At this point, Doodle is not wanting to wear his water wings at all. On day 4 he had some chaffing and discomfort from them and wanted them off. He’s only had them on a few times since then. So, for the past few swimming days, I’ve been holding him up when the wings were off. He is kicking well. His arm stroke is really weak, but I’m encouraging him to work on it by my supporting his belly and having him support his head by paddling his arms.
Also, I’ve tried holding just one of his hands as he kicks in the water. He has to work the other arm really hard to keep from turning over in the water. When he does turn over, I quickly pull him up and we laugh together. In all of these little “lessons,” we’re talking, laughing, smiling. I think it’s important that the lessons be a happy time so that he’ll enjoy learning.
Doodle does seem to be over-confident about what he can do in the water, which makes me nervous. On day 5, he asked me if he could let go of my hands. I told him, “Yes, you can let go if you want, but you will sink.” He did let go, he sank, and I pulled him up. He didn’t cry. Later he told me that he could swim by himself. “You can try, but you will sink.” Again, he let go, sank and was rescued. On day 7 Doodle asked if he could let go of me. When I again told him that he would sink, he thought about it and changed his mind.
I know that we’re making progress because Doodle doesn’t mind getting water in his face at all. He’ll just smile and laugh. That’s encouraging. – milkmaid
I have become convinced that the best “tool” for teaching kids to swim is the flotation device used at the Y (and rec centers) in their swim classes. They call them “bubbles”, but basically they are a stack of rectangular floats strapped around the child’s waist. They do not keep the child’s head up, so they are for kids ready to start swimming on their own. It keeps them in the proper position to swim, keeps their arms free for strokes. As they become stronger swimmers, you can remove a rectangle at a time, decreasing the amount of flotation as their strength increases.