Almost everyone views swimming differently. For some, it’s a great hobby to participate in when relaxing during the summer months, while for others, it’s a form of competitive sport or exercise. Swimming is a lot of things to many different people. For some people, this is a relaxing pastime and a way to cool off in summer. For others, this is a regular sport, even a competitive sport.
However, some people think that swimming is the source of great fear and anxiety. These are children who have fear of water. If your child is afraid of water, it is important to learn to overcome water so that they can learn the important life skills of swimming. Overcoming the fear of swimming can be difficult. It can prevent many people from learning to swim, but it is not necessary to remain afraid.
The number of times your little one splashes water in the bathtub may not qualify him as a swimmer. It is always better to get help from the expert and to book a private swimming lesson with persons such as Tanya’s Tadpoles. Here are some tips that can help him conquer his fear of swimming.
1. Introduce Your Child To Swimming Early
Helping your child to learn swimming at an early age can make the process easy for him. That’s why many parents take their children for swimming lessons when they’re just some months old. Doing this may not only help infants to learn how to save themselves in case they fall in the water, but it may drive away the fear of swimming when they get older.
However, this method may not work for your child if they have an inherent fear of the water. Despite this, it advisable to continue your training with patience till it gets used to it. Don’t be tempted to sit and hope that over time he’ll outgrow his fear, because that’s unlikely to happen. He needs to continue learning till he understands that water is not a thing to be feared.
2. Don’t Demean Your Child For Being Afraid
As you teach your child to combat his swimming fears, don’t belittle him for being afraid. You can’t get him out of his fear by embarrassing him. Though, this technique may work on a few children; it doesn’t work on the majority. Rather, you should try to listen and understand the reasons for your child’s fear.
Often, children aren’t even afraid of the water. Your child may hate swimming because the salt or chlorine in the water irritates his eyes. Apart from that, their fear may be as a result of the thought that there’s something underneath the water. Asking your child what scares them about swimming can help you know their specific fear and address it.
If your child is unwilling to express what scares him in water, take your time to study him. If he’s confident about swimming in a pool but afraid of swimming in the ocean or lake, it may indicate fear of things beneath the water. On the other hand, if he doesn’t have any trouble swimming in the lake but fears swimming in the pool, that could mean he fears chlorine hurting his eyes. Understanding your child’s exact fears can enable you to help him overcome his anxiety quickly.
3. Don’t Use Force
Forcing your child to swim or tricking him to get into the water is an excellent way of increasing his fears and reducing his trust in you. You don’t want this to happen to you. Instead, you should help your child learn how to swim slowly and steadily. On the first day, take him to the pool and allow him just to observe the water without going near it. Next time, encourage him to sit beside the pool’s edge, get into the water, and start playing catch with some poll toys.
Show him that being next to the pool can still be fun even if he doesn’t get into the water. By progressing in these simple steps, you may eventually assist your child to get into the water without fear. However, if you need professional help, you can enroll your child in swimming classes in any academy near you. Alternatively, you may hire a swimming coach or instructor to teach your child the ropes of swimming.
Conclusion
The more comfortable with water your child becomes, the less uncomfortable swimming will be for him. The tactics of helping your child overcome swimming fear should include encouragement and not coercion. Forcing or embarrassing your child to swim may only worsen his fear. Parents may feel very stressed when they see their children struggling with fear and anxiety. It is a natural urge to rationalize with your child or urge them in an uncertain way to just “overcome” the things that bother them. However, because of the fear of water, you must tread lightly and help them overcome their fear as patiently as possible.
Be patient, understand your child, and teach him to swim slowly and steadily. If you need help, contact a swimming coach or enroll your child in a swimming academy to make sure that the swimming coach uses this method and can sit next to him until he is ready to wet his feet. Please pay attention to any problems you have previously discovered like eye irritation which is caused by chlorine, tendency to feel cold, etc. and make sure to provide tools for dealing with these problems and for which you can use goggles, thick warm towels, etc..
Just remember that if you take the right measures and help your child feel comfortable in the water without being forced, your fear of swimming will pass. Before you know it, your child will splash around like a natural person. So be patient and have fun!