FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
Welcome to 10DaySwim! We’re a family-owned business based in Mooresville, NC, proudly helping children gain one of life’s most important skills — swimming.
- Save TIME – Lessons are quick and productive so you can get back to your regular life schedule
- Save MONEY – With 10DaySwim you will spend much less money over a shorter time period than other swim schools
- Better RESULTS – Proven with children 24+ months; guaranteed for ages 36+ months.
- PRIVATE Lessons – On-on-one instruction in a private pool setting
At minimum, a swimmer is a child who, if they fall into the pool, can submerge fully, turn, and kick to reach the edge or steps without assistance. This skill demonstrates both comfort and control in the water. Click here for more info on the 10DaySwim guarantee.
Then, when physically able, children will continue learning safe self-rescue techniques, including independently climbing out of the pool. Once these skills are mastered, your child’s swim instruction will progress through a gradual escalation of additional skills, as determined by the instructor.
NOTE: Swim instruction is one layer of water safety and does not replace supervision or responsible adult presence. The 10DaySwim™ guarantee does not eliminate parental responsibility.
All lessons are one-on-one with Mr. Mario, and take place in a private pool setting.
Click here for more details.
It is our honor to help every child—regardless of ability—discover the joy of swimming and gain this life-saving skill. We have had great success working with children of varying abilities. Because every child’s needs are unique, we believe the most effective way to determine appropriate accommodations is through a personal conversation.
Please contact us directly to discuss your child’s needs and learn more.
You may also click here to view our commitment to ongoing training.
Instruction is an effective 10 minutes per day for 10 consecutive days, held Monday through Friday for two weeks (excluding select holidays).
This structure is intentional and rooted in how young children learn best:
- Muscle memory is built through repetition and consistency. Short, daily lessons allow skills to be practiced, reinforced, and retained without long gaps that cause regression.
- Research consistently shows that brief, frequent instruction leads to higher retention in young learners compared to longer, less frequent sessions.
- Children have limited attention spans. Ten minutes allows them to stay focused, engaged, and successful without becoming overwhelmed.
- These lessons are physically demanding. Swimming engages the entire body, and most swimmers are appropriately fatigued by the end—much like an effective 10-minute cardio workout for an adult.
By keeping lessons short and consistent, we maximize learning, reinforce muscle memory, and keep swimmers safe, confident, and progressing day after day.
Ten minutes is not less—it’s exactly what works.
We require and encourage parents to remain on-site during their child’s lessons. However, for some children (and parents), close proximity during the first few days can make the process more challenging. In those cases, parents are welcome to step slightly out of sight—such as around a corner—while still remaining nearby.
On the final TWO days, one or both parents will be invited into the pool to practice the skills and tools needed to reinforce the training at home.
It is common for children to cry during the first few days of lessons as they test limits or adjust to a new challenge. For some children, crying is a way of trying to get out of the lesson until confidence begins to build – and it will.
Mr. Mario is experienced and well prepared for those fears and tears and will gain your child’s trust calmly and safely. As confidence increases, the crying typically fades—and by Day 4, most families begin to see clear progress.
Please bring your child ready to swim and arrive 5 minutes prior to your scheduled time slot. Your child will only need a towel and a change of dry clothes.
If your child is under the age of 3 or is not yet potty trained, a proper swim diaper is required. You can view the Session Prep List here and the Diaper Policy here.
Restroom availability is often limited – please plan accordingly.
We have a TWO swim diaper policy: every child that is not proficiently potty trained or is under 3 yrs-old must be in a reusable swim diaper with elastic around the legs and torso, along with a disposable swim diaper.
Yes, the water temperature will be 90-92 degrees in the cooler months and temperature appropriate in the hotter months!
We’re always excited to welcome new host homes into the 10DaySwim™ family—families who share our heart for promoting water safety.
The benefits extend far beyond the pool.
We swim rain or shine and follow all federally recommended safety standards. In the event of thunder or lightning, swimmers will exit the pool and lessons will pause until the storm passes.
Please plan to attend lessons as scheduled unless you receive other instructions from us.
If a lesson must be canceled due to weather, a make-up date will be offered within that session. Electively missed lessons are not eligible for make-ups.
We get it—it’s hot outside, and the pool is tempting. But during the two-week session, no recreational swimming or full-body submersion is allowed.
First, you’ve invested in a focused program to help your child learn a new skill set. Practicing outside of lessons—before you’ve been taught the drills—can interfere with the learning process and void the program guarantee. More importantly, it sends a mixed message to your child’s brain: “There are multiple ways to do this.” Right now, that’s not the message we want reinforced.
