How To Teach A Toddler To Swim

Okay, come on in a pool, no high-five boop, all right, good listen and we're gonna stop right here, feels so warm huh, it was such a cold day today, eight donuts, you ready to go get them together, come with me, come on, such a happy guy all right, can you grab the pink one, yeah, get pink Very good, very good. All right, gotta loosen him up. We had a few minutes of play, and now we're gonna go into just a couple of easy drills. So all we gotta do, Eddie, can we kick back to the stairs, Mr. Eddie? Can we kick back to the stairs? Can we do some kicking? Can we kick our feet? Can we kick our feet? Good job. There you go. Good job, Eddie. Keep going. Kick, kick, kick, Eddie. Kick, kick, kick. There you go. Very good. Grab on. Grab the step. Good job, Mr. Eddie. Eddie, right here. Can you put it on there? Put it on there. Come ahead, walk over. Let's walk all the way over and put it on. Can you put it right on there? On top? Can you put it on top? Right here? Oh, almost. Let's do it again. Can we try again? It's a great motor skill game. Absolutely super important. They all should be able to do this. Good. Put it on. High five. Great job. High five first. High five. Good job. More. Okay. Can we swim? Can we swim this time? All right. Maybe we're going in the water this time. We'll go right, set, go. Up. Yeah, that was great. It's good. Good well going under. Okay, let's kick, buddy. Can we kick over to the wall? Kick, kick, kick. Kick our feet. Kick our feet. Kick, kick, kick. Kick, kick, kick. Kick, kick, kick. Keep kicking. Kick, kick, kick. And grab the wall. Very good. Grab blue. Each donut, we add something new. Something new. Every time we go out to get a ring or a donut, let's kick, buddy, kick, kick, kick. So this one, you know, we add it going under water, grab it onto that wall, more kicking. Kick, buddy, kick, kick, kick, all the way. Grab the step with one hand, two hand. Hands always go first. Once I see both hands down, then we allow the feet to go down. That creates a swimmer. Can you put it on? Do it by yourself this time. Right. Can you put it on right here? Yeah. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Put it on. That's gonna bring him down. Yay! Wait, you gotta high five first. Okay, one more? Okay, let's do it. Ooh, red. Meow. You don't want to? Want to do a whale swim? Want me to hold you? Want me to hold you? Well, I'll hold you, I know. Oh, a little scared on that one. Maybe the first one was a little too shocking for him, so we're gonna back up a little bit, reassess, figure out where the problem is, and try again. This time we'll go on a water to the wall together. Kick, buddy, you got to kick your feet. Kick, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick your chicken toes. Kick your toes. Toes. Let's go to the wall. We're going to go underwater to the wall. We're going to go ready, set, go. What's that? Good. The mouth was nice and closed. We come up. Nice. Get that donut. Get the ring. Here, grab it. Yay! Very good. You got the black and white ring. Very good, sir. You did so wonderful. We're going to go back to the stairs. Yeah. Okay. Let's do a little float and then back to the stairs. We're going to way down. We're going to relax. So one. Those legs should slowly come down. And just relax. We're going to come up out of the water. Yeah, you did it. We're going to go ready, set. Dip that mouth down so he closes it. There. Up on the step. There it is. Very good. Much better. So put it there. You put it on together. There you go. Very good. Everything's just now, huh? Bubbles. Bubbles. Bubbles. Hi. So he was afraid to come out with me, but he wasn't afraid to go underwater. He just was afraid of me pulling him out, right? So we're going to do what we just did again. We're all going to bring him underwater together. Yeah, we'll just kick, kick, kick, Kick, kick, kick our feet. Kick kick kick our feet. Kick kick kick our feet. Can you kick buddy? Can you kick your feet for me? Yeah, there you go. Can you show me big strong kicks? Big big big big old kick-a-ronies. There you go. Great. Very good. Okay. Oh, let's get the next ring. Are you ready to get the next ring? Let's go. We go. Ready, set, go. Open my hands so he feels that fall. Guide him up till we grab the wall. I'll sit him on my knee for this. Good. I'll pull him off. If you want them to grab something, you can't just let them hold onto the wall and they're