3 Pool Safety Skills Every Child Should Know

Learning to swim is an important step in every child’s life. Even if your child isn’t ready to learn to swim, being close to water opens a lot of opportunities for injury. That’s why it’s important to teach your child about water safety, especially since learning safety skills for around the pool could potentially save their life one day. When teaching your child about the importance of pool safety, try to find ways to inspire both enthusiasm and caution when participating in water activities. No matter if your child is a novice to the swimming pool or an accomplished swimmer, if they are going to be in and around a swimming pool, they should understand and practice the most important pool safety skills.

Entering the Pool

Getting into and out of a pool can be a dangerous first step to swimming. With the wet surface surrounding the pool, the slippery railings, and the possibility of deep water, there are a lot of opportunities to get hurt. Your child should learn the safest way of entering the pool, including sitting on their bottoms and slowly easing themselves into the water. They should only enter in the shallow end where they know they can touch the bottom of the pool and never be allowed to jump into a body of water without first asking for permission.

Breathing Techniques

One of the first skills needed for swimming is learning how to hold your breath when under water. Though your child may be nervous about not being able to breathe when their face is submerged, controlling their breathing is an important safety skill that cannot be skipped. To ease them into this important skill, have them practice holding in a big breath of air while dipping only part of their face into the water. When they come back up, have them expel the air and repeat. You can slowly ask them to dip more parts of their face deeper into the water as they become familiar and confident in their own abilities.

Girl Swimming

Staying Above Water

If your child is going to be near water, there’s a chance that they’ll end up in the water at some point. You want to make sure that they’ll be able to keep their head above water whenever necessary. Teaching your child to back float is one of the most important things you can do to ensure their safety in the water. Some schools of thought recommend teaching children to tread so they can stay vertical in the water for longer periods of time, but it is very unlikely that young children will have the strength to maintain the physicality needed to tread for very long. Treading water should only be used for older, more confident swimmers; back floating is a much more sustainable action in the water – especially for infants and toddlers.

Bonus Tip: Learning to Swim

Though these three safety skills will keep your child safe around water, nothing can outweigh the advantages of enrolling your kiddo into formal lessons of some kind. Swim lessons in Los Angeles, CA, are a great way to cover the basics of swimming, and the professionals teaching the classes should know how to instruct your child specifically, no matter their skill level or preferred way of learning. Classes are also a great opportunity to practice the most basic swimming methods and safety skills alongside peers of similar ages and abilities. For more tips or to schedule a free swim evaluation, contact SwimRight Academy today!