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Teaching Your Kids to Go Underwater: Starting Out

Once your child knows how to hold his breath and put his face in the water, it’s still a jump to put his whole head under the water. The pressure he’ll feel in his nose and ears will be uncomfortable and unfamiliar, and it will take a lot of practice to make dunking his whole head feel effortless and unremarkable. Here’s how to teach this swimming skill.

How to Teach Your Kids to Put Their Heads Underwater

Demonstrate what you’re aiming for. Watching you do each step will help your kids see what’s possible and understand what they’ll be learning.

After you demonstrate, teach your kids in the following steps.

One Cheek at a Time

While you hold your child, have him hold his breath and put the side of his face in the water. Have him gently lower his cheek into the water so that it’s fully submerged but his nose isn’t in the water. This will give him his first experience of having water fill his ear. Try it on both sides.

Moving Around

Once he’s used to putting his cheeks in the water, practice moving his body while he’s in this position. You can hold him so that he’s lying on his side in the water or cradled on his side in your arms, whichever feels more comfortable for him. Have him face you so that he can look up to make eye contact if he needs the extra security.

Start moving your child’s body gently, always moving in the direction of his head. This will allow the water to flow over his face toward his chin and will keep water from getting into his nose.

Dunking!

Have your child put his whole head in the water by himself while you hold him. It’s easiest if he puts his head in the water face first. Have him start with his mouth in the water first, then the rest of his face, and finally the rest of his head. This way of entering the water is less likely to force water up his nose. Let him hold his nose if that’s a concern.

Do’s

Do encourage your child to burp. Learning to hold your breath often involves swallowing some air.

Don’ts

Don’t force your child’s head underwater. It’s important to let your kids go at their own pace when they’re learning this swimming skill.

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Teaching Your Kids to Blow Bubbles: Mastery

Blowing bubbles is not only fun, but it’s also an important skill to have kids practice when you’re teaching them to swim. Use this test to see if your kids are ready to move on to putting their heads underwater.

Swimming Skill Test: Blowing Bubbles

Have your child practice holding his breath with his face in the water until he can hold his breath for ten seconds or so. Have him practice repeating the process of holding his breath with his face in the water, lifting his face to take another breath, and putting his face back in the water.

Once he can do this, he has the skills he needs to put his head under the water. Check back tomorrow for information about how to teach that swimming skill.

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Teaching Your Kids to Blow Bubbles: Stage 2

We’re not talking soap bubbles. Nope, we’re talking a swimming skill. You’ve practiced the fundamentals of blowing bubbles on land. Now it’s time to use what they’ve learned and expand on it in a swimming lesson.

Stage 2 of Teaching Your Kids to Blow Bubbles

You can teach the following swimming skills in the bathtub first or move straight to the swimming pool, depending on your kids’ comfort levels, your preference, and the availability of a pool (or tub).

Have your kids try to take in and spit out water.

Have your kids practice holding their breath out of the water. Teach this skill by demonstrating it. Demonstrate by taking an exaggerated breath in, puffing up your cheeks, and holding your nose. Have your kids do the same. Have them try it again without holding their noses. At first, your child can hold his finger right under his nose to make sure no air is being taken in or leaking out through his nose.

When he can hold his breath out of the water for several seconds, have him practice holding his breath and putting his whole face in the water for just a moment. You can practice this in a bowl of water first.

When he’s comfortable with putting his face in the water, have your child hold his breath and put his face in the water for several seconds. You can have him count to three in his head, or you can tap on his back once a second, telling him to lift his head whenever he needs to but to try to hold his breath until you tap his back three times. If you spot a burst of bubbles coming out of the water, it means he’s lost the hang of it and you should lift his head out of the water for the moment.

Do’s

Hold your child’s body close to yours so that he feels supported when you’re teaching this swimming skill.

Don’ts

Don’t force his head, and don’t rest your hand on the back of his head while his face is under the water. Doing either of those things will make your child feel a loss of control. That will make it hard for you to convince him to try again.

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Time to Play! Blowing Bubbles

Kids learn by playing. The more you can make learning to swim fun for your kids, the more they’ll like it, the quicker they’ll learn, and the more fun you’ll have teaching them.  Here’s how to use sound to help your kids blow bubbles, an important way to help them learn to be aware of and control their breathing when you’re teaching them to swim.

Have your child make his bubble blowing sound like a boat. How about a helicopter? How about a fart? (Kids love fart jokes. What are you gonna do?)

You can also try a more artistic, refined approach. Can your kids hum their favorite songs and blow bubbles at the same time? Can you guess what songs they’re humming? Was that Bohemian Rhapsody?