How to teach your child to swim: useful tips

Swimming is an incredibly useful physical activity that allows you to tighten and train your muscles, without putting strain on the ligaments and spine. A child who knows how to swim has good coordination, a well-developed respiratory system, and is less likely to get sick. The benefits of swimming are recognized by all parents, so they try to accustom the child to water as soon as possible. But how to do it as painlessly as possible? How to show the child that it is not difficult to stay on the water, you just need to try. After all, the wrong skills develop in the child the habit of moving in the wrong way. Subsequently, retraining the baby becomes very difficult, and the ability to swim is postponed indefinitely.

Extreme training or why you should not throw your child into the water

Until recently, there was a “household” way of teaching a child to swim. The kid was simply thrown into the water and given him the opportunity to "swim out" on their own. Proponents of this method say that the survival skill is innate, and in many cases the child overcomes fear and begins to swim on its own. However, one should not act in this way. Firstly, the baby may not swim. Just bewildered, scared and begins to sink. Of course, you will be there and save your child, but after that he will not come close to the water. Such extreme training will leave the child with a fear of water for life.

The second reason you can’t throw a child into the water is to undermine confidence. For the baby, parents are a block of stone that you can rely on at any time. The child trusts you unconditionally, how can you endanger him on purpose? Many adults who have learned to swim in this way admit that they still hide their grudges against their parents for such an act, even though he taught them to swim. After such actions, it will be difficult to regain the trust of the child. That is why it is worth educating a child gradually and consistently.

When to learn to swim

Surely you saw newborn children who are happy to swim in the open water without the support of adults? This is not surprising, water for babies of the first months of life is a native element, the baby remembers it from the mother’s womb. Over time, these memories are erased, the baby loses the skill and stops swimming independently. When can you accustom the baby to water again?

If your baby is not even a year old, try swimming in the bath with a special circle. It is worn around the neck and secured with a secure clasp. Thanks to this circle, the baby’s head is always on the surface, he moves legs and arms with ease and pleasure. Under water, movements are easier, so the kids are very fond of such swimming. In addition, the mother does not have to constantly hold the baby’s head while swimming. It is rather inconvenient to stand with the letter "si" for 10-15 minutes. Such swimming strengthens the child’s muscle corset, improves blood circulation in the tissues, and promotes enhanced growth.

If your baby is more than a year old, it’s too early for him to swim alone in the pool. Up to three years, you just need to fully encourage the child’s desire for water, get out more often in the summer to ponds, spend more time near the water. In this case, it is useful to play various games that will make the child feel more confident in the water.

1. Naval battle. This game will teach your baby that water can get on his face and head, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Go with the baby into the water so that its depth is maximum on your baby’s chest.After that, start spraying each other (succumb to the child). The one who first says “give up” and turns away will lose.
2. Who is first? For the next game you will need an assistant, for example, dad. The conditions are - dad gets up in the water a few meters from the competitors. Who forward runs to the pope in the water - he won. In this game, it is important to teach the child to rake water in front of him with his hands. The kid must understand how to move in water. He realizes that if you help yourself with your hands, he will move much faster.
3. Underwater world. You can also teach your child to open his eyes under water. To do this, sit down with the baby in the water and try to open your eyes. If you are at sea or in a lake, you can consider sand and plants. If in the pool - drawing on the bottom or toys in the hands. If it doesn’t work, try to do it with special glasses.
4. Bubbles This exercise teaches the child to breathe correctly underwater. Quickly inhale the air and slowly exhale it with your nose under water. Kids love to give out a large number of bubbles, so they especially like this exercise. You don’t even have to immerse yourself in water completely, just drop your face into the liquid.

These simple exercise games will help your baby not to be afraid of water, but to perceive it as a friendly element.

