When it comes to teaching swim lessons, learning the basics is essential for water safety and drowning prevention. The first and most important skill for any beginner swimmer to learn is floating on his or her back, also known as the “swim-float-swim” survival method in an Infant Aquatics swimming program.
The “swim-float-swim” technique is a life-saving skill that teaches babies to roll over onto their backs, float, and rest until help arrives. It’s an amazing skill to witness and the foundation for any other swimming skill.
Why is Floating Important?
Every swimmer should learn how to float in the water first. However, new swimmers often have a difficult time adjusting to floating. As land based mammals, we are accustomed to standing upright to find balance. This makes it difficult for children and even adults to get used to balancing on their backs in the water. On land, we are also accustomed to looking at a horizon to find our balance, which doesn’t work the same way in the water. When swimmers are first learning how to float, they’ll try to find that horizon, but that often causes them to sink. Hence, the feeling of falling or sinking when trying to float.
Although floating is a tricky skill to master, floating allows a child to feel more confident and safe in the water. Confidence in the water enables a child to continue to develop more complicated swimming skills.
About Infant Aquatics
Swimming lessons promote healthy, confident, and safer water environment for both parents and children. Babies can begin the Texas Swim Academy Infant Aquatics program as young as six months old, when babies are developing the head control necessary to perform basic infant water survival exercises. Six months is also an ideal time because that’s when babies are just beginning to become mobile, which means there’s a greater risk for him or her to accidentally fall or slip into the water. Each child in the Infant Aquatics program is safely guided by a motivated and certified instructor who provides one-on-one attention. To learn more about the Infant Aquatics program, tune into the video below:
Kathleen McMordie 