Time for a professional
Speaking of kid’s activities, we’re going to get Junior started on swimming lessons. It occurred to me that I have no idea how to teach someone to swim.
Remember, I do this to entertain me, not you.
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May 2nd, 2007 at 9:46 am
Wow, I can actually respond to something with “What John Would John Wayne Do”.
I believe my reference material is Hondo; toss ’em in the deep end and hope they don’t drown.
Which, now that I think about it is remarkably similar to the Coast Guard’s method.
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:48 am
Well, first you need some water. Don’t be fooled….it LOOKS harmless enough, and lord knows you have cooked with it, boated on it, washed dogs with it, even ingested the stuff. You are probably freezing some of it right now…BE CAUTIOUS! It kills more kids than guns!
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:51 am
Unc,
Our kids have had great success with the program run by the YMCA.
I just wish that the Y wasn’t located in the crappiest part of the “big” city next to our sleepy town. Or, barring that, that I could convince my wife to get her LTC…
May 2nd, 2007 at 10:21 am
Easiest way is to just let them get in and go at it the way they want to.
Teach them the dead mans float, and encourage them to swim underwater. Most kids I know learned to swim underwater before they could swim on top.
May 2nd, 2007 at 10:35 am
It’s fun to learn to swim at the Y-M-C-A!
May 2nd, 2007 at 10:47 am
Once they can float, the swimming sorts itself out. Just, uh, don’t look away for more than a second. Pools and kids are dangerous combinations.
May 2nd, 2007 at 10:51 am
Which is why we don’t have one. Of course, the in-laws, friends and grandparents do. That basically means that any time I visit, I spend all my time in the pool too.
May 2nd, 2007 at 10:55 am
Start by showing them how to blow bubbles. It’s great fun and helps them get used to putting their faces in the water and not sucking in water and panicking..
In my youth, I was a lifeguard and certified Water Safety Instructor–had all the Red Cross swimming badges.
Start here:
http://www.redcross.org/services/hss/aquatics/sfp.html#parent
May 2nd, 2007 at 12:04 pm
Do not use the “body flotation suits.” A child must learn that they can float without aid. My wife teaches the swimming in our house. I am an expert swimmer (club water polo in college) but I’ll be damned if I can teach a child to swim.
Note: I learned to swim the “Hondo” way mentioned above. It either works or renders the child incapable of ever learning.
May 2nd, 2007 at 12:36 pm
It’s easy. Toss ’em in the pool. Start screaming “Kick your legs!! Move your arms like this!!” Mime a dog paddle. If they are having trouble, scream louder and use profanity. If they still have trouble, make a big deal by jumping in and swimming confidently over to them to rescue ’em. Make ’em feel stupid for not “getting it.” Or don’t make a big deal of it if they do.
At least that’s how my dad did it. 🙂
May 2nd, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Floating is absolutely necessary, as I remember it. ‘Course, I’m limited to the elementary backstroke, which basically consists solely of floating with a bit of limb movement.
May 2nd, 2007 at 4:19 pm
I remember when Mama taught me to swim. She put me in a rowboat, and rowed out to the middle of a very large stock pond and threw me in. Them she rowed away. I learned to swim….wasn’t all that hard……once I got out of the tow sack.
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:34 pm
I always could swim. Everybody can always swim…you just don’t realize it. The trick for a kid is to make them understand that they are not supposed to keep their heads out of the water all the time. Ontogeny may not recapitulate Phylogeny, but we all start out as fish in the womb.
Let them swim underwater in a pool under supervision. Before you know it they’ll be swimming. Get ’em goggles, nose plugs, and swim fins to make it interesting…no ‘swimmy’ flotation devices. Tubes are for lounging.
The day they can swim the length of a backyard pool is the day you will feel a bit better…especially if they can do it underwater.
May 4th, 2007 at 9:24 pm
MAKE IT FUN! Our daughter always loved the water until we paid a very expensive country club a lot of money in advance for private swimming lessons. She took one. Now she doesn’t want to go back. I don’t blame her. Too crowded, too noisy, too many fat guys. TOO INTENSE AN INSTRUCTOR. I recommend that you find a teenage girl who gives private lessons in her home swimming pool on weekends for pocket money. And be there and make sure it’s “play not learn”.