5 Water Safety Skills to Teach your Child this Summer

As summer approaches and your family begins to hit the water to escape the heat, you may find yourself worried about the swimming abilities of your child. The best way to build their water safety skills is by introducing swimming lessons to your child early on. This option may have been a little harder to achieve this year due to COVID-19 restrictions possibly interrupting swimming lessons for your family.

With an increase in lack of pool time, there may be concern for you as a parent surrounding heightened water related hazards for your child this swim season. As restrictions continue to ease, it is imperative that your child is taught the basic water safety skills to lessen this potential for danger. As children learn skills overtime, the earlier you teach these fundamental skills, the better chance that these lessons could save their life.

While continuous supervision should remain your number one priority when introducing your little one to the water, these five essential swimming skills will increase their capability and safety within the water.

Always find the ledge

The most important lesson you can teach your child this summer is to always seek the ledge of the pool. While holding them, direct their swimming towards the edge of the pool to find the step or ladder. This way, their first reaction when entering the water will be to turn around and find safety along the edge of the water.

Whether you are in the water with them or not, this building block activity will condition your child’s first instinct to be to seek the nearest physical boundary. Though they may not be able to physically lift themselves out of the water, by knowing to find the edge they will be limiting the potential for danger.

Gripping the edge

Now that your child knows to seek the ledge of the pool, you can begin to teach them to walk along it. Most pools will have a small walking ridge running along the edge which provides an added level of safety for your child. Teaching your child to grip the side of the pool and shuffle across this ledge allows them to locate and exit the water at either the steps or ladder.

Not only will this action increase your child’s likelihood at safety, it will also help to improve their strength and motor skills. This provides your child with the physical ability to exit the water before being able to physically climb out of the pool.

Focus on breathing

For a young child that is new to the water, it is likely the unknown environment will cause a panic if left to their own devices. Although they may know to swim towards the edge of the pool, this will be near impossible if they begin to freak out. Teaching your child to focus on their breathing will help alleviate this panic and bring their attention back to finding safety.

By teaching your child to focus on their breathing while learning to swim, you can increase their comfortability in the water and further concentrate on healthy propulsive techniques. As children will naturally bob in the water when being taught to swim and breathe, focusing on building strong swimming skills through kicking and paddling will help reposition them into a horizontal position so that they can swim towards safety.

Back floating

When initially learning to swim, young children will instinctively roll over onto their back to clear their airways when in the water. This technique called back floating, which ensures that your child is facing the right way to get air, should be encouraged but not forced when teaching them to swim. This practice may also help your child focus on healthy breathing patterns when in the water.

By laying with their head on your shoulder as you teach them to swim, you can slowly build this skill with your child to help them relax in the water. As they become more comfortable, you can slowly improve their abilities by repositioning your support from their head to their shoulders, gradually helping your child to become a more independent swimmer.

Time to climb

After focusing on healthy breathing techniques and knowing to swim towards the safety of the pool ledge, the last step in ensuring your child’s water safety this summer is to build their confidence in climbing out of the pool. A child’s first instinct when falling into the water will be to get out, but climbing out of the pool requires strength and coordination.

The ability to climb out of the pool needs to be built up over time by focusing on teaching your child how to use their body to do so. Coaching your child through key words, such as ‘elbow, elbow, tummy, knee, knee,’ will help their understanding in how to manoeuvre their bodies to escape the water.

Conclusion

If your child ever finds themselves in trouble, these strategies will improve their awareness and confidence in the water. By teaching them these five fundamental water safety skills, your child will be less likely to panic in an emergency this summer and instinctively use their newfound abilities to lessen this potential for danger. By starting lessons now, you can ensure your family will be ready for a fun summer under the sun.