Helping Pre School Age Progression

Helping your Pre Schoolers Progression.



As with everything in your child's life (and your own) a quick progression to mastering skills comes from practice. Putting your child's swim lesson time into perspective with something like teaching them to walk 30 minutes a week is not a lot of time to practice, If you only allowed your child to practice their walking for 30 minutes a week you can understand that it would take them a while to build the muscle, movement and co-ordination to do this. Swimming is the same. 30 minutes per week is great! It is better than nothing but the more you can practice the quicker this progression will be. In a term of swimming lesson (if you make it to every lesson) your child has had a full 5 hours to practice these skills over a three month period. We send them to school for 6 hours per day to learn as this is what is required so the understanding of how a child learns is there, we just need to transfer this into our expectations of learning to swim.

Below are some of our Hot Tips on how to help your pre schoolers progression-

Hot Tip 1- bump up the water time. Public hours at our pools are free of charge for swim school families or head to the public pool for a splash and play. Just by allowing your child to play in the water you will find their progression will speed up. They will be working on their confidence, balance and strength by just having fun. Remember for a quick progression it is not the amount of children in the class that will determine your child's progress or learning speed it is the amount of time you allow them to practice. More water time equals a quicker progression

Hot Tip 2- know what your child needs to work on. If you are unsure ask the team leader on deck. They are always more than happy to let you know and they all have homework that will help with child's progression. Homework can include stretching, strength work or even making the correct movements with the body parts on dry land. Get some tips on how to communicate the technique or requirements to your child. The more they touch on it in between classes (this does not necessarily need to be in the water) the quicker their progression will be.

Hot Tip 3- be positive. Some of us learnt to swim so long ago we forget how tough it actually was. Swimming is one of the most taxing sports you can do it is one of the only sports that works the whole body. It takes a lot of core strength, co-ordination and muscle to make the movements through the water. Keep in mind that your child is not up to the physical or mental ability you now are and tasks you think are simple can sometimes be very hard for a child. When you praise your child for their achievements (no matter how small you think they are) the brain will release dopamine making your child feel good. When a child feels good about something they will want to try it again and again. This is great for learn to swim as progression will come from repetitive practice of the skills. Who would not want to see their happy little faces when they think they have done great anyway!

Hot Tip 4- slow down and step back, children learn by doing give them freedom and space to do this. Seeing your child in their class going underwater is not them misbehaving and not listening its actually them experimenting and becoming comfortable with their bouyancy and breath control. When you see your child playing with the toys understand they are learning cause and effect and how the water effects objects. When they are splashing or making the water move with their arms or legs they are not being annoying they are learning what it feels like to push and pull the water. When they are swimming back instead of monkeying or walking they are learning how to move through the water and be comfortable