How to Teach Kids to Swim

Establish trust. Some children will be anxious and nervous, while others will take to the water right away. Ease them into it, and allow them to progress at their own rate. To teach your child to trust the water, have them sit on the side of the pool with their feet dangling in the water. Have he or she fall into your arms and cheer excitedly. Do this over and over until the child feels confident enough to jump into the water. Use a life vest for your child if they are anxious.

Get their faces wet and blow bubbles. Blow air into your children's faces then slowly dip your face into the water while you are blowing out air. This will cause you to blow bubbles, and your children can associate it with your blowing air. Allow them to imitate you and blow their own bubbles.

Teach them to hold their breath. Open your mouth widely and exaggerate taking in a breath of air. Puff your cheeks out and hold your breath. Dip your head under water. Do this a few times so that your child can imitate you.

Teach them to float. This is a very important swimming skill. Position your body under the child's. Allow yourself to sink slowly. The child will soon realize that they can float on their own. You can also try to teach the child to float in the bathtub in very shallow water by having them lay on their back against the bottom of the tub. Slowly increase the water level until they can float freely.

Teach kicking and the doggy paddle. Once your child is not afraid to be in the water and they can float, turn them over and hold their upper body as they kick their legs. Once they can kick their legs in a flowing motion to move forward while in your arms, add in the arm movements. Show your child how to make arm movements that coincide with their kicking.