Advice please - teaching toddler to swim

[IrisGranstedt]

Hi

My son is almost two years old and has developed a keen interest in playing on swimming pools. I never did the baby swimming thing with him so I think I've missed the boat on those newborn reflexes.

Our local swim school don't take children till they are three. So any advice on how to teach toddler to swim yourself?

Any advice/resources suggestion greatly appreciated!

 

[MarthaT]

Our local park district offered child swim classes, might be a place to look?

[IrisGranstedt]

The youngest age they accept is three so I want to do something before then.

[Bellan]

Hi,
We did one semester of babyswining. It was fun but I guess my girl didn't learn to swin on her own.
The things I remeber that we did was:
Hold the baby under his/her arms or let the baby lay on one of your arms (and you hold your hand around the babys arm near the shoulder/armpit, the parent walk/turn backwards when you do it this way) and pull him/her around in the water while the baby kicks. Kind of the beginning of swiming.
When you do this above you can have a toy (that flotes) and make the baby "go fetch it".

You can also hold the toy under water and let the baby try to grab a hold of it (distans looks different in water).

You can have a floating madrass (don't know the real word for it) and practise jumping of it (holding the baby under his/her arms all the time) We did this and put the babys head under water and pulled them up at once (don't know if you can do this with an older child).

ANother thing we did that the teacher told us was very important that a baby/child can do, is to jump into water and then turn and grap a hold of the ledg and pull himself up out of the water. We practiced this by letting the baby sit on the side of the pool (holding on to the baby under his arms), saying 123jump and then helping the baby to jump into the water and at once turning the baby around and making them grab a hold of the poolside and helping them get out with a little puch on the put or leg or foot.

We aso had one of the floating noodles (or what you call them?) and letting the babys body rest on them on the armpits near the chest, the parent then pull the baby fast in the water (parent going backwards).

I usualy did all of this in water were I have the watersurfas somewhere under my sholders. But this eas individual.

Good luck with swining and ask questions if you dont understand

All the best
Bellan

[Bellan]

When we did this noodle floating thing we held on to the babys arms right next to the hands.

I really hope that you can understand my explanations and my spelling 

/Bellan

[lzp11]

I found this website really helpful http://www.uswim.com/

At the beginning, just getting used to water and playing, splashing etc is really important.  Some swim schools like to progress to dunking the babies very early to get them used to being under water.  But making it fun is the most important thing.  Many babies I have seen don't swim per se until quite a bit older but their water confidence is amazing.  Also teaching to hold onto the side and to learn to pull themselves up and out of the water is very important for water safety.

[IrisGranstedt]

Many thanks for all the responses. I will try out a few things with my LO and see how it goes. He definitely seems fairly happy in the water but I haven't tried dipping him in the water yet.

Regarding those floating devices, should I bother with those at all or does that hinder their ability to learn to swim?

Many thanks! 

[msocorro]

I found thise site very usefull
http://uswim.com/

[msocorro]

floting divices... well it helped my son but not my ,D, soo, I would recomend try not using them and if he is too afraid then my bay they might help

[mybabyian]

Yes, the number one thing is to get water confidence.  You can start in the bath very easily.  Lots of kids who are afraid of the water are kids who never get their face wet in the bath. 

Use bath toys and playfully squirt the water on the child's body.
Drop a little bit of water over the child's face.
As they get confidence pour more and more water on their head and let it fall over their eyes.  Eventually you can pour a bucket of water over their head or use the shower and let it stream over their face when they get enough confidence.

Practice blowing bubbles.  This helps with breath control underwater.  When they get good you can start practicing slowly bobbing up and down in the water and blowing bubbles.  It will probably take a long time to get to this point but the eventual goal is for them to be able to take their "in breath" above the water and their "out breath" below the water several times in a row.  Kids who aren't yet good swimmers try to come up for a breath and take both their "in breath" and their "out breath" above the water.  But that means they have to hold their face up long enough to do this and that can exhaust a poor swimmer.  I think bobs are too much over looked in most swimming programs. 

Practice back floating.  This can take a long time to learn but is probably the most important skill.  Once they can back float you can teach them to role over on their backs when they are tired or need to breath.  They are much more water safe when they learn this skill because they can take all the breaths they want on their back with very little effort.  To teach back floating you can hold them in the water with their head on your shoulder like a pillow.  Sing a song or hold a toy for them to look at over them.  They don't like the sensation of the water in their ears.  You can tell a two year old that it is going to feel funny in their ears and they will accept it more because they know what to expect.  As they get comfortable you can let go of them little by little until they can do it on their own. 

Get them to go under.  You can hold them facing you with your hands under their armpits.  Lift them up and say some kind of cue that you are going to take them under like "1, 2, 3 under!"  Then sweep them under gently so that the water flows over their face in the direction from their head to their toes.  If you just dunk them they could get water up their nose.  Little by little you build up the time that they are under water and eventually you can pass them back and forth this way to a partner in the water with you.

Their is lots more of course to learn but I think these skills are a good place to start.

Good luck!

[IrisGranstedt]

Many thanks for all the advice! I have practiced dipping him under the water and he seemed pretty ok and didn't cough or anything. I think I will sign up to the pool membership so we can go and practice everyday while his interest is still strong! 

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