Swimming Tips for Kids

Posted by - 16/03/09 at 09:03 pm

It is a fact that learning how to swim is frightening for every one. Many adults are not able to swim on their own and are scared of the swimming pool. To overcome the fear of swimming and swimming pools, experts and psychologists advise that swimming should be taught at an early age. A child should be made familiar with water and water safety at the age of six months because the child has no idea of water and pool dangers at such a young age.

Here we will discuss swimming tips for kids to improve their swimming skills so that they do not suffer later in life.

* Introduce swimming as fun

Parents should make swimming enjoyable for kids. They are advised to teach swimming while playing games with kids in the pool like in Ring a Ring a Rosie, when they say “we all fall down”, the child immerse their head in water which is fun and distraction for kids. This will teach the child to be able to overcome the fear of not being able to breathe underwater and they will also learn to hold their breath for a longer period of time.

* Never force the child to swim:

For a kid, learning to swim is very similar to an adult learning skydiving. But some parents, without realizing this, throw their child in the pool or force the child to learn swimming even if he/she is not willing to. Psychologists disapprove this forceful behavior and advise that parent should hire a proper instructor to gradually and gently teach swimming to the child.

* Avoid Floaties:

These gadgets hinder and slow down the child’s ability of learning. Although parent’s have safety intentions when they use them for their kid, but the design of Floaties keeps the child in an upright position and the child moves in pool with bent leg kick. The child gets so used to the Floaties that he or she finds it really hard to swim once these gadgets are taken off as the same style of kicking forces the child under water which sets in a greater fear. It is observed that kids, who don not use Floaties, swim better and faster.

* Maintain the temperature of the pool:

It is important to keep the pool at comfortable temperature to prevent the child from shivering and having blue lips. This will allow the child to focus better on learning how to swim. The ideal temperature for the pool is 90-94 degree.

* Ensure that there are no distractions, as these hinder learning:

This is the reason why most parents chose to have their children given lessons at home. The extra noise at public pools diverts the child’s attention and results in slow a slow learning speed. However, public lessons are a good opportunity for mothers and children to socialize, and this is preferred by some people. In contrast, others favor learning in their own pool. It is advisable to simply ask the child what their preference is.

* Maintain interest by keeping the lesion playful and fun:

Children have short attention spans, therefore water toys and other aids that will help you maintain their interest will help a lot. This will allow them to be enthusiastic about the lesion, and will therefore allow for better learning.

* Lastly, all children will learn how to swim eventually:

So do not give up hope if they are just slow to learn. This is very similar to learning how to walk, and each child takes his or her own time to begin.

By following these swimming tips for kids, you can help your child to enjoy and have fun while swimming.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 16th, 2009 at 9:57 pm and is filed under Swimming Tips. The entry is tagged under how to swim, how to swim for kids, How to Teach Kids to Swim, scared of the swimming pool, swimming is fun, swimming tips for kids, temperture of the pool. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.