You Can Teach
Your Baby How to Swim
Contrary to what the “experts” say, you can teach
your baby how to swim. When I say baby, I mean 12
months or older. Six-month-olds can be taught to flip
over and float, but it is a bit trickier. Most parents
are led to believe by well-intentioned pediatricians
or swimming instructors that either they have to be at
least 3 to start or that they must be taught by a
professional. I am here to tell you that I have taught
all four of my children to swim, and it is very
do-able.
There are a few things to consider when you are
preparing to be a swimming instructor for your own
brood. Number one: You have to understand that
swimming is a skill, like any other that your child
undertakes to learn. Like learning to walk, there will
be times when the baby is apprehensive. However, after
a while, as he or she gains confidence, frustration
and tears diminish and delight and enjoyment take
their place. Number two: There will be people who
disagree with you for attempting to do this and who
will try to persuade you to stop. I know it sounds
crazy, but I am reminded of several occasions in which
I was literally accosted by onlookers who did not have
an understanding about what I was trying to
accomplish. This can be avoided by choosing a private
setting for your lessons.
Before I go any further, let me just comment on
floaties by saying this right up-front: If you want
you baby to learn to swim, you must never put even
them on their little arms. Floaties provide a false
sense of security to a young child. I will never
forget one day at the public pool in Kirksville,
Missouri when a young child about 4 years of age
jumped right into the water next to me at a depth of 4
feet and proceeded to sink straight to the bottom.
Luckily, I was right there and I grabbed him before
the lifeguard even had a chance to jump in the water.
His mother apologized and said, “He usually has his
floaties on. He must have forgotten that he can’t swim
without them.” I held my tongue then, but now you
know. The other thing about floaties is that they
encourage an upright position in the water which is
counterproductive to the learning of the swimming
posture which is horizontal.
The lessons themselves should be short–ten minutes at
the most. Your baby will be working very hard during
this time, so keeping it short will control for the
fatigue that will naturally take place. Be disciplined
about this. Make sure that you have a clock to keep
the minutes for you. The lessons should also be
frequent. I like to do four or five days a week
whenever possible. If you have more than one child,
you can have them sit out while you work with each one
until they can swim well on their own. I make it a
rule that they cannot interrupt each other’s swim
lesson. Also, make sure that your little swimmer has
not just eaten and that he or she is not over-tired
(nap-time).
In waist high water (for you), start out by making
sure that your baby can grasp the wall at the side of
the pool. Do this a few times so that they understand
that their job is to get the wall. Move away from the
wall an inch and tell your baby to get the wall. If
she slips under the water, that is okay. Just watch
that she reaches up and grabs it again. By this time,
she may be crying. That is okay, too. Now you will be
able to hear when she takes a breath more easily and
will know when to have her grab for the wall again.
Tell her what a clever baby she is for getting the
wall. She is learning that she cannot breath under
water and that she must hold her breath. She is also
learning that the wall is where she is safe. Sometimes
the water level is too low, so that it is too far for
the baby to reach the edge. This is easily corrected
by talking to the owner of the pool.
Three times catching the wall is plenty for this first
lesson. Later, you will introduce variations like
turning her so that her side is facing wall so that
she must turn to get it, having her “fall” into the
water with her back towards the wall so she has to
turn all the way around before she can reach it and
even trying different orientations to the water (ie.
head first, entering on her side, etc) when she gets
really good.
You want to take her out to the middle of the shallow
end now and, holding her on one shoulder, show her how
to kick her legs. Do this for a few minutes while
saying “kick, kick, kick.” Then hold her out in front
of you, pulling her through the water towards you and
tell her to get your hand under the water. Right after
she inhales a breath, release her and let her glide
toward you for a brief one or two seconds. Praise
lavishly. Two more times, and that should do it for
the first lesson.
Do this for several days until your baby is holding
her breath predictably and you feel comfortable taking
cues from her. After a week or so, you should be able
to tuck her legs under her and let her push off
against your thighs to propel herself toward the wall.
From that point, you will be able to end her lessons
with one or more of these “big swim” to the wall. Your
baby will be swimming, and you will have helped her
learn.
At that point, you can add more variation to the swim
routine. You can add a flip over to a back float to
take a breath in the middle of her swim to catch your
hand. You can also add floating on her back and
flipping over to resume her swim to catch your hand or
the wall. By this time, she will be having so much
fun, she may even jump in to the water from the side
and swim over to you. This is fun to show off at the
public pool, especially if you have been shunned there
before. I have had people who criticized me when I
started come up and remark what wonderful swimmers my
children were and that they were surprised at how much
they could do at such a young age.
Of course, no matter how well your baby and children
can swim, you will never stop watching them very
closely around the water–but you knew that. If any of
this makes you feel uncomfortable, by all means don’t
do it. This is certainly not what I think you should
do. All I am saying is that if you really want to
teach your baby how to swim, you can. I did. Four
times.
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