Summer is hot and humid. The heat is actually stifling at times. There is nothing you’d like more than to jump into the nearest pool and cool off.
So you take your family for a weekend swmming holiday. Everyone is is high spirits. They are looking forward to being school free and spending time with you. The resort has 6 varieties of pools from a kid’s pool to an olympic size pool. There’s even a jacuzzi. Best of all, there are slides.
As soon as you get there, everyone rushes off to the poolside. Looks like everyone is having a great time. You find your 8 year old daughter sitting at the poolside just swinging her feet or jumping around in the small pool. She refuses to dip her body in and you ‘re getting frustrated because you really want her to learn how to swim. Every attempt you make ends in her crying or having a screaming fit.
Parents, we know you mean well. We all know they’ll have an even better time if they can swim properly and you’ll worry less about them since they are less likely to panic or drown if they know how to handle themselves in water deeper than their height.
It isn’t easy to get over fear and scolding your kid won’t make the fear go away. Don’t resort to throwing them in the pool to “sink or swim”. It will just heighten the fear and turn it into a phobia.
Try a little gentle persuasion. Tow your kid around a pool about shoulder deep for them. Teach them how to float on their back, then on their front. Teach them how to paddle their legs properly. get them some floaters so that they learn to use what they’ve learned in a deeper pool without fearing that they will drown. Who knows, they may eventually become swimming champions.
Originally posted on July 17, 2006 @ 6:58 pm
