Teach children to swim in 7 steps
Swimming is one of the best sports for children. Not only does it represent a very useful training that reduces the risk of drowning, but it also contributes to expanding their lung capacity, promotes oxygenation, and stimulates children's psychomotor development. In addition, it improves the coordination of movements, strengthens the muscles, and favors their ability to move. And if that wasn't enough, it is an excellent exercise to relax children, while helping them to sleep better and get more rest.
However, many times parents wait until their children are older to start them swimming. However, the truth is that the younger they are, the faster they will learn to swim. This is because they still retain the apnea and swim reflex, an involuntary response from when they were in the amniotic fluid inside their mother's uterus, which will allow them to function more easily in water.
Another great advantage of teaching them while they are young is that they will present less resistance to learning to swim since the fears have not yet been established. Therefore, the sooner you start with the classes, the better.
Steps to teaching a child to swim
1. Make him feel safe
There are children who feel like a fish in water, while others are terrified because they do not feel comfortable in this environment. In these cases it is important that you make the child lose his fear of water, otherwise, it will be very difficult for him to learn to swim. A good strategy to achieve this is to enter the water with him since in this way he will feel more confident and secure and he will gradually lose his fear. In any case, never force him to be in the water if he puts up a lot of resistance as it could backfire.
2. Always start where you hit rock bottom
Many parents think that the best way to teach a child to swim is to take him to a place where he will not touch the bottom and throw him there so that he instinctively learns to stay afloat. However, this is actually a lousy strategy as it can become a negative precedent and trigger fear or a phobia in the child. The key to teaching a child to swim is to start classes where they can hit the bottom. In this way, the little one will have the certainty that if something goes wrong they will be safe and that will give them an extra dose of confidence.
3. Show him some exercises to control his breathing.
A fundamental skill in swimming is knowing how to control your breathing underwater. Therefore, this is one of the first exercises that you should teach your little one. You can start with the bubble game: ask him to breathe in air through his nose, hold his breath and submerge, preferably in the bathtub, and then expel the air through his mouth while blowing bubbles. So that they lose their fear, you can show them how to do it and then ask them to do it together.
4. Teach him to do the kicks.
This is another key exercise in learning to swim, although it can sometimes be a bit complex because it requires a good deal of coordination. However, with a little practice, your child will end up learning it. In the beginning, you can hold it by the abdomen so that it stays afloat while exercising the technique, although it can also practice holding on to the edge of the pool or aboard. Once he feels confident, encourage him to move his legs up and down, without bending his knees.
5. Encourage him to use his arms
In swimming the arms not only help to stay afloat but also propel the swimmer and allow him to advance more quickly. Therefore, it is important that you teach your child to use his arms while in the water. To begin, you can explain the stroke technique: ask him to raise his arm, pass it over his head, and introduce it into the water at an angle of approximately 45º and then bring it back under the water again. You can show him how to do it and ask him to practice standing in the water.
6. Make him coordinate the movements of his arms and legs
Once your little one knows the technique of kicks and strokes, it is time for him to learn to coordinate them. In the beginning, it can be difficult since normally the legs tend to go on one side and the arms on the other, but with a little practice the child will end up getting it. To help it, you can hold it by the abdomen while doing both exercises, but after several attempts, you will have to release it so that it learns to do it alone.
Practice makes perfect, so once your child has the theory, it's time to let him practice alone. Obviously, in the beginning, you should train in a place where you hit rock bottom since in addition to giving you more security, in case you make a mistake, it will not have major consequences. Later, however, when he has at least learned to stay afloat, you can allow him to swim in deeper spaces or with other children. Of course, in no case do you lose sight of him until he has learned to swim well.
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