When you’re teaching your kids to swim, the last thing you want is for them to feel like the lesson is a chore. So how do you disguise the fact that what they’re participating in is a swimming lesson?
Turn It All into Play
Working with your own child in the pool, you have the luxury of goofing off without having to worry that a paying parent will think you’re shirking your teaching duties. You also have the important knowledge that playtime is premium learning time in disguise.
Make the last few minutes of your lesson free play. Let your child choose whatever game or activity he wants.
Your child will prefer some parts of the lesson to others. Maybe he loves moving his arms but hates practicing kicking. Maybe he loves to glide but hates to float. It’s easy to take the path of least resistance and avoid practicing the harder things, but it’s important to practice them. Make it more appealing by bookending the skills he doesn’t like with ones your child enjoys most. The end-of-lesson playtime is a great reward for doing the things he’d rather not do during the rest of the lesson.
Enjoy this time yourself. Teaching is tiring work that requires you to be intensely focused on your child. Take a few deep breaths, soak in some rays, and share some laughs and hugs. End every swimming lesson with play when you’re teaching your kids to swim. The payoff you both experience during the end of the lesson will add to the eagerness all of you feel to get back into the pool for your next lesson.