We all know that learning to swim can be quite daunting for everyone. Still today there are grown adults that are not capable of swimming on their own.
Swimming skills are a necessity if we are aiming to ensure the safety of young children and minimize the risks that water can present. Children can be introduced to water safety at a very early age. Teaching swimming as early as 6 months old is important as babies do not yet understand the dangers of the water. Therefore they are not fearful as opposed to children that might start swimming at a later stage.
There are a few basic techniques that will improve children's swimming progress from an early age.
Water Familiarization
Kids need to become familiar with the water. They need to understand their own buoyancy, flotation and propulsion. It is important that children to not become dependent upon flotation devices (bubbles or noodles) as this will give them a false sense of their own buoyancy and therefore can be deceiving and eventually dangerous.
Techniques that help to aid this:
Use a shower bucket over their face and head; this helps for children to become familiar with having water on their face and further submersion.
Songs and Games:
(Ring a Ring a Rosie)
"We all fall Down" when you sing this children submerge under water. This is distracting and fun for kids.
Starfish:
Get children to extend their arms and legs outwards until they represent a starfish. Instruct them to stick their hips and stomachs up and take a deep breath. They must lie still on their back in the water. This is a self floatation method.
Kicking:
Using a kickboard or a Noodle instruct the child to hold on with both hands and kick the legs. This sounds easy but you must make sure their kicking is correct. Many people fall into bad habits in swimming which eventually hampers their swimming ability.
When we kick our legs we must use our whole leg (from our hip to our toes). Our toes are pointed down and in the opposite direction of our head. Our legs move backwards then forwards. Keeping in mind to not bend the knees up and down as this will result in legs sinking.
Body Position
Body position is the most important factor to swimming. Ultimately our aim is to be as streamline on the water surface as we can. This means our whole body should be on top of the surface.
How do we do this:
On the Back:
Instruct the child the keep their head back (chin up the ceiling or sky). Stomach and hips are pushed out and up. If the head is not back or if the chin is on the chest this will force the legs to sink (we don't want this).
On the Front: Instruct the child to look down to the bottom of the pool. Eyes must face the bottom. This will create a reaction where legs rise to the top. Once again if they lift their head upwards their legs will sink. The rest of the body remains straight and streamlined.
When we swim freestyle or backstroke our torso's must resemble pencils this allows our bodies to best move through the water.
