Why I built Popsicle Pier

What I strive for is a place where a child feels secure enough to fail. Every child needs that place, and an adult they trust.

I know that from the other side. I grew up in a home that wasn't steady, and I didn't always have a grown-up I could count on. Everything about the way we teach at Popsicle Pier comes from that.

So I built it around one rule for every grown-up in our pool: when a child says stop, we stop. And a parent is beside every child, every lesson.

Inside that rule, we ask for courage. Your child's coach waits until they're ready, then asks for one small try, and the next lesson builds on it. A little scared + a little try = brave. And a child can always say not yet; coming back to try later counts.

Why we pay our teachers the way we do

Courage is built week by week, with a grown-up your child trusts. So we pay our teachers like the professionals they are: as employees, for every hour, training included, on a written ladder that is the same for everyone. Good teachers stay where they are paid fairly and looked after. Every lesson you book is part of that.

It's okay to be scared. Being scared can protect you, and the same feeling shows up for something hard and for something that hurts. It's hard to tell which one it is, so we ask: "Hard or hurt?" We do scary hard. We never do scary hurt. And the biggest thing we teach is that a child can tell any adult to stop, us included. I want kids authentic enough to say no and to trust their own judgment; even when they're wrong, it's still their judgment.

I'm a parent first. Every day here is about helping a child, and protecting a child. The job, the way I see it, is the fade, from me to them. At the start I'm the one holding on. The goal is the day your child doesn't need me, and I'm just the grown-up at the edge.

I want every child who swims with us to leave knowing two things: hard is something you can try, and your no matters.

I promise honest reps at hard things your child chooses, and the truth about what happened.

I swam at Alabama, and I've coached since 1995, from a first float to the Olympic Trials: tens of thousands of lessons, many of them with kids who were afraid of the water. That's how I learned to teach. The kid I was is why I teach it this way.

Jamey MyersFounder and working coach, Popsicle Pier Swim School