We all want our children to swim.
Swimming is by far one of the most crucial skills that you can ever teach your child. Not to scare you, but drowning is the leading cause of death in children. According to the CDC, more children ages 1-4 die from drowning than any other cause of death.
This is why learning to swim is vital for your child’s safety.
One thing that most parents get wrong is that floaties will either hold their child safely in the water or it will “teach them how to swim”. But nothing could be further from the truth.
So Why Don’t Floaties Help?
- When a child wears floaties their bodies are positioned vertically inside the water which is an extremely inefficient way to swim.
- Floaties instill false confidence in your child. They believe they can swim but in actuality, they are just able to float comfortably on the surface of the water.
If floaties were ever to be taken off, after they get accustomed to them, a couple of things could happen:
- They jump into the water thinking they can swim, but in actuality, they cannot so they unfortunately drown.
- They become so dependent on their floaties that they develop an immense fear of deep water which can then be very hard to break when/if you actually want them to start learning how to swim.
- Learning to swim also forces kids to use different muscle groups. In other words, floaties are not useful for building ‘swimming muscles’ and building up muscle memory. The more your child wears floaties, the more they won’t be able to target those muscle groups and get stronger in the water.
So what can you do to ensure your child’s safety inside the water without floaties?
- Invest in swim lessons at an early age.
- Children as early as 2 are able to start learning how to safely swim (get acclimated) in the water. Just make sure it is done by a professional.
- Only use floaties if it is absolutely necessary.
- I get it. You might have other kids who want to spend time with you in the deeper parts of the pool and you can’t just leave your 2 or 3-year-old by themselves. If you don’t know how to properly hold your baby safely in the water without floaties, then having them wear a life vest is fine. (Just make sure to never leave them out of your sight and to only let them wear them for short periods of time so they don’t get dependent on them)
- Avoid arm floaties. Instead, use a life vest. They are much safer and it allows them to use their arms and build up muscle strength.
- Play with them in the baby pool/shallow end of the pool
- Let them walk around the shallow end of the pool and splash around. Get them accustomed to using their body and their own muscles to move about the pool.
- Play with pool toys to encourage them to put their face in the water.
With all of this being said, learning to swim at a young age can be easy, but that is only if the child who is learning has the confidence. Wearing floaties will hinder your child’s confidence and it will take them much longer to actually learn how to swim.