Some Ames children are learning how to swim a little bit earlier than their peers.

Iowa State has begun its third session of infant swimming lessons, taught by Katherine Thomas-Thomas.

Thomas-Thomas, associate professor of health and human performance, said each six-week session is offered for infants and toddlers and their parents in the ISU and Ames communities. Each session consists of 12 lessons and serves two purposes, she said.

“The first is as an outreach to the university community and the general community to provide a service,” she said. “The second is to train students in water safety and get them comfortable with the water.”

Thomas-Thomas is a member of the American Swimming Coaches Association and has taught children’s swimming classes for more than 30 years as well as authored the YMCA’s Infant Swimming Guide.

With swimming as her expertise, Thomas-Thomas said getting children comfortable with the water before they can develop a fear and establishing a routine between parent and child will benefit them at an early age.

Ames resident Julie Johnson signed up for the class to get her daughter Kaitlin, 2, used to the water.

“[The program is] a good thing,” she said. “She always wants to go swimming even when we don’t have class.”

She said the class teaches children important lessons about being around the water.

“The kids learn safe behavior around water because they really emphasize that. That’s one of the really valuable things about it,” Johnson said.

In her class, Thomas-Thomas teaches techniques to both parents and their children.

“I primarily work with the infants and toddlers, and they practice the same routine each time they come to the pool,” she said.

Thomas-Thomas said at each session, children are taught to sit by the side of the pool and wait for their parents to invite them in to establish a discipline or routine.

She said the children are taught to turn around underwater, swim toward a target and how to handle a water emergency.

Johnson said the class has piqued her daughter’s interest.

“When we don’t have class, my daughter will practice in the bathtub,” she said. “She blows bubbles, floats on her back and puts her head under the water.”

Each class taught by Thomas-Thomas holds 10 or fewer students and is held at the Forker Building. She said it is hard to decide who enjoys the classes more — parents or children.

“The classes are fun for people,” she said. “When infants enjoy the water, it is a shared experience [between the parent and child], and they are learning and getting safety instructions.”