going to grab it. You have to lift them up, sit them on your knee or something, give them that place, that safe place where they can reach and grab. Great job. You got orange. Beautiful. Okay. We're going to weigh down. We'll get a sky. See airplanes? Airplanes. You know what's funny? I haven't seen the airplanes in a few days. They don't come over like they used to. You want up? You want up? Put that pressure. He's putting a little pressure right here in the back, pushing up like that. He gave in. He's doing good with that. Eddie can pull it all by himself, not for long, and only when he wants to. Okay, you want to swim back? Okay, nice burp. Excuse you. Ready, set, go. Yo. Line him up. No movement underwater yet. You did it. Can you put it on right here? Yay, yay, yay, yay, yay, yay, yay, yay. Here, Eddie. Can you come over here? Don't fall. Whoa. Careful. Yeah, careful. Balance. Balance, put it on right there, Eddie. You want more? You want more? Okay, here, put it on. Come this way. Come on, I want you to walk a little more. Yeah, come on, put in a little work, buddy. Okay, let's put it on. You can do it. You got it. There you go. Good, yes. Oh no, okay. You try again. You want help? Would you like some help, Eddie? Can I have a bite? Not from your face. I want that donut. No, I want a bite. No, no, no, no, no, no. Put it on. We go get more. Let's put it on and we go get more. Here. More. Let's get more. Ready? Come with me. Me. Why are you still pulling away? Oh, there it is. Ready, set, go. Go Ha! Good. And up. Take it a tiny bit, but barely. That was great. I'm really looking for him to get super comfortable with coming out to me. I want to see him, like, jump out to me. That's what I want. That's what we're going to get to here eventually. We're just going to keep building him up. Woo! And it's good to know, like, you saw how he was retracting. We went back a step. We did it a different way. But we didn't give up. We just tried something new. And that's what's important. Ready? Okay, we're going to look at airplanes and then go get a ring. Look at airplanes and then go get a ring. Look at airplanes and then go get a ring. Look at that. That was nice. That was so calm. Pretty good for only the first few minutes of the last half. Now we're gonna kick, kick, kick. Yeah! Can we scoop our hands this time? Yeah! Good job! Do you want to swim? Okay, we go ready, set, go. Oh! Mouth was wide open. That's okay. Ready, set, go. There we go. Nice closed mouth. Good. Good job. You got it? Yeah. Shake shake shake shake shake. Wow that's a cool one. Wow we'll go back to stairs? Yeah. Yeah okay we float and then stairs. Float and then stairs. We go to our float and then go to the stairs. Oh we want to spin. When it's down add that motion in. There he is. One two three. Oh no that's what we don't want. I thought you had it. That's my fault. Where are you? One two three four five. Good boy. Good job. You did it. So look, in between everything we're doing floating, every single thing, in between everything we do a float. Good job. Ready, Sacco? Good. No movement. Okay, that's okay. Here you go, buddy. So I left him in a little longer that time to see if he would get any movement, see if I could wait. Most kids won't do it when they're underwater because they're holding their breath. Here, I know. Here, go put it away. It's not a swim diaper, is it? Are you sure? I'm not. Oh, okay. Good boy. Does he have a regular diaper on underneath? No, yeah, it's definitely not. Look at that. Something's going on there. Does he have two on? Yeah. You do. Yeah. That's what I thought. Okay. We're going to put it right on now. Right there. And then we're going to take a break. You got to take that off. If you put this on there. Actually, how much time do we have left? What time is it? 10 minutes. We'll do another. I can pull it through. No. Okay. You did it. Okay. We got to take, we got to take a little pause to take the diaper off. Okay. You got, you got the wrong diaper on. Ready? Yep. I figured I was I figured earlier I felt that diaper started to swell up and uh what happens is it's important they wear swim diapers in the pool because they don't they actually swell up so much they pop and then they get these like little beads everywhere in the pool and that actually gets stuck in your filtration system and it can ruin the the filters or the pump or whatever's going on. Back in the pool huh? Feels a little better