Teaching Your Child to Swim

I am super excited for this blog post on teaching your child to swim! On a whim last week, we decided to try teaching our almost 5 year old how to swim without her floatie and I called up my good friend Brianne for some tips. She gave me so much info and Reagan had the concept of swimming down after two lessons! I asked her if she would guest write a blog post sharing all of her tips, and she went above and beyond to write up several swim lesson plans, just for you! I’m going to let Brianne take over from here!

I’m so excited to talk about swim lessons! A little background on myself- I was a certified lifeguard and certified swim instructor in San Diego for many years, and have taught hundreds of kids how to swim. I’ve taught kids as young as 1.5, and I’ve also taught adults, and all ages in between. I taught both of my kids how to swim right when they turned 3, and I do swim lessons with them often to keep their skills up. Swimming is such a fun summer activity, but it can turn dangerous very quickly, so I think it’s so important to give kids the skills they need in water in order to take care of themselves.

Swim Lesson Options

Now, let’s talk swim lessons! Swim lessons can be a source of frustration for both parents and the kids. I’m sure most of us have either seen or been the parents at the pool with a child refusing to get in the water for a swim lesson. Or refusing to put their eyes in the water. Or hopping out saying they need to go potty every 5 minutes. The list of reasons children find to avoid swim lessons is endless, and I’ve seen them all! Or maybe you’re the parent wishing your child got more out of their lesson, and wish there was a way to get more bang for your buck with lessons.

Private lessons are often a lot more successful because it’s one-on-one instruction, but even then, sometimes it just doesn’t seem to click. So, how do you turn swim lessons into a positive experience for your child (and save your sanity!)? Try teaching them a little bit yourself! I promise you, it is possible to teach your child how to swim, or at least prep them to make swim lessons better worth the time and money.

Now, all this isn’t to say that swim lessons with a certified instructor aren’t worth it, because they absolutely are! I recommend them for anyone who wants their child to be a strong swimmer! I do think that having professional instruction makes a big difference when it comes to refining proper technique. But, especially with the current COVID-19 shutdowns and many person-to-person interaction being limited, there’s a lot of things that you can start to do at home with your child to get them starting to swim, or better prepped for swim lessons to get the most out of them.

Let’s go over a few key things to remember when teaching your child how to swim, and then we’ll talk about what a typical swim lesson might look like.

What Age to Start Swimming?

One of the most common questions I get is, “What age should I start teaching my child to swim?” The short answer is, start at the age they are right now! It’s really never too early to start teaching them. Babies can start getting comfortable with the water and going under. 1-2 year olds can start practicing floating, going under, and getting comfortable with being buoyant. And by age 3, most kids have the ability to follow instructions enough to start really learning how to swim (if they’re comfortable in the water). If your child is a little older and doesn’t know how to swim, that’s ok too! Often times they pick it up even quicker once they get comfortable in the water.

Consistency

This is one of the most important things with swim lessons- BE CONSISTENT! Your child is going to get so much more out of the lessons if you do short lessons every day for a week rather than one lesson every week or every other week. The more consistent you are, the quicker your child will get comfortable in the water, and you can more quickly build on the skills you’re teaching, rather than trying to review things once every week. If you’re teaching them at home in your own pool, set aside a specific time for a swim lesson. It helps put them in the mindset of a “lesson” and helps them be less distracted from the play time they might be missing if you try to do it in the middle of a fun pool day with their friends.

Lesson Length

This really depends on the child, but for a child who is just learning how to swim, keep it short- around 15-20 minutes. You can do 30 minutes if they’re really into it, but no more than that. You don’t want them to get worn out. Swimming is a lot of work for little bodies who have never done it before, so less is usually more. Plus, if it’s just you and your child, you can really cover everything you need to in 20 minutes. If you’re doing a swim lesson with an instructor, a 30-minute private lesson is usually what I’d recommend.

What to do When it’s Not Going as Planned

Let’s face it, kids have their own plans when it comes to pool time. And sometimes no matter how hard you try to motivate them with a reward or flat our bribe them to just get in the pool for 5 minutes, it won’t work. But that’s the beauty of being able to teach your child yourself- it doesn’t matter if you do that swim lesson right now or not! Because you’re not on the time schedule of an instructor, you can take a break, do something else, play in the pool, and come back to a short, quick lesson later. If it’s a bad day, don’t push it. You want your child to associate swimming with positivity and fun.

If they’re not into it, try playing more games, or turn your whole lesson into a game (“Hey, let’s see if we can throw this ball all the way across the pool and then kick to go get it!” or, “Let’s play the animal sound game. Do you think you can float on your back until I make a bird noise?”). Kids respond well to positive momentum and quick mental state changes to help them snap out of not wanting to do something or feeling fearful. And often times, you can usually get a lesson back on track by turning it into a game.

How Much do I Need to Teach in a Lesson?

Remember, you don’t need to do everything in a swim lesson plan every single time. If your child’s mood is turning south because they don’t want to do floats, no big deal. Try something else and come back to it later, or do it the next day. If you think your child only has about 5-10 minutes in them for a lesson today, just choose a few things to practice that build on top of each other (like floats and glides) and call it good. Even a short little lesson is better than no practice!

