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Learning to Swim: What It Feels Like for a Kid

The better you understand what your kids are experiencing, the easier and more effective the process of teaching them to swim will be. Children are different than adults. (Surprise!) Understanding the differences will help you to put yourself in your child’s place and respond to his needs. Responding to your child’s needs will help to make the learning process fun and effective for both of you.

Kids’ bodies and physical abilities, sensory experiences, feelings, motivations, and perceptions of success all differ from those of adults, and they all affect how kids learn to swim. When you’re teaching your kids to swim, take time to put yourself in their shoes. (Not literally. Their shoes are too small for your feet.)

How Kids’ Bodies Affect Teaching Them to Swim

Imagine that your head is large compared to the rest of your body. How does that feel when you’re trying to float or balance in the water? Imagine that your limbs are short compared to your torso. How do you move through the water with limited leverage?

Imagine that your lung capacity is a lot smaller than a grownup’s. Does that make figuring out how to deal with your breath while you’re swimming more complicated? Imagine that you’ve got not much mass, a lot of skin relative to that mass, and low body fat. Can you feel how fast your body loses heat to the water? Can you feel how much less buoyant you are than an adult, thanks to your tiny bit of fat and small internal air flotation devices (aka lungs)? Wow, it’s not easy to figure out how to float! Big old head, not a lot of buoyancy.

Plus, your body is changing every single day. All that growing is exhausting! And you haven’t learned yet to predict when you’ll reach the end of your rope or to read the signs that tell you you’re getting cranky because you’re tired. You’re always surprised when you hit the exhaustion wall without warning. Every time.

Are you back in your own shoes now? What a relief. Remind yourself when you’re teaching your kids to swim that their bodies give them some extra challenges when it comes to learning to swim. Keeping your kids’ experience in mind will help you to be patient and to adjust your swimming lessons to work better for them, and if the lessons are working better for your kids, everybody’s having more fun.

Next week, we’ll look at how other aspects of kids’ experiences in the swimming pool differ from adults’, but tomorrow, it’s time to play!

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What to Do When Swimming Lessons Aren’t Working

You’ve ponied up the big bucks to give your kids swimming lessons. They have to learn—it’s unsafe not to. You want them to learn—it’s summer, and the whole family could be having fun at the pool. Somehow, the lessons just aren’t working.

Make sure you’re making the most of swimming lessons.

If you haven’t already, read the post dedicated to this topic. If you’ve tried those five tips as well as the ones below and your swimming school still doesn’t feel right, consider switching schools. Sometimes the associations kids make during the first few lessons can influence their attitudes as they continue. Sometimes the teachers aren’t a good fit for your kids. Sometimes the pool is just too darn cold.

Understand that plateaus are a normal part of learning.

Plateaus are normal. So are setbacks. Sometimes increased awareness of what’s going on can actually make performance worse for a while, but that awareness is critical. It’s part of the learning process.

Your kids might get frustrated or discouraged at this point and want to stop trying. At first, they weren’t aware of the mistakes they were making. Now that they’ve got more awareness, they can focus on the mistakes they were making before but just didn’t notice. Try to keep your own expectations reasonable and to keep from adding to your kids’ frustration. Encourage them and let them know that the experience is part of getting better. If you worry, you’ll pass those feelings on to your kids. Instead, focus on providing support and trying new things, like games, that will strengthen what your kids have already gotten and spur them on to try new things.

If the plateau lasts more than two weeks, consult your kids’ swimming teacher, ask for help, and consider adding two or three private lessons in one week. (If that’s daunting, get the book and try some lessons on your own.)

Help your kids learn by reinforcing their swimming lessons on your own time.

Even if you don’t have access to a pool, there’s a lot you can do to teach your kids to swim. Look at the category “on land” for a list of posts that include exercises for each swimming skill that you and your kids can do when you’re dry.

If you do have access to a pool, ask your kids’ swimming teacher for specific suggestions for exercises to work on outside of class, or use the posts on how to teach individual swimming skills for ideas. Don’t forget that just visualizing and talking with your kids about what they’ve learned gives their learning a big boost.

Get some insights into how your kids’ minds and bodies influence how they learn and how they experience the water.

Kids’ minds, bodies, and feelings aren’t the same as grownups’. It’s possible that you’re expecting something from your kids that they’re not developmentally ready for. It’s possible that you or your kids’ swimming teachers are sending signals that are making it harder for your kids to learn. Check out these posts for detailed information about how kids learn and experience the water:

Make it fun.

Take it slow. Enjoy each other. Have fun. If you don’t enjoy each other and have fun, not only is it going to be hard for you to teach your child to swim, but also you’re going to miss an opportunity for bonding and creating happy lifelong memories for you and your kids.

Remember your priorities: safety and fun. If you’re worried about your kids’ progress, you’re not having fun. If you’re not having fun, your kids aren’t having fun. If they’re not having fun, they won’t want to keep getting in the pool. Smile! Hug! Giggle! Relax into the process. Trust that your kids will learn to swim, if not today, then soon. Did I mention the fun?

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Time to Play! Feeling the Water

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. Helping your kids get a feel for the water will give them a leg up when they’re learning every swimming skill. This game can help give them awareness of how moving their bodies in the water feels.

Play Rock-a-bye Baby. (If your kids are older, you can make it campy, even though they’ll secretly enjoy it.) Start by holding your child just at the surface of the water. When you get to “the cradle will fall,” allow your arms to drop a few inches quickly. Your child will get a feel for being in the water by himself with all the security of your arms. After you’ve played a few times, talk about the physical sensations of rocking in the water and falling. Is it fun? Does it feel delicious?

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Time to Play! Side Breathing

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.  This game will help your kids practice an exaggerated rolling motion that will help them learn to rotate their bodies while they swim. That rotation makes side breathing easier.

Can your kids roll in the water like otters? Go to an aquarium or watch videos of otters playing. Remember, if you get the giggles, you’re more likely to gulp water, so take breaks as needed.