What to use for 3.5 year old in the pool

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:honestly- you should teach her to swim, and until she is comfortable swimming in water over her head, she should not be allowed in such water without you or another adult in arms reach. The puddle jumpers provide a false sense of security and inhibit kids learning to swim.

NP. So do you have any recommended resources for teaching kids to swim? My DS, who just turned 4, was in swim lessons before the pandemic started, but had literally just moved to a class where they start teaching real swimming skills. He can float on his back and will hold his breath and go under water, but he definitely cannot swim on his own (but he thinks he can, which makes me nervous). We will have limited access to a pool this year as we were still on the waitlist for our community pool and unlikely to get off. But we will likely have a few days will pool access and I'd love to help him during that time, if I can. I just don't know the best way.

so if he can float, and is comfortable going under water he is getting close. Most likely what he still needs to learn to do is breath and keep going. I find the best way for a parent to teach this is by letting the child jump to you, in water over their head- and keep on backing up. Depending on kid- this can be a multiweek process, or it can be a matter of days.

If they are struggling with how to breath and swim- work on blowing bubbles. blow bubbles in the water, and then come up to breath in. Holding your breath is a good thing to learn, but it can actually inhibit some learn to swim b/c kids need to think in terms of exhaling under water and inhaling when they come up for air. If they try to exhale and inhale while they are up, they can have trouble holding themselves up.

also teach him to tread water-- show him how to move his arms, move his legs, and stay in one place. This can be a fun contest thing- lets see who can tread for 5 seconds, lets see who can tread for 20 seconds, etc.

[Anonymous]

A USCG-approved live vest unless and until the kid knows how to swim. Take it off for swimming lessons and practice you supervise.