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How to Make the Most of Your Time in the Water When You’re Teaching Your Kids to Swim

Once you’re in the water, the clock is ticking. You have a limited amount of time before your child gets tired, hungry, cold, or burned out. How can you make the most of it?

Take It out of the Water

Make the most of your time in the water by doing whatever you can to prepare when you’re out of the water. (More on how to do that later this week.) Don’t spend your valuable time in the water during your swimming lesson doing things you could do just as well on land.

Keep Yourself on Track

One way to keep yourself on track and keep from wasting time when you’re teaching your kids to swim is to write your lesson plan on an index card and put it into a waterproof plastic bag. Read your lesson plan before you get into the water and refer to it if you need to during the lesson. That way, you won’t keep your kids waiting (and shivering and getting bored) while you’re figuring out what comes next.

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Time to Play! Moving 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. Use this classic game to help your kids learn to move underwater.

Put coins or sinking toys on the bottom of the pool and have your child pick them up. Your kids get to keep whatever they pick up.

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How You Can Keep a Scary Moment in the Pool from Turning into a Big Deal

If something happens that scares your child—going underwater or breathing in water unexpectedly—how you respond will make the difference between his brushing it off and his carrying that fear with him into the future, possibly for life. How should you respond when something scary happens?

Acknowledge it.

Don’t deny that something scary, unexpected or unplanned happened. Be matter-of-fact about it. Make sure your own body language is confident and supportive. Your kids should know that while it may not have been a part of your swimming lesson plan, you can handle it. In the first few moments after an accident, your child looks to you to help him decide how to react and how to feel about it. How you respond helps your child make that decision.

Empathize.

Be sure to empathize with your child’s feelings. Acknowledge not only that it happened but also that it was scary, if that’s what your child tells you he feels. Address how you’ll keep it from happening again. Then move on.

Treat it like a boo-boo.

It’s a lot like dealing with boo-boos on dry land. “Did you fall? Does your knee hurt? I’m sorry? Do you need a bandage? How about a kiss? Next time, let’s make sure to hold on with at least one hand when you’re climbing. You ready to go again?” If you don’t make a big deal out of it, your child will be less likely to.

Of course, these tips are for minor mishaps. In the case of a real accident or emergency, always call 911 immediately.

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How to Let Your Child Drive the Lesson to Maximize What He Learns

When you’re teaching your kids to swim, it’s easy to get caught up in your own plan for the lesson, but you and your child will do better if you focus on observing and responding to your child. The lesson plan is just a starting point. The more your child drives the lesson, the more tailored it will be for exactly what he needs to learn and where he is developmentally. How do you turn your lesson plan into a child-driven swimming lesson?

Watch your kids.

Watch your child to see not only how he’s doing with the swimming skills you’re teaching but also how he’s feeling. If he looks nervous or afraid, move closer, provide more physical support, and heap on the praise for the effort he’s making. If he looks frustrated, take a break, backtrack to a skill you’ve already covered, or take a different approach to the skill you’re practicing. You know your child. When he’s frustrated, he might want more guidance, or he might want more space to try things independently.

When in doubt, help.

If you’re not sure whether your child needs more support while you’re teaching, give it to him. It’s important to make sure your child feels confident and secure. Fear and frustration make learning hard, so step in if there’s any chance his feelings are heading in that direction. Tomorrow’s post will look more at how to respond to fear.

Respond to boredom.

If he looks bored and he’s not physically challenged by what you’re practicing, congratulations! You’ve gone as far as you can with that skill for the lesson. Expand or refine the skill slightly to make it challenging again or move on to the next skill. If he looks bored and he’s still not quite getting it, switch to a game that uses the skill he’s practicing instead of straight practice.

Keep an eye on comfort.

Try to spot early signs of cold or fatigue. If your child looks cold or physically uncomfortable, it’s time to get out of the pool, dry off, sip a hot drink, and have a snack.  As he gets tired, his form will become sloppy, and that sloppy form is what your child will start to internalize and make into a habit. When you see your child’s form—at whatever level of development it is—start to deteriorate during a swimming lesson, call it quits.