Did Floaties give your child a false sense of water security and swim ability?

[Anonymous]

DS 6yo is in lessons but overly confident and has a peculiar ability to keep on trucking after inhaling water. He has not been the type to take a second, cough, sputter and then slow down a bit but he is somehow able to persevere. The teacher and I have been trying our darnedest to remind him to hold his breath and it is his core struggle along with wanting to invent his own strokes and swim positions. He has no fear of the water and wants to be in the deep end but it’s a bit frightening (and encouraging that he will once he is learning, enjoy swimming).

I’m considering the purchase of floaties and the vested sort seem to have an attachment at the middle.

However, there’s mixed feedback online as to the use of floaties and dangers surrounding them.

[Anonymous]

Ask him swim instructor, but I lean towards no floaties since he's already in swim classes.

[Anonymous]

Floaties seem like a step back if he’s 6 and in swim class. Talk to his teacher.

[Anonymous]

Is he actually inhaling the water?

[Anonymous]

PP here,

What are the signs that you see that makes you think he is inhaling water? If he's actually inhaling water, then you need to be working with specialists, because aspiration is very dangerous, but if this is happening over and over and he's never had a medical incident my guess is that he's not actually inhaling water. So, what are you seeing that's making you think he is?

[Anonymous]

I had a similar kid. He refused to wear the floaties or life vest because he had no fear of water. That summer I'd get in the water every time he went pool for fun.

[Anonymous]

I never used floaties for either of my kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Floaties seem like a step back if he’s 6 and in swim class. Talk to his teacher.

+1. Probably a bad idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never used floaties for either of my kids.

Nobody asked you

[Anonymous]

I never used floats on my children. They need to learn to swim without them. If they fall into a pool they won't have their floaties.

[Anonymous]

I think floaties can be used responsibly as part of a kid learning to swim (not a universal belief I realize).

However it does not sound like your kid needs them or would benefit from them. He should just keep going to swim lessons. It's normal for kids to take some time for actual swim strokes to "click" and it's a positive sign that he loves the water so much.

Do NOT allow him in the deep end of the pool until he can safely swim to the middle and back even when tired. It's just a "no". Don't give him floaties just so he can go in the most dangerous part of the pool on his own. Keep him in the shallow end and make sure there is an adult within reach until he is proficient enough to be able to swim on his own with supervision from further away.

He will naturally stop gobbling up water by doing it and realizing it sucks and causes him to have to stop. He is not "inhaling" water -- he has not yet learned to turn his head to the side and breathe so he's swallowing water as he swims. Talk to him and to the teacher about reminding him to keep his mouth closed when swimming with his face in the water and about what steps he needs to take to learn to take breaths while swimming. That can be a tricky skill and it can take kids a while to master -- my kid had been doing a competent freestyle stroke for a year before she was able to incorporate breathing in a way that allowed her to do the full length of the pool -- she could do it with her head down under the water for a half length but had to spend months figuring out the mechanics of taking a breath on her side before she could do it at all and then more months before she could do it as part of her stroke. And then once she had it no more problems.

He just needs to keep going to class and practicing.

[Anonymous]

I’m not anti puddle jumpers for toddlers thru preschool age. I think if he’s 6 though and in swim lessons I would keep going. Spend lots of time in the pool playing as well as the lessons.
Doing floaties now would be like putting a potty trained kid back in a pull up because they have one accident.
My kid had a puddle jumpers at 2-3 and started lessons at 3.5. She knew if it wasn’t on that she absolutely could not be in the water without me being right there in the water too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never used floaties for either of my kids.

Nobody asked you

Shut up. I also never used floaties with either of my kids - they give a false sense of security. Besides, OPs kid is already 6 and already in swim lessons. Floaties are just being lazy and letting the kid be unattended. No. Get in the pool with your kid and practice without floaties. Stay in the shallow end.

[Anonymous]

I live in a beach area and my youngest started with puddle jumpers at 2 whenever the water was deep enough to go over his head. He's in water all the time. He started understanding water and swimming around 4 on his own. I think it's intuitive because his friend who was 6 months older was exactly the same around the same time. Now at 5 he holds his breath, swims under water. He still wears puddle jumpers in deep water and asks for them. He has never had a real swim lesson.

[Anonymous]

A word of warning if using floaties.

My 8 year old has become dependent on her water wings. She is comfortable with them on in the water, but incredibly anxious as soon as she doesn't have them. We've tried alternatives, and professional one to one lessons , but I've never seen her so emotional than throughout our first set of lessons.

As she matures we will try to gently ease the fear, but I wish we had ripped the band aid from the start