How do I teach my child to swim?
How do I teach my child to swim? With these 5 tips you will make your child a safe swimmer in a short time.
There are many reasons why you should teach your child to swim. The most important one is safety. You will have less to worry about when you know your child can swim well and safely. Knowing how to swim can save your child's life in some circumstances. It also boosts your child's self-confidence and they will have more fun splashing and playing in the pool. It keeps them fit and active all by itself and they spend less time sitting. It also improves breathing, coordination, strength and flexibility. A swimming class is also the perfect environment to socialize and make new friends - for both your child and you.This all sounds obvious, but what's the best way to start? It's never too late to start - Holmes Place offers swimming lessons for kids of all ages and abilities. To make sure your child learns to swim safely and correctly, it's best to leave it to an experienced professional. However, if you're confident in yourself and follow the steps below, you can take swimming lessons into your own hands.
Even if your child does not attend swimming lessons, it is a good idea to create some sort of schedule. Set fixed days and times in advance that are designated for swimming lessons and mark them on a calendar. Fixed and clearly delineated times will help your child concentrate and remember things better. It will also prevent you from putting off lessons over and over again. A unit should last half an hour. That's long enough to learn something and make progress without your child starting to get bored or losing concentration.
The best way to introduce children to swimming is to ask them to kick their legs. Fortunately, most children like to do this, and so the lessons begin in a playful way. Your child will hold onto either a float or the edge of the pool and kick their legs while keeping their body as straight as possible. Many children tend to let their legs sink down. Help your child balance his or her body and stay afloat.
Once the kicking works, move on to showing your child how to blow bubbles in the water. Ask your child to hold his or her breath and put his or her mouth under water first, then his or her mouth and nose. Some children may not dare to do this at first. To make it less intimidating and scary, demonstrate it to your child first. This will help your child to see that nothing will happen to you and keep your hair and eyes dry in the process. Swimming goggles can also help - the little ones think you're cool and you can see something underwater.
Once your child has become accustomed to diving with their face underwater, it's time to show the aspiring swimmer how to use their arms to move around in the water. The smallest of beginners, who do not yet have much strength in their arms, are best taught to paddle like a dog first. They alternate between kicking with both legs and paddling with their arms at the same time. After some practice, they will find it quite easy to move their arms and legs together.
Prevent your child from getting bored during swimming lessons. Your child would learn less, associate swimming with something negative and the lessons would become more stressful for both you and your child. Try to make swimming lessons as a kind of game - learning to swim should be fun. Motivate your child to swim a little further each time, dive through a hula hoop, or retrieve objects from the bottom of the pool. Children are often more inclined to disagree with their parents than with strangers. Therefore, it may be wise to alternate your own lessons with professional lessons from a swim instructor. Every child is different, but the more often they attend swim lessons, the faster they learn and the sooner they can earn their first swim badge.
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