During the 8 to 12 month age group, your baby will start to become purposefully mobile. Common achievements include; moving from stomach to sitting position, efficient crawling, standing, taking first steps and even walking. This increased mobility will have a tremendous impact on how to teach your baby to swim. At this stage, we begin to introduce swimming activities that encourage baby to become independent and mobile in the water. Baby’s growth and development will allow us to commence swimming activities like floating and pulling up on a shallow ledge and water safety skills such as turning underwater.
Extending baby’s breath control becomes important to progress the baby’s swimming ability. Good breath control will allow baby to submerge and free float underwater for longer periods of time during the swimming lesson. Parents will now be capable of reading their babies body language and baby will be communicating with the parent using a combination of words and gestures. This means that baby will show enjoyment and pleasure at the various swimming activities. If the parents are relaxed during the swimming lesson baby will begin to develop a real love of the water.
There are a number of skills that you need to understand and learn how to teach important elements of the learn to swim process, even if you are a parent.
8 Important Skills That Will Help With How To Teach Your Baby To Swim
- Introduction to the water,
- Keeping the child feeling safe at all times,
- Predefined Goals we want to achieve,
- Importance of Floating,
- How to improve Propulsion,
- Simple Instructions,
- Building independence in the water,
- Turning in the water.
Now take a look at this short video to give you an overview of what you need to know!
Well done, that is the first step to being better prepared and equipped with the knowledge and skills to assist your little one through to becoming a confident and happy little swimmer!