Learning to swim relies heavily on repetition and consistent movement patterns. During the session, we are intentionally building those patterns step by step. Parents are not yet equipped to practice these skills correctly until days nine and ten, when we bring you into the water and teach you how to reinforce them properly.
That said, your child doesn’t need to avoid water altogether. Playing with water balloons, running through the sprinkler or hose, visiting a splash pad, and taking baths are all perfectly fine. What’s not allowed is full-body submersion or swimming until the session is complete.
We promise—this short pause helps protect the progress your child is making and sets them up for stronger, more confident skills once lessons conclude.
There is an important difference between being fearful and being apprehensive when a child is not yet skilled in a new environment. 10DaySwim is not like traditional swim lessons; it is a no-nonsense program that teaches survival swimming skills. Sometimes, as a parent, you make choices for your child’s safety—like using a car seat—because you know they are important. The same can be said for this lifesaving skill.
As skills develop, confidence typically follows. Most swimmers become confident and happy as they gain competence. While rare, some children simply don’t enjoy swimming, and that’s okay—our goal is to build skills and confidence, not force enjoyment.
That said, by day 10, most children are hard to pull away from the pool.
One of the most important things to understand about water safety is that there is no such thing as being completely “safe” in the water—there is only being better prepared. Swimming is a skill that develops over time through consistent practice, repetition, and supervision.
At 10DaySwim, our focus is on skill retention and rapid progression toward safer swimming behaviors. While we move children quickly toward strong foundational skills, every child is unique in age, ability, and developmental readiness. Continued exposure to the water is what builds confidence, control, and competence over time.
That is why, on days nine and ten, we invite you—the parent—into the water. During these sessions, we teach you the drills and techniques your child has learned so you can continue reinforcing and strengthening their skills beyond the program. This partnership helps support long-term progress and promotes ongoing water safety through active parent involvement and supervision.
Remember: practice doesn’t make perfect—practice builds proficiency.
Children may respond differently outside of a structured lesson environment. Factors such as time since last practice, water temperature, fatigue, hunger, distractions, or changed expectations can affect willingness to participate. Ever taken your child to the park just to have a meltdown? Children also tend to test boundaries more with parents than with instructors—which is often why families seek professional instruction in the first place.
You brought your child to 10DaySwim to establish foundational swimming and water-safety skills—and we focus on building strong, repeatable movement patterns through consistent practice. This is why parents are invited into the water on days nine and ten: to learn the drills, understand expectations, and reinforce skills consistently beyond lessons. This helps keep the learning momentum going.
Not demonstrating a skill on demand does not necessarily indicate a lack of learning; it often reflects differences in setting and supervision (parent versus instructor). That said, if the common barriers above have been addressed—your child isn’t hungry, tired, cold, or overwhelmed—then as the parent, you need to lead with clear direction and confidence rather than negotiation. When expectations are consistent, resistance often decreases.
When all else fails, we are here to support you and are happy to help you troubleshoot and establish a plan—because that partnership matters. That’s why we call you family.
Remember: practice doesn’t make perfect—practice builds proficiency.
While your child’s level of advancement in a session will vary, unlike pools, open bodies of water can have unexpected water currents that can pull novice swimmers away from the safety of shore, or even under the water. Even air, water temperatures, and wind can create safety issues in an instance.
Children should never be permitted to swim in or play near a natural water source without a Coast Guard approved life vest and the supervision of an adult regardless of the skill level.
Beyond the fact that these devices can interfere with the skills your child is learning in lessons, puddle jumpers and similar flotation devices encourage incorrect and ineffective body positioning in the water. They hold children in a vertical posture—head up, feet down, arms out—which promotes a bicycling motion rather than proper horizontal swimming and self-rescue skills.
Additionally, children who regularly swim using puddle jumpers or floaties often believe they are swimming independently, since no one is physically holding them. This can create a false sense of confidence, leading children to believe they can stay afloat without assistance—even when the flotation device is removed.
For a deeper explanation of the risks associated with flotation devices, we encourage parents to review resources from the Judah Brown Project and Parents Preventing Childhood Drowning, both of which provide in-depth, research-based information on this topic.
Additional resources include:
The violent, splashing, waving, yelling for help that most people expect – that dramatic conditioning Hollywood television prepares us to look for – is rarely seen in real life.
Drowning is almost always a deceptively quiet event. It is swift, silent, and permanent. See the links below for more information:
Child Drowning Statistics Links: