April 2024

Baby Steps with Marci

By: Coach Avery & MarciSwim, LLC

Reintroducing your kid to the water can be daunting. Don’t stress! It is super common for children to regress after not swimming for a while. Like anything, swimming proficiency requires consistency and practice! Marci has some great tips to try when getting ready for the summer season.

1. Pick you battles - It is important to prioritize comfort and feeling safe when reintroducing your child to the water. If they feel better with goggles (even though we typically don’t recommend goggles), it’s okay to start with goggles and take them off once they feel more secure.

2. Bathtub basics - start out in the bathtub to get your child ready for the pool. Read our Bathtub Basics article for more info.

3. Start small - In the pool, start off by walking on the wall or playing with dive toys on the stairs. This allows your child to acclimate to the water and get some positive associations before you try to start swimming.

4. Practice floating - Start with their head on your shoulder and slowly go lower into the water. Count backwards from 5 or 10 if they are squirmy. Once they are comfortable with that, you can move their head away from their shoulder until their ears are underwater and count backwards again.

5. Short swims - Try 3 short swims to the wall. Glide them and hold them for almost the whole time. Ask them to “kiss” the water or dip their face in the water. If they are struggling to reach up to the wall, press on the center of their back to get them upright. Focus on getting them horizontal while swimming and vertical on the wall.

6. Tears are normal - Crying during a reintroduction is to be expected. Let them rest and be comforted in between swims.

Learning to swim is not always a linear process, but we are here to help! Please email us at info@marciswim.com if you have any questions on how to best reintroduce your child to the water.