When you’re teaching your kids to swim, the front crawl is the pinnacle of achievement. Hey, this looks like real swimming! At first, though, it can look a lot like splashing around. You can help your kids make their stroke more effective by concentrating on the direction of their motion. Here’s how.
Have your child concentrate on pulling back with his hand, not pushing down on the water. Remember that pushing backwards helps you go forward and pushing down helps you go up. When your arm is in the water, pull it back, and don’t push it down. Any part of the motion that’s downward is moving your child up in the water, which is not the direction he wants to go. Not only is it not moving him forward, it’s also increasing drag and slowing him down. Pushing sideways also moves him in the wrong direction. Focus on pulling back.
Once he’s comfortable with this, let him practice it until kicking simultaneously comes naturally. The combination of moving the water in the right direction and kicking at the same time will transform the way the front crawl works for your child.