A Gentle Approach to Teaching Children to Swim

Children who learn to swim while very young often experience heightened perception, alertness and concentration. It also creates patience and improves social, emotional and physical development. When first attempting to swim, children can easily be traumatized and feel scared and nervous. The gentle approach to teaching children to swim seeks to help children feel comfortable and see swimming as fun and playful.

  1. History

    • Virginia Hunt Newman is considered a pioneer of gentle methods of teaching swimming to children. She was an innovator in the field, developing non-forceful, non-traumatic teaching methods for infants and young children. She became the focus of international attention in 1962 when one of her 2-year-old students, Mary Frances Crosby, the daughter of movie star and singer Bing Crosby, became the youngest person to ever pass the Red Cross Beginner Test. Virginia taught thousands of children and organized clinics and workshops worldwide on teaching young children how to swim. Instructors and writers such as Berna Bennet have carried on the tradition, using gentle methods to teach children to swim.

    Rationale

    • When a positive learning environment is created through gentle persuasion, children are able to adjust to the experience of learning to swim at a pace they are comfortable with, rather than being rushed or feeling forced. Parents and teachers respect the child's inclinations, allowing the youngster to have fun and see learning to swim as an adventure instead of a chore. Gentle methods focus on each child as an individual and seek to meet the child's unique needs.

    Methods

    • Gentle strategies seek to motivate children through playful fantasy that is lacking any sort of pressure. Techniques are taught through games children are excited to play, rather than drills or tedious direct teaching of techniques that tend to frustrate and bore small children. Thousands of instructors worldwide use play and distraction when teaching very young children to swim. Parents and teachers focus on helping children feel comfortable in the water. This reduces the chance a child will panic when they are immersed. Respect is shown to the child at all times as they are shown how to respect the water as they learn basic swimming skills.

    Books and Materials

    • In 1967, Newman compiled her gentle teaching methods in the book "Teaching an Infant to Swim." Her second book, "Teaching Young Children to Swim and Dive" was published in 1969. In 1993, she created educational conferences for swim teachers, which are now taught through the World Aquatic Babies and Children organization. Bennet wrote "A Gentle Approach to Teaching Children to Swim," which was published in 1997.