Games, Games, and More Games

I always start and end my lessons with games, and fill lots of time during instruction with games as well. The more fun you make it, the more instruction you’ll be able to give them. I’ll give you a few ideas for games below in my swim lesson outline. My biggest recommendation is to use something that motivates your child. For example, my 3-year old loves playing “Red Light Green Light,” so everything we do is turned in to that game. When he does his kicks, “yellow light” kicks are slow, and “green light” kicks are fast. Putting his eyes in becomes “green light” and blowing bubbles becomes “yellow light.” Just do whatever your child thinks is fun. Some kids love animals, so you can have them scoop their arms like a monkey, or you can have them float and balance a little toy animal on their tummies. If they like singing, try having them do scoops the whole time you sing their favorite song. Just make it fun, and I promise it will be more fun (and productive) for you too.

Below are a few outlines for beginner and intermediate swimmers. If you would like to see videos and a more in-depth demonstration of each of the swim lesson steps below, head over to my Instagram page @minivoyager. I’ll be using my beginning 3-year-old and intermediate 5-year-old swimmers to demonstrate what each of these lesson points look like in the water. I’ll save it in a “Swim Lesson” highlight at the end of the week.

Beginner Swim Outline

(this is for a child that is just barely learning how to swim)

• Safety lesson- always start your lesson by talking to your kids about pool safety. I have a Instagram story saved in my highlights called “Pool Safety” that I think is a beneficial thing for all parents to watch.
• Game warmup- I usually play “Red light green light” or a version of this. Other game ideas are diving for fish/toys, where they put their eyes down in the water to get a fish on the step (this is a good one for beginners nervous to put their faces in). We also play “Rescue pets” where we throw an animal toy out into the pool and go “rescue” it by doing kicks, bubbles, whatever you want to warm up with.
• Crab walks/bobs- this is another good way to warm up. Have them crab walk along the side of the pool wall and then practice bobbing under the water a few times. This helps them practice breath control.
• Kick board kicks- start on a kickboard and then ease into eyes down with kicks
• Floats- back and front floats. For back floats, the most important thing is to have them keep their chins and tummies up. Tell them to pretend a string is pulling their belly button up to the sky. What you’re practicing here is buoyancy and letting them get the feeling of keeping themselves buoyant and finding that balance in the water.
• Taking a breath while floating- When kids are starting swimming, they usually start to sink when they take a breath because they become vertical in the water. Start them on their tummies and then help them roll to their backs to take a breath, then back to their tummies.
• Back sculling- this one is a good thing to teach them in case they get stuck in the middle of the pool somewhere and need to move to the side to safety. For a good demonstration of this, watch @minivoyager stories this week.
• Scoops- beginning swimmers won’t be doing big arm strokes, they’ll mostly be doing more of a crawling motion. Pretend their hands are ice cream scoops and the water is ice cream, and have them practice scooping that ice cream toward them.
• Superman glides- Have them start on a wall, hand out, and push off the wall and glide to you. This is hard (and scary) for kids to do, so ease into this by starting close to the wall and guiding their hands in the glide.
• Jumping and swimming to the wall- we play the game “chop chop timber” (I’ll show an example of this on my stories this week) to teach this. Have your child jump from the side of the pool and practice turning (either by themselves or with your help) and swimming back to the wall.
• End with a game- diving for fish on the steps, doing more jumps, playing ring around the rosie, etc.

Intermediate Swim Outline

(this is for a child that knows how to swim and is comfortable in the water, but needs to start improving their strokes)

• Safety lesson- even when kids know how to swim, it’s important to always start your lesson by talking to your kids about pool safety. I have a Instagram story saved in my highlights called “Pool Safety” that I think is a beneficial thing for all parents to watch.
• Warm up with kickboard kicks, focusing on more of a quick flutter kick
• Floats- once kids are comfortable in the water, they can start practicing floats and rolling from a front to back float themselves
• Glides- do the same glides as a beginner, but start to incorporate a breath
• Front stroke- it’s time to start teaching side breathing! I have a good video explaining this that I’ll share this week on @minivoyager insta stories, but what you want to focus on is having them turn their head to the side (like they’re turning their ear to listen to the ocean) as they lift an arm. Start out teaching this with a kick board.
• Chicken Airplane Rocket- this is a great lifesaving stroke to teach kids because it doesn’t require much energy and can get them to the side of the pool in an emergency.
• Backstroke- you can start introducing backstroke once they’re comfortable with a back float. Start with a reverse flutter kick and practice their arms with them while you support them on their back.
• Treading water- this is a very advanced skill for kids, but it’s never too early to start them practicing the proper motion for it. Teach them to scull their arms back and forth, and “eggbeater” their legs in a circle.

As a reminder, if you want to see these pieces of a swim lesson demonstrated and explained in depth, I’ll be sharing videos all this week over on @minivoyager. They’re helpful to make sure you’re teaching the proper technique, and I go more into depth about how to actually teach these things and support your kids in the water as they learn. I wish I could write it all down here, but it would probably end up being quite the massive post to read!

I promise you, with these lesson plans and tips, you’ll be able to teach your child how to swim or at least give them a good start in the right direction. You can make it a fun, positive experience for both of you! I’m so grateful Casey asked me to share my tips for teaching your child how to swim. I love helping other parents feel empowered to teach their kids themselves! And if you ever have any questions about lessons or how to teach something, I’m always happy to help.

Brianne has been SO helpful to us and I hope her tips give you some good direction for teaching your child to swim! Remember to visit her over at Mini Voyager on Instagram to see video demonstrations of everything mentioned here!