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[quote=Anonymous]I was a certified swim instructor “back in the day.” I specialized in kids 4-7.  Now I have a 6 year old with whom I taught to swim.

Swim schools tend to be a waste - too much sitting on the side and only 1 time a week. And, your kids are on the schools  swim schedule not your child’s natural one.

Private lessons help,’but make sure you are also taking the kids swimming consistently in a row. Like 4 days a week, so they can a) practice b)‘get more comfortable with just being in the pool. Panic causes drowning. You want them to start to instinctively know what to do by understanding how their body works in the water.

There is a buoyancy issue until age 4-5. It has to do with body proportions and head size.  Your 5 year old is hitting the age where you will start to see improvement.

There are physical attributes that even out by age 8, but require some creative teaching at early ages. If your kid is not a “natural swimmer” and particularly skinny they may struggle to back float at a young age. It takes more work for them to push their “tummy to the sky” and, physics, fat floats… I’d focus more on front skills and water safety on their backs. If your child is on the heavier side it will require more effort to do freestyle (front crawl) because you have to pull your body with your arms. so I’d start with back floating,’back stoke and once  they understand the coordination move to the stomach for “dead man’s float” then kicking and “slicing and pushing the water” (pushing water, not Pulling body). (Of course these are quiet adjustments, I’m not advocating for body shaming.)

With the 4-5 year olds i used to play lots of water games and pretend scenarios. Preschoolers do great with: “Oh no, the pirate left his treasure under water. Let’s go find it.” And “Yum! Your crocodile legs are hungry let’s kick to eat some fish.” They do poorly with “straighten your legs and kick” or “put your face in the water for 10 seconds.”

6-7 year olds like routines and goals. They do well with little rhymes or cute phrases to help them remember what to do. So we would “Cut the pizza” with our arms (breast stroke) or “grab the banana, give it to the monkey,‘throw the peel away”’(elementary backstroke). We’d sing it together, practice on land then in the water.  We also would always have a goal or reward like “at the end of the class we are all going to float on our backs for one minute. Then get a super special prize (a sticker).” Or goals a few days out like “by Friday I bet we are all going to be able to dolphin kick five times.  Should we try it?’”

Not everybody is an auditory learner, and little kids get distracted in the water. I’d always start out a new skill on. The pool deck. They’d watch then they replicate a movement with me 5-10 times before adding water to the equation. it’s safety,’ builds muscle memory, and helps kids learn together by doing. I haven’t seen any of this in the swim schools - maybe it’s not en vogue anymore but it works.

A few weeks of consistency and with a  good instructor. you will start seeing improvement in your 7 year old quickly.

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