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How Pavlov’s Dogs Can Help Your Kids in Any Tense Situation

When you’re teaching your kids to swim, there are going to be times when they’re anxious or nervous. Trying something new always takes and effort, and in this case, the cost of making a mistake could be an uncomfortable gulp or snort of water. That’s enough to make anybody nervous. There’s a way that you can help your kids to relax immediately when you’re teaching them to swim, or under any circumstances. Pavlov and his dogs are the key.

Pavlov rang a bell whenever he fed his dogs, creating an association between the sound of the bell and being fed. Eventually, the dogs developed a conditioned response: salivating at the sound of a bell. You can use the same technique to help your kids relax when you’re teaching them to swim.

Start on Dry Land

You can practice relaxation techniques on dry land. Learning to swim will be easier if your child is relaxed. Kids tend to tense up under the pressure of learning a new skill in the water. You can help your child relax by teaching him how outside the water.

  • Have him lie flat on his back.
  • Ask him to make his body tight all over. You can help him by touching his body if he’s having trouble. For example, you can touch his thigh and say, “squeeze this part of your body tight.” You can ask him to squeeze one body part at a time, working his way up from his toes to his face.
  • Have him hold his breath for a few seconds.
  • Tell him to let it all go at once, and teach him a word for this. It could just be, “Relax,” but a funny, made-up word that’s your secret is more fun.
  • After he relaxes his muscles, have him take a few deep belly breaths.

Move It into the Water

After you practice this relaxation technique regularly for a while on solid ground, you can transfer it to the pool. When you feel your child tensing up, say your secret, funny, made-up word for relax, and he’ll respond by releasing the tension from his muscles.

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How to Leverage Your Greatest Advantage over Paid Swimming Teachers—Part 2

Yesterday we talked about using observation to leverage the advantage of access to your kids when you’re not in the pool. Here’s another way to use time out of the pool to help your kids make progress in the pool.

Practice Moving on Dry Land to Learn to Swim in the Water

You can practice lots of movements on dry land, giving your child the opportunity to focus just on his body and to separate his movement from the need to keep his head above water. He can sit on the edge of a chair to practice kicks and flexing and pointing his toes. He can practice lying on his stomach and rolling side to side to get a sense for the motion of his torso in the water. He can stand up to practice body positions and arm movements.

The feelings will be different than they are in the water, but the benefit of having the completely secure feeling of being on land will let your child experience the feelings in his body thoroughly and without time pressure. He can take the insights he gains this way into the water with him.

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How to Leverage Your Greatest Advantage over Paid Swimming Teachers—Part 1

You have a major advantage over other swimming teachers when it comes to teaching your own child. You’ve got access to him when you’re not in the pool. Although there’s no way to learn to swim without getting in the water, there are lots of ways that you can enhance the learning process on dry land. Here’s the first way to help your kids learn to swim even when they’re out of the pool.

Let Them Observe

Kids learn by watching a good example. Have your child watch lap swimmers, and point out what’s going on. “See how he turns his head to the side when he takes a breath?”

Kids learn by watching other kids. Kids often learn to use swings by themselves within days after they watch other kids pumping their legs. Have your child watch other kids swim.

Ask a friend to record a video of your child while he swims so that you can watch it together later. The post-game analysis of his lesson lets your child see what’s going right and wrong in a situation when he’s not under pressure to remain afloat. It’s a perfect way to use modern technology the way pro athletes have for a long time.

Have your child practice skills on land in front of the mirror. Your child can use you as a model and correct his body position based on what he sees. You can highlight what’s going on. “See how your head is tilted down now? How does it feel if you look up a bit? That’s it.” Suggest changes. Point out what’s working.

Ask your child for his analysis of what’s going on while he watches. How does a movement work? What parts of the body are involved? How does it feel? Does timing make a difference? Where are the parts of the body in relationship to each other and to the water?

Observation won’t replace getting in the pool and moving, but it will supplement and strengthen what you teach your kids in the pool.