Managing Your Child's Swim Anxiety

Managing Your Child's Swim Anxiety,



For adults, learning a new skill can be pretty exciting, but for our little ones, it can be pretty overwhelming. This is especially true for swimming since water can be a daunting terrain even for an adult, let alone a child. How then, can we help our little ones deal with their anxiety when it comes to swimming?

Let them take control.

Anxiety is caused by feelings of helplessness and having no control of your situation. We can help children feel like they have some control over the situation by letting them make choices to do with their swim lesson.

Get them to choose their swimwear and pack their swim bag. Use language that puts them in charge.

• Which swim cap are you going to wear today?
• Which towel would you like me to put in your bag? 

When they head into lessons feeling strong and in control, it gives them that boost of confidence which will help them in the water.

Strengthen them with affirmations.

Children look to our faces for signs of approval. A smiling face or an enthusiastic nod assures them they're on the right track. When your little one has finished their round in class, give them an excited smile, or a thumbs-up. If they're close enough to hear you, say out loud, What strong kicks, Billy!

Affirmations give them reassurance that they've got things under control. Reinforce this after their lesson by asking them how they achieved the skills displayed. Some helpful things to say include:

• That was an awesome back float. Can you tell me how you did?
• How did you do those awesome kicks? Can you show me?

By telling someone else what they've learned, they get to own this knowledge and build on their confidence.

Make shampooing stress-free.

For many toddlers and pre-schoolers, getting their hair washed is a huge source of stress and the root cause of their water anxiety.

This is because they are sensitive to getting their heads scrubbed and having water dunked over them. For those getting their head tipped back during a shampoo, the action mimics the sensation of falling backwards. All of these put together can be a sensory-overload.

To put the control back in their little hands, let them shampoo their own hair. Squeeze a small amount of shampoo on their hands and guide them to massage it into their hair.

Let them look into the mirror as they're doing this so they can see themselves being in charge. When it's time to rinse off, give them a dipper of water to pour over their head at a pace they're comfortable with.

If they're watching themselves in the mirror as they do this, the visual will distract them from any discomfort they might feel. The victory here is two-fold for them: I washed my hair myself and it didn't feel bad!

Extend the conversation

If your child swims only during their weekly lesson, it's not something they're going to consider part of their normal routine. Unfamiliarity breeds anxiety, so peppering the week with conversations about swimming will demystify the activity for them.

Watch watch water-themed movies and TV shows during the week to extend the conversation. Finding Nemo, Moana and The Octonauts are great starting points. Ask what they would have done in the show/movie with their swimming skills.

Get them to draw their favourite scenes and bring them to the pool for swimming class. Our friendly receptionist would love to put it up for everyone to enjoy and it will help your child feel at home at the pool.