Being able to breathe at will in the water is a huge step toward water safety for kids. Until your child starts working on keeping his head in the water and turning it slightly to the side to take a breath, he’ll lift his whole head out of the water when he needs to breathe. Here’s how to teach your kids popup breathing.

Teaching Your Kids to Breathe in the Pool

In order to do popup breathing, your kids need to understand that to lift up out of the water they’ll push down with their arms.

Have your child sit on the steps so that the water is up to the tops of his shoulders. If this won’t work with the steps of your pool, hold your child gently around the waist and lower both of you so that the water reaches the tops of his shoulders.

Have him extend his arms in front of him and press down, cupping his hands. He should feel his body rise up while he’s pushing down and sink back down when he’s finished. Have him try doing it with his arms bent at different angles and with his fingers spread apart instead of closed. Discuss with him the effect the different ways he moves his arms and hands have on whether or how much his body moves up in the water.

Have your child practice pushing down with his arms, bringing his arms close to his body and lifting them up like arrows through the water, and pushing them down again. Discuss how making his arms like arrows going straight up through the water feels compared to the pushing down he’s been practicing. He should notice that it’s easier to move his arms through the water when they’re slicing through it like an arrow, and that his body barely moves when he uses his arms this way.

Have him practice this sequence repeatedly, so that he’s maximizing resistance while he pushes down and minimizing resistance while he brings his arms back to the surface. Have him push down, bring his arms to the surface, push down, and bring his arms to the surface several times without stopping. Discuss how that keeps his body lifted in the water.