10/27/2026
Are your kids' swim lessons trying to impress you, or teach them?
I spent years impressing parents.
At swim schools.
At community pools.
Even at an Air Force base for a while.
I've taught all different kinds of curriculums.
And one thing that struck me was that the point was swim team.
It was getting the kid to swim across the pool so the parent could "see progress".
Every parent comes in with the same desire: I just want my kid to be safe.
Great. Me too. What's "safe"? There's not a swim program in the world that can guarantee a drown-proof kid, but surely we can at least define safe.
Unfortunately, most programs don't answer that. Instead, I was told to point at 10 meters of frenzied freestyle and call it swimming.
At Zen Penguin, I don't have the luxury of an impressive distance. Our pools are 15x20ft. They go from 3-4ft deep. A gentle hop, and most 4 year olds are halfway across. So instead of chasing distance, we came up with our own certification: Backfloat to Breathe.
Here's my definition of water safe: Your child can choose at any point to get into their backfloat and take a breath. In a backfloat, the body is close to the surface, the airway is clear, and it takes almost no energy to maintain, so a child can stay there as long as they need to regulate their nervous system and decide what to do next.
It doesn't matter how deep the water goes, or how far away the wall is, they always have a way to self-rescue and pause to regulate. They'll always need to be supervised (swimming is by nature a community activity), but with Backfloat to Breathe, their body has a plan for the unexpected.
This is also why we teach a position instead of a sequence. If you can't swim yet, an instruction to swim isn't helpful. But if you know you need to backfloat to breathe, you have an idea of what position to try for, even if you're scared.
The beauty of this definition is that it works for EVERYBODY.
Neurotypical kids.
Autistic kids.
ADHD kids.
Physically disabled kids.
Adults of all shapes, sizes, and abilities.
Either you can backfloat to breathe, or you stay where you can stand or within arm's reach of someone who can rescue you.
Distance looks impressive. A swimmer who can find their breath no matter what is ACTUALLY safe.
If that’s the kind of safe you want for yourself or your kid, come learn it with us at Zen Penguin🐧
