Being a kid means creating endless memories with the family, making new friends or trying new things.
The hardest part is trying new things, but you know the old saying “you never know until you try,” which is what it’s like being a kid.
“There is no illusion greater than fear” This is especially true as you grow up; however, as a child, you only learn about fear as you grow and experience it.
When you start taking your children to swim, there will always be fear for both you as the parent and the child.
Have you ever had moments where you go to the beach or even a swimming pool with your child, and they are afraid to dip their toes into the water?
That is very common in children because of their fear of water, and it’s common for you to feel frustrated.
As children get older, they will develop that fear, but here are ways for you to be able to help your child to overcome that fear.
It is essential to notice the fear and find ways to overcome them together.
You know that one time you decide to watch Piranha’s or Jaws, and suddenly the thought of you swimming makes you imagine the worst-case scenario?
Well, precisely what children deal with, they become aware of the vast pool size and begin to think about the worst scenarios.
However, they don’t know how to rationalise their fear or find a way around it; this is where you come in.
Here are some helpful tips to help you get your child to overcome their fear of water:
Water play
This is a way to get your child excited about water. This is an activity you can do with them too.
All you need are tools such as a bucket which has toys. This can allow your child to interact with it and play with water and their toys.
Who doesn’t love a chance to play with water!
Slow and steady
By letting your child gradually get used to water by going slow, they soon will be able to feel more confident with going into a pool or dipping body in the ocean.
Just don’t push them.
Walking on Sunshine
Once they have adjusted their fears, you can introduce them to the swimming types of equipment such as goggles, swimming costumes and life jackets.
Let them choose the ones they want with their favourite Disney, Marvel, DC or Nickelodeon characters.
This will make them feel like their playing that character. Thus confidence was boosted.
Follow the leader
By then, we mean taking your child to one-on-on lessons with their instructor; this will help them get in the water and find ways to make them comfortable with the idea of swimming.
These ways should help your children adjust to the idea of swimming.
However, we can’t forget the most significant fear of swimming, which is drowning.
This is still one of the most common deaths in children, but that shouldn’t scare you but instead motivate you.
By introducing them to swimming then, the chances of drowning will decrease significantly.
I remember swimming when I was 7 years old, and according to my mother, “I was a water baby” and to this day still am.
I had no fear when it came to the drowning aspect because the thing that motivated me was being able to go to water parks and going down those various slides with my mother.
My not having a fear of swimming or thoughts of drowning made my mother feel at ease with taking me to the classes because she knew I would be alright.
As a child, fear is there, and I remember many of my classmates wanting to leave every five seconds.
However, that changed, and we all had great fun in the pull. I learnt swimming at that age, and until today it’s one of my forms of exercise.
Swimming is an essential life-saving skill and provides excellent health benefits, especially for children.
Here are some benefits of taking your child swimming:
Heart & Lungs
When a child begins to swim, this activity will help their lungs and heart work more effectively.
When swimming, you are taught how to control your breath. This is the core of swimmers.
Once the children learn that it can help their lung capacity and helps the oxygen pump and provide energy more efficiently.
Muscle strength
Swimming is one of the best all-around muscle exercises.
When your child begins to swim, they will learn how to use each muscle group and enhance their strength.
Be it kicking, pulling or gliding, your child can use each muscle to the best ability.
Sleep
Since swimming uses every part of your body, it will also take a lot of energy.
Once the children have had their day swimming, they will naturally feel exhausted, just like all of us.
When they do, it’s a perfect time to get them showered and fed and then they will sleep longer.
Memory
When swimming, there are four strokes taught freestyle, backstroke, butterfly and breaststroke.
Your child will be learning how to memorise all these strokes, and this helps them exercise their memory.
Character
As your child learns more about swimming, they will be taught more about water safety.
This will become a lifelong skill for them to have in the course of their swimming lessons.
It will help them build resilience and hard work!
Confidence
This is the ultimate goal of swimming for children.
They will begin to trust their abilities as they continue to learn and develop the resilience they need.
When they have confidence, they will only want to continue to grow in swimming and maybe enter swimming teams to win prizes.
Now, who doesn’t want that for their child?
In conclusion, whether it is fear or lack of confidence, there are many ways to help your child quickly swim and with all the benefits mentioned, why not.
If you are interested in enrolling your child on swimming lessons, look no further as we at Hokali have excellent instructors who are more than happy to help your child become a confident swimmer!
Book swimming lessons for your kids here!
Wanna read more about swimming? Check out this blog post!
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