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Top 22 Tips for Fine-Tuning Your Swimming Teaching Style

When you’re teaching your kids to swim, how you teach is as important as what you teach. Use these 22 tips to help make your teaching style more effective and more fun for everyone.

22 Tips for a Fun, Effective Teaching Style

1.  Do tell your child what swimming skill you’ll be learning that day before you get into the pool.

2.  Do start easy and build on the swimming skills your child has already mastered.

3.  Do teach swimming skills in small pieces that can be combined.

4.  Do teach one swimming skill at a time.

5.  Do demonstrate.

6.  Do give simple, one- or two-word instructions.

7.  Do avoid yes/no questions.

8.  Do ask open-ended questions.

9.  Do repeat, practice, and review to turn movement into habit.

10.  Do acknowledge the small subtle things that are happening to your child’s body when he’s working on a swimming skill.

11.  Do take time during the swimming lesson to point out the physical sensations.

12.  Do praise your child’s efforts, not just his accomplishments.

13.  Do be specific in your praise.

14.  Do give positive, specific, constructive, immediate feedback.

15.  Do define success based on process instead of outcome.

16.  Do encourage your child to try things he initiates (as long as you’re there to keep him safe).

17.  Do use lots of different ways of explaining or showing the swimming skill you’re teaching.

18.  Do use all the senses to teach each swimming skill.

19.  Do touch the part of your child’s body that you want him to focus on.

20. Do use your hands to help adjust your child’s body gently without forcing him.

21. Do relate the swimming skill you’re trying to teach to something your child already knows how to do, like dig a hole or pedal a bike.

22. Do use imagination, games, and visualization to make repetition and swimming practice fun.

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Time to Play! Going Underwater

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. Putting their heads underwater is a tough skill for many kids to learn. They need something to distract them from the unfamiliar feeling. This game will help kids to practice this important skill without realizing they’re practicing. It’s fun for the teacher, too.

Play scuba diver. Have your child duck under and look around while you swim past him like a fish. Now swim by like a dolphin. Now a mermaid. Be creative. Take requests. What undersea creatures would your scuba diver like to see? Even a bad aquatic impression is entertaining. (Sometimes the bad impressions are the most entertaining.)

This is a great way to teach your kids to swim while they think they’re just having fun. If your child resists wearing goggles, this will encourage him to try them. You’ve got to wear the goggles to see your swimming teacher’s best fish faces.

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6 Tips for Making the Most of Each Swimming Lesson

Keep these six tips in mind when you’re teaching your kids to swim, and you’ll maximize your bang for the minutes spent in the water.

Tips for Getting the Most out of Every Swimming Lesson

Making the most of every swimming lesson will give your kids the best chance of learning to swim quickly and painlessly. Keep these tips in mind while you’re teaching and planning your swimming lessons.

Start exposing your child to water as early in life as possible.

Fear and uncertainty are more likely to develop as kids get older. The sooner they get used to feeling comfortable in the water, the easier it will be for you to teach them to swim.

Have short, frequent lessons.

Kids’ minds and bodies get tired quickly. Don’t let distraction and discomfort detract from the learning experience. Teach your kids to swim in short bursts as often as possible.

Provide as much opportunity to practice as possible, and make sure that a good chunk of that is unstructured.

When you’re teaching your kids to swim, give them time to explore the skills you’re teaching. They’ll learn a lot from self-directed practice.

Set aside time for a play activity that your child chooses in the middle and at the end of each lesson.

When you’re teaching them to swim, keeping it fun will keep your kids wanting more. Even if they’re working hard on something, knowing that they get to have fun—and decide exactly what form the fun will—take will help keep your kids motivated while they’re learning.

Teach in three to four feet of water, where an adult can stand firmly without feeling too buoyant.

Safety is the first priority when you’re teaching your kids to swim. Making them feel secure is important, too. Make sure that you’re as stable as possible so that you can provide solid physical support.

Practice swimming toward the wall or steps.

When you’re teaching a swimming lesson, part of what you’re doing is establishing habits. If you’re kids get used to swimming toward the wall during a lesson, it will make heading toward the wall automatic, a great thing in case of emergencies.

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Water Safety: 3 Things to Teach and 3 Things to Watch

When you’re teaching your kids to swim, water safety is the most important thing for them to learn. Here are three things to teach them and three things for you to watch for to help keep them safe.

3 Things to Teach

These three things are critical for your child to know, and they’re easy to teach them.

Teach your kids the rules of the pool.

Show your child where the pool rules are posted and explain them. Quiz him. Ask him to teach you the rules. Review them every time you arrive at the pool until they’re second nature to your child.

Teach your kids about the risks.

Don’t be afraid to explain safety risks to your child. Be calm and direct. You don’t want to make him unnecessarily afraid of the water, but you do want him to respect it and the safety rules. Explain what behavior is unsafe, why it’s dangerous, and how to choose different safe behaviors.

Teach your kids by example.

Set an example for your child. If kids aren’t allowed to jump in, neither should you.

3 Things to Watch

These three things are critical for you to pay attention to when your kids are in and around the water. (They’re important for you to watch for in yourself and other adults, too.)

Watch for hyperthermia as well as hypothermia.

In the same way that kids’ bodies lose heat rapidly in a cold pool, they can overheat quickly in a hot tub. Hyperthermia can cause weakness, dizziness, confusion, and loss of consciousness. Your child may experience the effects of the heat well before an adult would.

Watch for wandering into deep water.

When your child feels comfortable in shallow water, watch to make sure he doesn’t move to deeper water than is safe for his skill level. Kids like to use the wall to move and like to bounce. Both of these can accidentally take them to deeper water than they can handle.

Watch for shallow water.

The two most serious water injuries are drowning and spinal injuries. Most spinal injuries result from dives in shallow water. Always make sure you know how deep the water is before diving. Don’t let your child dive in any way in water that’s less than six feet deep.  Don’t let your child dive headfirst in any water that’s less than nine feet deep, or twelve feet deep if your child is diving from a board.

For more safety information, see: