How to Teach a Child Rhythmic Breathing in the Water

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Phillip Toriello, and this is how to teach a child rhythmic breathing. After you've worked with a child in teaching them how to use straight legs and pointed toes, basic pop-up breaths, and their big arms as far as the reach, catch, pull, push, it's now time to start focusing on rhythmic breathing. The best way to start is go ahead and utilize the staircase, where you can put the child's hands on the stair on the first step, and they can simply put their face in the water, blowing their bubbles out, and then taking a breath every three strokes. Generally, the way I work is that if a child knows how to count to three then you can teach them the basics of one, two, three, turn their head to the side, put their ear on their shoulder and their cheek in the water to take that side breath. As they become more comfortable doing that on the step, then you can basically hold onto their feet; putting them just underneath your armpit, and locking their feet; keeping their feet afloat, and then they can work on it going across the pool. This provides a child a finer sense of balance and coordination through the water, and actually doing the rhythmic breathing on their own. So the basic principle is one, two, three, turn your head to the left, and then one, two, three, turn your head to the right to learn that basic principle of rhythmic breathing. Then, as the child becomes more comfortable, you can have them hold onto a noodle; using their arms one at a time, which will really help reiterate that reach concept, and then they can kind of just take the time with pushing the water back, reaching for the sky, and also implementing that kick at the same time. To learn more about rhythmic breathing and working with children, please contact your local swimming expert."