We have been doing weekly swim sessions with Birch and her progress has been incredible! Here are some tips for teaching a 5-year-old to swim (without swimming lessons).
Many of you may have children who swam well before the age of five. Or you might just think “give the child swimming lessons?” Every child is different and Birch is a very cautious child and very nervous around strangers. We tried swimming lessons a few summers ago and he cried all the time for four weeks straight. I think I was more afraid of being with a new person than I was of the water. (We also tried to get him to be there with them and also nearby, but that didn’t go very well either).
But that’s all water under the… diving board… at this point!
Mazen learned to swim one winter when we took him to the indoor pool so many times that he had no choice but to figure it out! That was the goal here too.
A few months ago, Birch was a very confident puddle jumper who had no interest in taking off his puddle jumper. He refused to try on the glasses or put his face in the water. We decided to set a goal of taking him to ACAC’s indoor pool every week, sometimes twice, to build his confidence in the water. And after a few weeks he was already swimming! In our eyes it was nothing short of a miracle. So while every child is very different, some of you commented on Instagram that you would be curious to know the steps we took to get him swimming. There is no right or wrong way, but here are our experiences teaching a 5 year old to swim!
Tips for teaching a 5-year-old child to swim
Every step of the way during this process there was some resistance to trying something new. I tried very hard not to pressure him into doing something he didn’t want to do and instead inspire him with a challenge. A good example of this was taking Mazen and his glasses and asking Birch if he wanted to put the glasses on and see what Mazen was doing underwater. Once he did this, he realized that he wasn’t too scary and then he did it 100 more times. A big part of teaching him was building his confidence.
Preseason: Glasses in the bathtub
The clue that we thought Birch was ready for some serious swimming lessons is when he started sticking his face in the bathtub water. We made sure his glasses were there and he started wearing them in the bathroom.
1) Forget the puddle jumper
Birch got really angry when I told him we didn’t have the puddle jumper. Like I said above, he really liked it! He pouted by the pool for a good 15 minutes before he finally cracked a smile and decided to come into my arms. Little by little he became comfortable floating face up in my arms and swimming with his arms outstretched.
2) Be brave with glasses
Our next objective was to learn to put our face in the water. Of course glasses help a lot with this! Having an older brother and cousin who also wear glasses and I wear them myself helped Birch realize that glasses are normal and fun. Once he decided to look underwater, it was all fun and games from there! He figured out how to hold his breath on his own and we had a lot of fun playing finger guessing and making faces.
3) Swim to the step.
Once Birch was comfortable going underwater, he was ready to swim underwater (which I think is much easier than swimming above water). He would push him up the stairs and he would swim up to them. This started with inches and he moved on to feet until he was swimming! Learning to move my arms and kick came naturally. Once he was able to get a little further, we started having him swim across the bench area, which in our pool is about 10 feet. At first he couldn’t go all the way, but now he can do it without a problem! One thing about our indoor pool is that there isn’t really a shallow end for him to touch, so it’s all deep water for him. I think this has helped him with swimming because there is no “safe zone” for him to refuse to go out.
4) Jump
I was surprised how quickly Birch went from not submerging in the water to launching cannonballs from the side! At first, he spent a whole hour jumping over and over again because he was so proud of himself. I made sure to tell him how proud he was every step of the way. His love language is words of affirmation, and he ate them up! Once he learned to jump towards me, we practiced jumping and reaching to the side.
5) Hitting the bottom
Bottoming out was a skill I was VERY excited to try. I think he sees all the greats going deep and knew it was a cool thing to do. We started by pushing him down and him jumping again. Day by day he has learned to dive on his own, but he still needs a little help in deeper waters. Next week we add diving toys! After borrowing our friends’ rings, I bought this set. It has been so much fun searching and diving for the gems and rings.
6) Swim further
Once Birch was confident swimming to the step and jumping, we really worked on him swimming distances dad. I made sure to stay next to him so that if he ran out of breath, he could take a break with me.
7) Float in the water / breathe mid-swim
This was the last skill he learned. Once he can float in water and/or take a breath while swimming, he will officially be a swimmer. We’re still working on this and I’m never by his side (or he’s with his older brother) because he still can’t stay afloat. I’m sure he will be a complete swimmer by summer!
And beyond!
Mazen never wanted to join our pool’s swim team, but we’ll definitely see if Birch is interested this summer. Mazen is a very strong swimmer at 11 and never had lessons, so I think spending time in the water and practicing is ultimately the best way to learn whether you have a coach or not. We’re lucky that the ACAC pool is heated to about 95 degrees, so it’s very parent-friendly. If it were a cold pool, I’m not sure I’d have the guts to get in it every week. I’ll report back with any updates as Birch gets even better!
If you have any advice of your own to share, please share it (as long as it doesn’t criticize other people 🙂 )
