-​year-​old girl from drowning in pool

My 6-​year old daughter’s instructor (Sheila) is excellent and works with her at a level she feels comfortable with. She is firm, but doesn’t push too hard. My daughter loves her lessons and has gained an incredible amount of confidence in the water in the two years she’s been taking lessons. When Sheila is out and my shy daughter has a sub, the subs have all been gentle and understanding when she has been hesitant to go in the water with them, and she has wound up having a successful lesson each time.
The only thing stopping me from giving Safe-​n-​Sound 5 stars is that the locker rooms are kind of gnarly. The pool itself was remodeled last year and is great, and other improvements were made, but the locker room floors are dirty. I make my daughter wear flip-​flops at all times. A new floor would be great, as would more frequent/​thorough cleaning.

Short, focused lessons for the kiddos — check.
Personable, knowledgeable instructors who genuinely seem to enjoy kids — check.
Friendly, helpful front desk folks — check.
Organized scheduling/​planning for each new session — not so much.
Technology-​enabled — no so much.
Super fabulous locker rooms/​facility — not so much.
The stuff that is important — the lessons & how they treat my kid — is top notch. The fact that our 4 year old is a fish & confident/​competent in the water is a direct testament to his experience here. He has even participated in a swim meet!
They have occasional drop-​off swim parties (usually a Sat or Sun afternoon, related to a holiday — mother’s day, father’s day, valentine’s day, halloween). The kids swim, have pizza, do crafts and/​or maybe watch a movie. Love having this option every few months!
I have to admit, I figured with China Harbor right upstairs we’d go there all the time — but I still have never been!

Off and on over the course of two years, our son took numerous classes and private lessons at the Ballard and Queen Anne pools, but made very little progress. He just couldn’t get over the fear of putting his head in the water. Then we took him to Safe and Sound.
After no more than three lessons, not only was our son putting his head in the water during his instruction time, he would actually insist on staying in pool after his class to practice dunking.
We are very, very pleased with our son’s progress, and we expect to bring our second child here for lessons when he gets a little older.

I grew up swimming, and swam competitively for the better part of 2 decades. And where I grew up there were no shortage of indoor and outdoor pools to learn to swim, play, etc. But here in the northwest, swimming’s just not as popular — maybe we’re already wet enough?
Anyhoo, my toddler already demonstrated that he loves the water (whenever we go to a beach, or on vacation, he can’t wait to get in the pool). So when he turned 3, and could be in lessons on his own, I looked to find a place that could teach him to swim and wouldn’t require large joining fees or a commitment in case it didn’t work out. I considered group lessons, but he can barely wait in line at a fast food joint, let alone the edge of a pool. So I figured the private lessons offered at Safe N Sound Swimming would be a good introduction to him.
And I’ve been totally thrilled with the experience so far. The instructor, Elizabeth, has a great attitude, and clearly pushes him to progress, while being encouraging and patient too. Already, by his 4^th lesson, he’s capable of holding his breath for 5+ seconds under water, puts his face in the water voluntarily and is beginning to get the hang of the «basic mechanics» of using his arms and legs. Again, he’s 3. That’s a huge accomplishment in my book and pretty much earns 4 stars by itself. He’s just figured out that he can swim for 15 minutes before and after the lesson («free swim») in the shallow end and practice his «skills» (or as he likes to say, «tricks»). The lessons are short, but they’re one-​on-​one so he’s learning the whole time, and its not like his attention span is that much longer than 15 minutes.
Yes, this place has bad acoustics, but the kids and instructors seem to do fine, so it doesn’t bother me that much. I sit on a bench and watch my kid learn a super-​important skill and he has a good time. Yes, the locker rooms are nothing to shake a stick at, but there’s plenty of room for my kid to change, take a shower, go the bathroom., etc. Nobody is hanging out there like at the WAC. And yes, I don’t know if I’d spend a lot of time swimming here on my own, but there are plenty of other places better suited for that (YMCA, WAC, SAC).
I’m not giving it 5 stars for a few reasons: One, there’s only one toilet in the boy’s bathroom. Seriously? Two, I’ve had trouble setting up a permanent time so far — despite all the instructors it seems they’re pretty booked up with the exception of «ad-​hoc» appointments. Three, the web site is atrocious and difficult to use.
But overall, I’m very satisfied, and plan to keep going until my son’s a lot safer in the water — or maybe I’ll even keep going through swim team. Who knows.