Written by : lisa boucher
at : 22/04/2023
YES! Learning to swim for children can also start with you, dear parents!With a few simple gestures, you can teach your child to feel at ease in the water.Trust yourself!He'll then learn to swim more easily and quickly with an instructor, in a club, an association or at school.
1 - To enjoy a pleasant moment together.
2 - To strengthen the parent/child bond and create complicity.
3 - For your personal satisfaction
4 - Because you have a fundamental role to play in your child's learning to swim.
5 - Because your presence reassures them that they can trust you.
6 - Because school swimming sessions won't necessarily be enough.
As a 'parent-swimmer', your aim is to make your children feel at ease in the water. Being at ease in the water means knowing how to move where you don't have feet, without floatation equipment and without panicking. We're not yet talking about knowing how to swim the breaststroke or the crawl, but simply knowing how to save yourself in the event of a fall into the water, for example. So don't panic if you don't know how to swim perfectly yourself. With the help of these tips, you'll be able to get your child off to a good start in the water. The ultimate aim is for your child to be able to enter the water without fear and without holding his or her breath. They should be able to swim to the surface to take in air without swallowing water. And float on his back for several seconds. From then on, your child will know how to save himself from drowning in stagnant water and return to the shore. But take it easy, we're not there yet
AT WHAT AGE CAN YOU START INDEPENDENT 'PARENT-CHILD' SESSIONS?
The most appropriate age for your child to learn, with you, to 'save himself' is between 2 and 4 years old. You can introduce your child to the aquatic environment much earlier, as early as 4 months, but I advise you to be supervised by a lifeguard, by taking part in baby swimming sessions. To teach coordinated swimming, you'll often have to wait until your child is 5 years old
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND BEFORE STARTING:
Don't pressure your children. Stay cool. The idea is to learn while having fun. Create a relaxed, positive atmosphere so that they'll want to come back. Everything should be based on play, so be imaginative when proposing different workshops. Use the word 'exercise' as little as possible
Listen to children's desires and fears. Encourage and motivate them with each small victory, each small step forward. Don't be over-ambitious. Don't rush things, even if it means going backwards if certain things are not acquired. And above all, be patient
Repeat the pool rules over and over again. Even as your child gains confidence and becomes a good swimmer. Tell him that he must always ask permission before going in the water. Never swim alone. Never run near the pool, never push or play too hard
WHERE DO I START?
Get into the water with them and start simply with everyday situations, playing with water like in the bath or shower.
At the pool, offer them to hold onto your arm, your shoulders or the edges of the pool independently, but stay close to them. Secure his handholds if he asks for them, but try not to hold him. He's the one who has to hold on
Observe his reactions to reassure him if necessary, or on the contrary, give him more autonomy
Learn, yourself, to gain confidence and play it down.
1 - Successfully float on your back:
After acclimatizing to the pool, the first thing to teach him is to float on his back. In the event of exhaustion, he'll be able to stay calm and catch his breath, floating on the surface with his face out of the water. In this position, he can wait for someone to come and get him, or he can catch his breath and float away again a few seconds later. What's more, knowing how to float will remove any fear of sinking. This will give the child the confidence to move on to the next steps.
To succeed in this stage, the child should lie on his back as much as possible, which means having his ears in the water, his chin up and his navel at the surface. Inflating the lungs and blocking the breath will help to float, think about it.
2 - Hold your breath for several seconds to submerge and float on your stomach:
Once the child knows how to float on his back, he must learn to wet his face without fear, to hold his breath for longer and longer, and not to swallow the water when returning to the open air. Then he'll be able to float on his belly with his face in the water.
3 - Move with legs and arms:
Once he's managed to float on his stomach while freediving, we'll need to show him how to move from one solid point to another. How to take off from the edge of the pool to you, for example. And finally, how to move forward using your legs and arms. The easiest way to start is to have them do leg kicks, then add breaststroke arms, step by step. The child should learn each movement individually, then combine them. For example, they can learn kicking by hanging on to the edge of the pool. Then let him float to the surface to reach the edge
4 - Don't be afraid of depth:
When he's comfortable on the surface, you can suggest that he play and swim a little deeper, for example, fetching objects from the bottom. You'll need to make him understand that if he can't go down easily, it's because his lungs are full of air, making him float. To compensate for this, train him to breathe out through his mouth or nose when immersed
5 - Enter the water by jumping or tipping without fear:
If he's comfortable with blowing through his nose, he can then try jumping or diving off the edge of the pool without fear of getting water in his nose. Entering the water in these two ways will help him to overcome his fear of depth
6 - Know how to orient yourself underwater and balance your body in all axes:
Finally, teach your child to move from the vertical to the horizontal position, then from the dorsal to the ventral position. Have him enter the water in every possible way: by jumping, by rocking forward and backward, by doing the tornado.