Where, with whom and how to learn to swim

By the age of 3-4, the child can be taught to swim. By this time, the kids already understand a lot, perform exercises and are able to adequately assess the situation. It is very important to determine where you will learn to swim. If it is an open pond, you need to be sure of its safety. On the shore and at the bottom there should not be glasses and sharp objects, snags, pieces of reinforcement. The pond itself must be flowing - bacteria grow in stagnant water. It is very important that the water is not cold, the lower limit is 23 degrees. The weather should also be warm - the air temperature is at least 27 degrees. You should first investigate the bottom on which you are going to teach the child. It is important that there are no sharp and sharp recessions, undercurrents and other factors that represent a potential hazard. The water level in the designated place should not be higher than the baby’s chest.

In the pool for the child all conditions are created. The main thing is not to go immediately to the depths, but to train in the "paddling pool" so that the water level is up to the chest. In addition, you can hire a special swimming instructor in the pool who will tell you on a professional level how to teach your child to swim. Often, when the child is not even five years old, the instructor works in tandem with the parent. That is, the child cannot deal with a stranger, so the instructor teaches the parent how to swim, and he instructs the baby. Experienced trainers say that the baby learns to swim best with his mother, as women are more patient by nature and they like the process itself. But men are focused on the result and often push the child, which is unacceptable in the issues of swimming training. But if dad is patient and assiduous - he may well become a swimming instructor for his child.

How to teach a child to swim

We will tell you about the basic exercises that will help you teach your child to stay in the water, hold his breath in time and row with his hands and feet.

In training, you cannot use arm ruffles, vests, or other accessories that initially form the child’s abnormal body hold on the water. Just look at the unnatural pose of the baby in armlets in the water. It is very important to teach the child to take a horizontal position. This can only be achieved with a special board that will support the baby for the first time. This is the only accessory that can be used in a difficult learning process.The board, as it were, supports the baby, but at the same time teaches him to coordinate movement, find balance, move limbs.

The child lays on the board with his chest, and his mother just pulls his hands. Thus, the baby is fixed in a horizontal position, understanding how to move in water.

1. After that, you can complicate the exercise, asking the baby to actively move his legs. The child must understand that this gives the movement speed. But just floundering is not enough, you need to move the limbs, like fins. In order for the child to feel this, you can let him move his feet in flippers.
2. Get in the water and ask the child to squat. The water level should reach first to the chin, then to the nose, and then complete immersion of the body in water. Here we train the psychological aspect more - the child should feel confident that, if necessary, he can always emerge, you should not be afraid. If you still can’t dive with your eyes and nose open, you can close them. In addition, this exercise teaches the baby to hold his breath at a time when you are under water.
3. After the baby begins to immerse itself well in water and ceases to be afraid of this, ask him to extend his arms forward. After the next dive, drag the crumbs under water for some distance. It can be at least half a meter, but the baby should feel the dynamics. At the end of this distance, push the baby to the surface and say to him: “Inhale!” The baby must develop a clear association - when we emerge, we breathe in air, and at the same time, you emerge for inspiration when we are short of air. It is important to convince the child that everything is under control, that he himself can control the situation.
4. The next exercise is that you drag the child through the water, and at that time he himself emerges for a breath and immerses himself in water. At the same time, it is very important to monitor the legs so that the baby does not go along the bottom, but keeps them on the surface, that is, swims. This is a long exercise, the development of which takes a lot of time, but do not force events - be patient.
5. When the skills are perfect and the child stops breathing hard, try letting go of your hands, first one, and then both. If the baby is in the correct horizontal position, he will not go to the bottom, water will push him out. You will only need to stand nearby, and insure the baby. If the baby will succeed in this exercise, consider that he learned to swim.
6. When the baby learns to dive and dive on its own, tell the child how to dive on its own. To do this, fold your palms together and point them towards the water. Then slowly sink into the water behind your hands and emerge, as you did before.
7. Using this technique, you can teach your child not just to swim, but to swim correctly. Subsequently, from this skill you can draw a competent and beautiful style of butterfly, brass, rabbit and other directions.

Swimming is the best sport for the child’s body. This physical activity has practically no contraindications, since the body does not experience serious stress. However, you need to be careful with water diving, if there are violations of the eardrum, chronic otitis media or sinusitis. Be healthy and enjoy the water with your child!

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