pool time basic questions

[Anonymous]

I have 2 kids. One is a 8 year old boy, and the other is 5 year old girl. They have grown more interests in pool time, and it seems like we are going to pool every weekend this summer. The 8 year old can swim a little bit, and he does group lesson/private lesson. The 5 year old can't swim, and she does group lesson. Does kids improve swimming if they just play around in pool for the whole summer?

Can someone recommend shampoo, conditioner & body wash? Their skin/hair seems to be more dry these days due to the chlorine from pool? The 5 year old girl hair is more tangled up after swimming often in the pool. Please recommend swim bag (link please) that each kid can carry their belongings & above shampoo/conditioner/body wash for changing room. It would be nice if anyone can type out the steps what kids do to wash off chlorine and wash themselves and get changed in the public changing room. I am always in chaos to do with 5 year old girl in changing room. I think I do the steps wrong, and she feels cold in between and I get wet helping her in changing regular clothing. I don't even know what the 8 year old boy do in men's changing room, and he still smells chlorine after washing. Do people normally apply body wash/shampoo to rinse themselves with bathing suit on or not in public changing room? Using travel size shampoo/body wash or full size ones? Do you hand wash bathing suit or throw them into washing machine on every single use?

Sorry for asking these basic questions, but I have been wondering the answers.

[Anonymous]

They will improve water safety (ability to tread water, body awareness in water), but they will not improve actual swimming without some kind of instruction.

[Anonymous]

For locker room at this age:

Make sure your pool is a safe community for kids to shower alone (ours is). Make sure the kids know the layout of the locker room, how to turn the showers on, and where to change clothes.

Tell them to shower with their suits on (plus then the suits get rinsed). Take the girl's hair down. Squirt a large dollop of all-in-one shampoo + conditioner onto the top of their heads, hand them one towel, one T-shirt, and one pair of sleep pants ( + underwear), and tell them to come out clean and dressed, carrying their wet suit and towel.

No bags, no personal products, nothing to lose. And putting the shampoo on their heads in advance guarantees they will get right in the shower to wash it off/out.

[Anonymous]

Get your daughters hair thoroughly soaked in the locker room before she gets in the pool.

[Anonymous]

Great tip about squirting the shampoo on their heads. I'm going to do that for my kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get your daughters hair thoroughly soaked in the locker room before she gets in the pool.

Why do this one?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get your daughters hair thoroughly soaked in the locker room before she gets in the pool.

Why do this one?

It involves the water molecules’ inability to move through diffusion as easily, or something like that. Big question if there is any peer-reviewed research on the question, but I think the person replying in this Reddit string explains the theory behind it well (inviting all science-minded folks to chime in):

https://www.reddit.com/r/HaircareScience/comments/2adg7m/is_there_any_actual_study_showing_that_wetting/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They will improve water safety (ability to tread water, body awareness in water), but they will not improve actual swimming without some kind of instruction.

I don’t disagree, but I have two kids who are club swimmers and I would rate playing around in the pool as 10 times more helpful for future swimming enjoyment and success than swim lesson when they are in the beginning stage. Perhaps even 50 times. Or let me put it this way, for every hour of swim lessons, they should be spending at least 10 hours in play. Playing in the pool without floatation aids teaches them to feel relaxed in the water, to be comfortable with short immersions and breath control, how to dive to the bottom to retrieve toys, the dolphin kick, horizontal body position, their limits in terms of breath and fatigue. And it teaches them that water is fun!

Once they feel comfortable with diving, immersions, and being horizontal, they can focus on strokes. It’s a huge ask to expect kids who feel fearful and hungry for air in the water to coordinate their arms and legs enough to swim strokes. They have to let go of worrying about breathing before they can do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get your daughters hair thoroughly soaked in the locker room before she gets in the pool.

Why do this one?

The hair will absorb fresh water and will not absorb as much chlorine. Use tri swim kids or similar shampoos specifically for swim. Shower immediately afterwards. Do not put conditioner in the hair before swimming - the chemicals will break down in the pool and produce chloramine gas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They will improve water safety (ability to tread water, body awareness in water), but they will not improve actual swimming without some kind of instruction.

I don’t disagree, but I have two kids who are club swimmers and I would rate playing around in the pool as 10 times more helpful for future swimming enjoyment and success than swim lesson when they are in the beginning stage. Perhaps even 50 times. Or let me put it this way, for every hour of swim lessons, they should be spending at least 10 hours in play. Playing in the pool without floatation aids teaches them to feel relaxed in the water, to be comfortable with short immersions and breath control, how to dive to the bottom to retrieve toys, the dolphin kick, horizontal body position, their limits in terms of breath and fatigue. And it teaches them that water is fun!

Once they feel comfortable with diving, immersions, and being horizontal, they can focus on strokes. It’s a huge ask to expect kids who feel fearful and hungry for air in the water to coordinate their arms and legs enough to swim strokes. They have to let go of worrying about breathing before they can do that.

I agree with this. There needs to be a combination of lessons and unstructured play time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They will improve water safety (ability to tread water, body awareness in water), but they will not improve actual swimming without some kind of instruction.

I don’t disagree, but I have two kids who are club swimmers and I would rate playing around in the pool as 10 times more helpful for future swimming enjoyment and success than swim lesson when they are in the beginning stage. Perhaps even 50 times. Or let me put it this way, for every hour of swim lessons, they should be spending at least 10 hours in play. Playing in the pool without floatation aids teaches them to feel relaxed in the water, to be comfortable with short immersions and breath control, how to dive to the bottom to retrieve toys, the dolphin kick, horizontal body position, their limits in terms of breath and fatigue. And it teaches them that water is fun!

Once they feel comfortable with diving, immersions, and being horizontal, they can focus on strokes. It’s a huge ask to expect kids who feel fearful and hungry for air in the water to coordinate their arms and legs enough to swim strokes. They have to let go of worrying about breathing before they can do that.

I agree with this. There needs to be a combination of lessons and unstructured play time.

Totally agree on needing both. Mine are a little younger but want to be in the pool all day now too.

We do a quick change at the pool but then come home for the real shower/bath. After swim they just dry off & put on their shorts/shirt that they were wearing before. It seems too complicated to get fully cleaned up there and I hate public restrooms/locker rooms and don't want to linger.

When they were younger we would change in the back of the minivan - easier on the dry clean surface and with all our stuff spread out there.