I've been teaching children, teens, and adults how to swim for the past 18 years. I've gone through 6 learn-to-teach programs for many of the schools, clubs, or community centers I've worked at. Each summer, parents reach out to me to schedule private lessons, and I am typically asked a few funny questions up front.
"How long will it take my child how to swim?"
This one almost always comes up before the first lesson, during scheduling. This is pretty difficult for me to predict, although my crystal ball filled with pool water sometimes guesses correctly. I get frustrated explaining to parents that children learn at different speeds, and I won't know until I see how they progress after a few lessons with me, especially when parents argue and try to get guarantees from me.
"Do you provide a swim suit and goggles for my kid?"
Dear parent, I do not bring my car full of swimsuits for your child to try on. I can let them borrow a pair of goggles for the lesson, but the parents need to provide the swim suit.
"Does my child have to put their face in the water to learn how to swim? I don't put my face in when I swim, and I don't want them to feel like they have to either."
Sigh. It's not impossible to swim without putting your face in the water, but it's not safe to only learn that method. With this request/question, I often have to spend 10-15 minutes pre or post-lesson explaining to the parents why it's so important to have kids get comfortable putting their face and ears into the water, learning to blow bubbles, and start to understand body positions. I'm still impressed at how much the parent pushes back on this sometimes, especially after the child has no issues starting to put their face in the water.
Once we get past the scheduling questions and I finally get to have some in-water time with the swimmer, I have a curriculum I follow with almost every new child lesson:
Nose Bubbles
It's so important to learn how to blow nose bubbles. I've learned this topic can destroy relationships; I teach nose bubble blowing so kids can feel confident in not getting water up their noses. I know some teachers teach mouth bubbles, but I've found that kids still get water up their noses if they only blow a few mouth bubbles, and that sours the mood of the lesson. I try to tell the kids to blow bubbles, boogers, or butterflies out of their nose holes, and practice playing sneaky alligator with them.
2. Bobs
When the child is more comfortable getting their nose, ears, and mouth in the water, I hold their hands and encourage them to do a tiny bob (mostly getting their eyes and maybe more hair wet). This usually boosts their confidence and gets the kid excited to try again. I will often go under with them, and loudly practice coming up to inhale through my mouth at the same time as the child, then returning under water for a long bob. With most young kids, seeing and demo is more effective than telling them what to do. So, I end up doing a lot of bobs with kids in very shallow areas.
If the swimmer is really struggling to put their face or nose in the water, play a game! I like to sing Ring around the Rosie. I hold the child under the arms and move them around me in a bouncing circle, making sure to lay an ear into the water on some of the dips and get the water a little choppy around their faces. At the end of the song, I switch the lyrics to "and they all blew bubbles!" to get the child interested in trying to finish the song with me. It's almost always a hit and breakthrough with kids who are reluctant to put their faces in the water.
3. Long Bobs
After getting more comfortable putting faces in, I take it to the next step: exhaling more slowly. This is where I show the humming trick (humming forces you to blow bubbles) and blow bubbles for 10-15 seconds. Then, I challenge the child to do it too, while I count. Each time they come up for air, I start the count over, encouraging them to go a little longer. This helps the child learn how to exhale consistently and keep their face under for longer.
If the child is progressing quickly, I like to add rings to entice them to exhale even longer. I teach them how to sit down towards the bottom or dive down, face first, to grab the rings or toys on the bottom of the pool. If they can't yet reach the bottom, I hold the toy halfway or 3/4 way down, and help guide the child to grab it after they've put their face under.
4. Face Down with Wall Grip
Now that the child is able to put their face in the water and blow bubbles, i have them hold onto the wall with their arms straight in front of them. I tell them to bury their head between their arms and blow bubbles. This starts to make a habit of straight arms when they're in front or over their head.
5. Face Down, Booty Up
To teach body position, I encourage the child to stay holding onto the wall, but now kick their feet up, using the wall for balance and buoyancy. If they need help, I'll hold their shins up and tell them to get their feet down, booties up. This helps teach body position, as bringing their face and eyes down will help the back and hips rise.
6. Add the Kick
At this point, the child is holding on to the wall with straight arms, blowing bubbles, and their legs are floating behind them. I then tell them to use their legs to splash me. Most kids pedal wildly, flinging their legs everywhere. This is great - let them get a little tired with their big kicks. I usually start playing red light/green light to make a habit of getting the legs back up to the surface after a resting period.
7. Fixing the Kick
It's time to fix the kick. I demonstrate kicking, and explain that we want to point our toes like ballet dancers, with long ankles trying to point away from us. I also try to explain straight leg kicking, which typically takes a little longer to learn. Kicking with straighter legs requires muscle stamina, and is often harder for younger kids to master because it's more energy-intensive. This straight leg kick can be practiced holding onto the wall, or onto a board. I don't let my swimmers use the kickboard as a surfboard, making sure we hold onto the kickboard like we held onto the wall.
8. Add Arm Circles
Whether on the wall or using a board, I now physically move my child's arms for them, one at a time, to show the "down and around" motion of a front crawl stroke. I have the child blow bubbles for as long as they can, tapping each hand in turn to prompt the child to start a stroke. If the child is holding onto a wall, this skill comes a little quicker than with a wobbly kick board.
9. Side Breathing
Side breathing is the hardest for kids to learn. Most likely, if they've already been playing in pools or around the water, they lift their faces forward to breathe, rather than twisting to the side. To teach side breathing, I teach side kicking, keeping one hand in front of the child, the other on their thigh, and telling them to lay their ear on their upper outstretched arm. I then instruct the child to blow bubbles by looking at the bottom of the pool, and then twist their neck and chin to breathe when they need to.
10. Put it all together
Using a kickboard or the wall, I have the swimmer blow bubbles while kicking and taking big arm strokes. Typically, the child still hasn't figured out consistent side breathing, and I have to remind them or physically grab and twist their head gently to get them to twist to the right or left instead of lifting their face forward.
If my swimmer is feeling confident in putting it together on the wall or with a kickboard, then you can transfer them to using a pool noodle or aqua aerobics bar to give them a little less of a buoyant crutch to rely on. You can even use your hands or forearm to give the swimmer a little more difficulty.
There are obviously a ton of additional skills a child needs to learn to be safe in the water, like floating on their back, floating on their front, elementary backstroke, etc., but if you're having a lesson with a child who is catching on easily, you this 10 step progression can teach a child the basics of freestyle/front crawl within one lesson. You can take time to focus on teaching backstroke and tweaking the new freestyle stroke the following lesson.
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