Swimming Week - Part 3

I hope you have found the posts on swimming useful this week.  If you haven't seen them yet then here is my post on swimming lessons and my first set of tips for taking your child swimming.  I have also come across this great post from Time Waits for no mum about changing room etiquette, it's worth a read to bring a smile to your face. Swimming is a great skill for your child to learn but particularly for young children the most important thing to do is to have fun!  Below are some things that you can do with them in the pool to learn to have fun and also build up their skills in the water.  But I would also recommend to also introduce water safety when you take them swimming such as how to get in and out of the pool nicely as whilst they enjoy the water it's important for them to respect it to.

• When you go swimming get in first, ideally from the side by sitting down putting two hands to one side, turning around and sliding in then get your child to repeat.  It's important that they learn to get in like this every time as they may be entering shallow water and if they just jump straight in they could hurt themselves.
• Blow bubbles!  This is great to encourage them to get their mouths into the water and blow out rather than swallow the water.  My daughter doesn't always do as I ask (surprising for a 2 year old?!!) so won't blow bubbles unless Mummy has a turn first! So we take it in turns then see who can blow the noisiest / quietest bubbles.
• As I mentioned in my previous post pretending to wash your face in the water is a great way to start getting wet and getting water up to the face.  Your child may again want to take this in turn.
• Sing....! Our favourite songs in the water are:
• Grand old Duke of York... When they're up lift them up and when they're down... Well you know! You can start by just bringing them down or if you're feeling brave let go at the top! My daughter loves this! She has her armbands on and so doesn't go far under the water (I don't just drop her don't worry!) and we start every lesson off with this song.
• Humpty Dumpy... On the first line sit them on the wall and then when he "has a great fall" let them fall forward.  When they're a bit older they can be encouraged to fall forward and then swim forward to you but to begin with they can just fall forward into your arms.  Encourage splashing and smile and giggle lots about getting wet as it all helps to build their confidence.  
• Ring a Roses... You can sing this one quietly to them but when they all fall down it's a good one to give a dunk or even just put mouths in the water and blow bubbles.
• Row Row your boat..... is a good one in the water.  You can hold hands and row row pulling each other together and away.
• Other things to try in the water:
• Taking a small floating ball with you as there are so many things you can try; pushing with your nose, pushing with your hands, holding with your hands, splashing / moving it with your feet
• Splash!! Before you get in you can sit on the side and splash your feet then in the water you can encourage splashing.  With young children they often simply don't know what it means to "kick your legs" so you need to think about the language you use and showing them what you mean.  So splashing your feet before you get in gives an idea of how to do it in the water.  You can try saying things like splash your feet or I'll come and tickle them!
• Jumping in! This is a great way to build confidence but it's really important to teach them safety as well.  Start with toes over the edge and don't let them jump until you tell them they can go.  You can start by taking hands, then them jumping to you and you holding, then letting them "hide" under the water when they jump in.  This all adds to the fun of the pool.
• Jumping in is also a great way to get them to get their faces wet but if you're feeling brave then you can dunk them under the water.  A good way to do this is to blow on their faces then take them gently under.  If you blow of their faces every time this get them to learn to close their mouths.  They may not react well but they will get used to it, when they come up smile and give kisses and reassurance.
• If you have a woggle (see here) then you can do all sorts of fun things with it.  You can tie it in a knot to make a motorbike (you'll have two handles) and can blow bubbles to make the engine noise, ride on a horse (sit with it between the legs), sit on a swing.  They're great versatile floats.
• If you use armbands it's also good to have some time at the end of a session without them so they learn how different their bodies feel without them.  Armbands are my preferred aide but it is a personal choice.  With armbands you can also take out a little bit of air as they get stronger.

My next post will be about swimming with two children! I hope you've enjoyed swimming week, I'd love to hear your comments.