How to Teach Your Child Basic Swimming Skills

Here is some practical advice for teaching your child to swim the easiest and best way possible. There are two key aspects to gaining confidence in the water: breath control and body position. Once a child or adult has become comfortable with these, they can move on to learning stroke techniques. I recommend that a professional instructor teach strokes to avoid learning bad habits that are difficult to unlearn later on. Enjoy the water. Keep it fun.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A swim suit
• Goggles that fit
• A good attitude
• Mindfulness

1. Breath control exercise: bubbles
   
   While holing on to the side of the pool, put your whole head in the water and humm while blowing air out of your nose and mouth and instruct your child to do so. Count how many seconds it takes for the child to resurface. This is how long you can expect the child to be comfortable underwater. When working with the child later on you can count while they are under water and bring them back up when they are ready. You can also tell when kids are ready to come back to the surface because children jerk their backs or start to exhale. As kids get more comfortable swimming, they learn to extend the length of time they are under water.
   
   If working with a young child explain that water can not get in if air is going out. Continue to encourage them to blow air out whenever their face is under water. Get a breath on top of the water, blow it out under the water. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

2. Body position: Flutter Kick
   
   Use a kick board, barbells, your arms, or the side of the pool to support your child so that they can lift their heads out of the water comfortably. They should be looking straight down at the bottom of the pool. The body should be completely horizontal, not at all vertical in the water.
   
   Vertical makes you sink, Horizontal makes you float. The goal is to spread out your body mass on top of the water so that the water will support you and hold you up.
   
   Explain this concept to your child, in your own words. Keep trying new words to describe what you mean- kids respond to varied instructions.

3. Body position: Back float
   
   Once you or your child is comfortable getting the whole head wet and is figuring out how to swim on their tummy have them roll on to their back and lay face up looking at the ceiling or sky. Have them extend their arms and legs out in star position, if the child's midsection is sinking, tell them to push out their tummy. Tell them to relax, the water will hold them up, and to lie flat like they are sleeping in bed.
   
   If they are having trouble, get out of the pool and lie down flat. Have them lift up the hips while laying down flat so that the child's bottom is off the ground. Ask them to remember exactly what the position they are in feels like, and then have the child repeat it in the water.
   
   Once a child can float on their back really well tell them that back float is the safety position. If they ever get scared or tiered in the water they should go into back float.

Tips & Warnings

• Have fun!
• Always practice safety.
• Stay within arms reach of your child.
• Pay attention: make sure the child's mouth is above the water and closed while you are playing.