WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y. — Who doesn’t love splashing around the water when it’s hot outside? While it's a great family activity, it does have risks for kids. 

That’s why swim lessons are important. But learning to swim is no walk in the park, especially if you don’t even know how to walk yet.

“So today we're doing a mini one,” said Kelly Granville, an instructor at Goldfish Swim School in Williamsville.

At just a few months old, Tripp is diving in headfirst. These “minis” start at four months old.

“The earlier you start, the better the instincts are kind of gonna set in,” said Granville. "If they fall in the pool, the baby's natural instinct is to just kind of keep going the way that they're swimming, and so we want to redirect that and create instincts that tell them that if they fall in the pool, they want to turn around and go back to where they came from."

They're instincts that are important for Tripp to learn.

“You gotta hold onto the wall dude,” said Tripp's dad, Alex Tuch. “We have a cottage on a lake, so I think it's really important that we started really early so he doesn't have an accident and he'll know what to do,” said Tripp's mom, Kylie Edwards.

That doesn’t mean it comes easy for Tripp, or more so…for his parents.

“I was worried to put him under, like dunk his head, just because I didn't know if he was gonna cough or cry or be sick or sad," said Edwards. "When he did it though, he was a natural.”

Two months in and they’ve seen progress.

“I feel like he likes having baths more now just because he's used to the water," she added. "He splashes around and he has a lot of fun.”

They hope it translates to more comfort as he gets older too.

“We have a nephew who's a little bit older who started a little bit older than [Tripp] did and he was a little hesitant [around the water],” said Tuch.

There is some water up the nose here and there.

“If he goes under a couple of times, starts spitting up a little bit water, it's definitely time to back off a little bit and make sure he doesn't hate it as well,” Tuch added.

However, parents and the instructor are always close by.

“At that age, especially they're very... I don't want to say indestructible, but it's very hard to hurt them as long as you're on top of them,” said Granville.

They're making sure safety isn’t out of this little guy’s depth.

“As long as they learn how to swim, I think you just feel safer,” Tuch said.

For these small group lessons, it’s typically $30 per week for one 30-minute session.

Goldfish Swim School also has locations in Rochester and Albany.