This Is One Kids' Activity I'll Pay a Fortune For. Here's Why

Not all children's activities are worth it, but this one is.

My two children are 2 years old and 3 months old. Despite their young ages, there are already plenty of paid kids' activities that I could enroll them in  -- and that my 2-year-old has expressed a desire to do. 

But while I'm reluctant to break out the credit cards and pay a fortune for a ton of extracurricular activities for very small kids, there's one activity I've signed both my son and daughter up for and that is costing me quite a lot. But I absolutely do not mind paying for it for an important reason.

This is the activity I'm willing to pay a lot of money for 

The one activity where I am happily willing to splurge is private swim lessons for my children. I pay $45 every week for a half-hour private lesson for each child and while this is a lot of money, I am absolutely willing to pay for it with no questions asked. 

In fact, I've been paying for private swim lessons for my son for over a year since we found our teacher and my daughter has just gotten started with her lessons even though she's just hit that 12-week milestone. 

Here's why I believe covering this cost is worth it 

The reason I am willing to pay for private swim lessons is a simple one. I believe it is one of the most important things I can do in order to keep my kids safe. I've read a lot of statistics about how drowning is one of the leading causes of death for children under the age of four, and since we have a pool at our house, this is a major source of concern for me. 

Of course we have a fence and we watch our kids, but I would rather have the peace of mind of knowing that if a weird fluke happens and they end up in the pool, they can save themselves. It serves as a sort of fail-safe in case all of our other efforts fail. 

I looked into less expensive alternatives to help my kids learn to swim and even tried some of them out. My son was in group lessons and took some private lessons with a less expensive teacher before we ultimately settled on the class that we are in -- but none of them were very effective. It can be a challenge to teach such a young child to swim safely, so in order to be able to get the results I wanted, I have to pay for a private class with an expert -- and that comes at a cost. 

Ultimately, the lessons have paid themselves off in my opinion since my son can swim the entire length of the pool at 2.5 years old. And when he accidentally fell into the pool while he was with my in-laws recently, he was able to come right back up and swim to the edge so even though they were just a few feet away and could have stepped in, he proved that he didn't need the help. The peace of mind that comes from that is priceless.