now huh? A little looser. A little looser down there. Look at his face. He's so cute. Whoa. Can you stand up? Yeah. You want to get more rings? Yeah. Let's go give him more too. More. Ready, set, go. Good. You got that mouth closed. That was good. That's alright. Yeah. See that delayed breath there? That was because he was swallowing the water. Yeah. We got to work on that. We got to work on that Let's get moving, okay? Can we go get the next ring, the blue one? Okay, right before we get it, we lay down, look at the sky. You see the blue sky and the clouds? Ooh, it's so pretty. Blue and white. Blue. Do you want to up? Do you want to up? Okay, we go one, two, three, four. Oh, no, no, no. So we don't reward that. We wait until he comes back. Good job. Just a little bit too long for him. That's all. That's okay. So what I'm starting to do now is I'm really just trying to put the hand on the head and then start to add that current. One, two, three, four, five. So he starts feeling that. Again, I can get Eddie to float and I'll probably get him to float by the end of this class. We'll see. Can you get the ring, the donut, the blue? Blue. Blue. Yeah, let's go together. We'll go ready, set, go. Good, good mouth closed. Good. Much quicker breath there. Good job. You got blue polka dots? So I'm going to go back and step on the back floating and I'm just going to do the circles with him. All right, buddy. You want to go back to the stairs? Stairs? Okay. We spin. He does so good putting that chin up. You see how that chin's up nice and high? Now it's not, but it was. Good job. There you go. Where are you? You got to put your legs down. Where are you? There you go. Oh no, now we don't. Okay. That's fine. We'll go up. Okay, good job. Let's do one more. Go this way. And this way. And this way. Where are you, Eddie? Eddie? Where is Eddie? Where is Eddie? Hello, you. Hello, you. It's right there. You can see it. I'm looking for him to put his weight into the back of my hand there. I'm doing too much. Okay. I really expect so much from these guys. Because they'll float one class, and then the next class they won't float, and then you're like, what the heck? That's okay. Twice a week. Twice a week. Sometimes I gotta remind myself that some kids I see more often than other kids, and... Every class is a new class. It's a new day. I got a new Eddie every time, right? Most important thing is keeping confident, keep them wanting more. So, know when to stop, know when to back off. Good. Kick, scoop, kick, scoop. Should we scoop our hands? Yeah, let's swim. We go ready, set, go. That mouth is staying nice and close. There you go. Good. Smooth and easy. You're kidding. You come this way and put it away. You like it? You like that one? Here Eddie. Eddie. Here Eddie. Can you put the doughnut there? Let's do it together Eddie. Let's do it together. Yay! You want more? More? Come on. Come with me. No. Okay. I'll help you. We'll go together. Hello. Goodbye. Hello. Goodbye. Hello. Goodbye. Hello. Goodbye. Hello. Goodbye. Hello, goodbye! Hello, goodbye! Hello? Hello? Hello? I was hoping that would transition to the back load. Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? I want him to open his eyes and look at me. Hello? Where are you? How are you? Yay! His eyes can't help it if he saw he looked right at me. That's funny. Just need that confidence on his back. If we can build up that confidence, then we're gonna have a great float. Boom! Okay, you want to get in our ring? Be green. You want green? Okay, we do float and then green. Float and then green. Yay, where are you? Oh no. Noah! Okay, I moved to the head. Where are you? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? Hello? You gotta open your eyes. Can you open your eyes? Where are you? That's it, I just gotta ask. Sometimes you just gotta ask. I always, you know what? I always forget that. I'm so used to working with kids who just don't talk. And I'm just like, huh. I just got to make funny sounds and emotion or things and get their attention. They understand more than we think. I got to get better myself at doing that, right? Do you want to swim back? Yeah, let's go back. Can we kick, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick. Ready, steady, spaghetti. Come on, give me something. We'll take it. A good breath hold is acceptable too. Here you go. Here you go. Put it away. Let's put it away together. See the wizard? Yes. Oh man. Yay. Yeah, man. Yay. Okay, one more last one. Last one, Eddie. Yellow. You see the yellow one? Yeah. Wanna go get the last one with me? Yeah. Yeah. Let's do it. Yeah. Yeah, no, yeah. Yeah, let's go together. You're swimming? Why? Wanna hug? Yes. Yes? No? Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes. No. Yes. And no. Let's go. Ready? Set. Go. One, two, and three. Hi. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I felt you swallowing all that water. We're going to have to go back to the drawing table and not breathe in. Okay. Hello. I'm starting to speak now. Say hello. Hey. Hello. Yo. Okay, Eddie. let's get yellow. yellow we're gonna float and then go get yellow. that head turns up so nice. eddie can you open your eyes? can you open your eyes eddie? where are you? can you look at me? eddie hi. good job. we'll take it. we'll take it. you did it. Oh, cool. i did it. you did it. i did it. you did it. i did it. pull cover. Yeah, the pool cover is still kind of on. Keep the heat in, you know. It's cold out today. We'll do one more float and then we get the yellow ring. One more float. Eddie, where are you? Hello? Eddie, can you look at me? Eddie, can you look at me? Don't float into the lake, nothing will happen. Where's Eddie? Eddie? Eddie? Eddie? I know you gotta look up here, buddy. You gotta look up at me. Remember the water's there. Come on. Don't roll over. Oh boy. Make sure you didn't drink it on that roll. And we're going to roll all the time. I know, this is the tougher part. We got to just put the legs down. I don't do the legs up. We don't do that. Legs go down. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. Nope, that didn't work. That's okay, we tried. Who do you say hello? That's Liam. Oh, Sink. That's Liam. Hi, Liam. There's Eddie. I see Eddie. I see Eddie. How are you? How are you? Where is Mr. Eddy? Where is Mr. Eddy? Okay, there you go. There you go. Oh man, that's not gonna work. Eww. Let's go together. I know, I know. You're getting upset. You don't want to do it anymore. I get it. You see the plane? Where the plane go? One, two. You're fighting me hard today on this. I know. Good burp. You drink too much water. You swim now? Grab it. Ready, set, go. Pull up. Good job. Here you go, Eddie. Okay, Eddie, all done. Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Go get your towel. Oh, boy. Towel? Yeah. See you later. No? Okay, that's fine. Dry off. All right. I hope you guys enjoyed that lesson. As you can see, I made some mistakes with him. You know, there was things that I had to go backwards on. You know, I tried to really push the back floating there at the end to try to get a float, at least to show you guys. And, you know, the thing is, like last week he was floating. I only see Cadet Eddie twice a week. And this is the thing, like based on how many times I see the kids, it's how I need to, you know, basically direct the lesson. I can't just expect them to be at the same place they were at their last lesson. We've had a whole weekend. Maybe the parents took them swimming, maybe showed them something they might not have. I don't know if that happened or not, but these are things we have to be aware of. Every single day is a new day. I have a new cadet eddie or student every day that they come to the pool. This is why most survival swim programs are four or even five times a week for a period of six weeks or eight weeks, whatever they're. program as there's a reason for that. And most of those programs don't allow the parents to swim with them in between lessons. You know, I try to adapt to the family's lifestyle. So if they can only do once a week, then I'm going to teach once a week. If they can do two, great. If they can do three, even better. If they can do four, that's the absolute best. So ultimately. I hope you guys enjoyed the lesson. You know, if you want to learn more about this kind of stuff or you want to help show me something that you're doing, if you're a coach, make sure that you join the Swim Coach community. You can find the link to that below. And hey, if you're a parent and you want to learn more about teaching your child to swim or you're looking for advice on how to work with babies or kids in the water, you can find the link to all of our parent courses in the description below. Don't hesitate to leave a comment if you have any questions or you just hate how I teach. It doesn't matter to me. I'll see you in the next Superhero Swim lesson.