Best practices: floatation devices for learning to swim
June 22, 2015 1:06 PM Subscribe
An expert in children's motor-skills development suggested that I get my kid to try swimming by using a floatation vest. Nonswimmers should use real life vests for boating or other times when they might fall in the water unexpectedly. However, I thought that using a floatation device for just playing around in the pool would make it harder for kids to learn to swim because they hold kids in the wrong position thus causing bad habits, and inspire them do riskier things due to their feeling invulnerable.
When the idea that floatation devices were dangerous was impressed upon me as a child, the state of the art seemed to be water wings. Nowadays there seem to be a wider variety of floatation devices like Puddle Jumpers which seem very popular around here, swim vests which the local public pool mentioned as something I might want to bring with me, without my prompting, and Swimways vests, which seem to be used in some swimming classes. The kid is four and is generally hesitant to try new physical activities and last summer was very hesitant to wade into a shallow pool. Is there any real evidence that these things help or hinder children learning in a pool? I did find an abstract of a study showing no effect from 1968, but the subjects were college aged so it may not be applicable.
When the idea that floatation devices were dangerous was impressed upon me as a child, the state of the art seemed to be water wings. Nowadays there seem to be a wider variety of floatation devices like Puddle Jumpers which seem very popular around here, swim vests which the local public pool mentioned as something I might want to bring with me, without my prompting, and Swimways vests, which seem to be used in some swimming classes. The kid is four and is generally hesitant to try new physical activities and last summer was very hesitant to wade into a shallow pool. Is there any real evidence that these things help or hinder children learning in a pool? I did find an abstract of a study showing no effect from 1968, but the subjects were college aged so it may not be applicable.
As a mom with a three year-old in swim classes, I'd second trying classes. However, I'd make sure to have realistic expectations when you start (e.g., he may just end up being comfortable in water by the end, and learning to swim may take another round of lessons or another summer.)
Programs at the Y were great for water acclimation. We switched to an actual swimming school once he needed to start learning skills beyond blowing bubbles and being comfortable in the water (e.g., they are now working on floating / kicking while holding on to a flotation barbell / moving along the edge of the pool).
If you can find a parent/child one to start it may go more smoothly. My child loves the water, but still had three classes full of tears when we started him in instructor/child classes.
posted by typecloud at 2:29 PM on June 22, 2015
Programs at the Y were great for water acclimation. We switched to an actual swimming school once he needed to start learning skills beyond blowing bubbles and being comfortable in the water (e.g., they are now working on floating / kicking while holding on to a flotation barbell / moving along the edge of the pool).
If you can find a parent/child one to start it may go more smoothly. My child loves the water, but still had three classes full of tears when we started him in instructor/child classes.
posted by typecloud at 2:29 PM on June 22, 2015
I have no scientific evidence to offer but of the 3 devices you linked most kids seem to like the puddle jumper type the best.
All of the children that I've seen learn to swim used a puddle jumper device as an intermediate step to independent swimming so I don't think it hinders learning.
posted by MadMadam at 3:31 PM on June 22, 2015
All of the children that I've seen learn to swim used a puddle jumper device as an intermediate step to independent swimming so I don't think it hinders learning.
posted by MadMadam at 3:31 PM on June 22, 2015
If you've got a splash pad nearby (someplace that just sprays water), that's been helpful for us acclimating our daughter to getting water in her ears and eyes. A zero-entry pool with a large toddler depth (less than 2') wading area and lots of other kids has helped as well.
As for actual devices: the puddle jumper has been far and away the most successful for us. We tried a couple of other things and they ended up dumping her face in the water or having her flat on her back.
posted by mfu at 3:54 PM on June 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
As for actual devices: the puddle jumper has been far and away the most successful for us. We tried a couple of other things and they ended up dumping her face in the water or having her flat on her back.
posted by mfu at 3:54 PM on June 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
Some great advice about swimming lessons and water acclimation above. I taught swimming for many, many, many years with the Red Cross in Canada. Looking for a strong program that can take your child from non-swimmer to competent is key. Often kids will do do more for stranger (a caring coach/instructor) than they will for their parents, there just isn't the same power struggles and history. Being in a class with others his age also normalizes the expectations and provides for some good role models.
For floatation devices to learn to swim you are ideally looking for something that will have the child's body as close to horizontal in the water as possible. I think the vest would be closest. But they do tend to tip kids forwards (they are meant to get kids swimming with their faces in the water). For fun and acclimatization the puddle jumpers look like they provide the most support but also emphasize the wrong body position, similar to water wings. Really, the biggest thing I've seen with success in teaching kids is lots and lots of time in the water. Swimming multiple times a week in the summer, practising bubbles and getting your face wet in the bath and shower, splash pad time. Talking about how fun it is, how good it feels to be floating, to be cool and in the water.
And finally, just to remind you and other parents that for young childrenthere is absolutely no substitute for direct supervision of young children in, on and around water. A child can slip under the water in seconds and drowning is a silent accident. Children at your son's age lack the judgement to be safe around water regardless of swimming ability.
posted by five_cents at 4:56 PM on June 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
For floatation devices to learn to swim you are ideally looking for something that will have the child's body as close to horizontal in the water as possible. I think the vest would be closest. But they do tend to tip kids forwards (they are meant to get kids swimming with their faces in the water). For fun and acclimatization the puddle jumpers look like they provide the most support but also emphasize the wrong body position, similar to water wings. Really, the biggest thing I've seen with success in teaching kids is lots and lots of time in the water. Swimming multiple times a week in the summer, practising bubbles and getting your face wet in the bath and shower, splash pad time. Talking about how fun it is, how good it feels to be floating, to be cool and in the water.
And finally, just to remind you and other parents that for young childrenthere is absolutely no substitute for direct supervision of young children in, on and around water. A child can slip under the water in seconds and drowning is a silent accident. Children at your son's age lack the judgement to be safe around water regardless of swimming ability.
posted by five_cents at 4:56 PM on June 22, 2015 [1 favorite]
Float or no float, you gotta watch them until they are confident older kids. A kid in a float is no safer than a kid without a float if they can't swim.
But my water lovingb and fearless kid who has limited pool access has just started doggy paddling on her own thanks to a belted float. It's basically a stack of small float boards threaded onto a belt that straps on her waist and gives a tiny bit of buoyancy to help her focus on strokes. She is now trying to paddle without it and occasionally and increasingly succeeding. I waited until she was happy blowing bubbles underwater and splashing in the shallows with kicking and front strokes - all the pieces of doggy paddling separately.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:58 PM on June 22, 2015
But my water lovingb and fearless kid who has limited pool access has just started doggy paddling on her own thanks to a belted float. It's basically a stack of small float boards threaded onto a belt that straps on her waist and gives a tiny bit of buoyancy to help her focus on strokes. She is now trying to paddle without it and occasionally and increasingly succeeding. I waited until she was happy blowing bubbles underwater and splashing in the shallows with kicking and front strokes - all the pieces of doggy paddling separately.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 6:58 PM on June 22, 2015
I think flotation assistance can be helpful if a child isn't quite comfortable in water. If possible, spend time in a shallow area and just play and hang out. Plus lessons.
posted by theora55 at 7:34 AM on June 23, 2015
posted by theora55 at 7:34 AM on June 23, 2015
This is the back float my kid is using - much better than a vest or ring IMO, because it doesn't help the kid float particularly well, just a tiny bit of buoyancy.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 7:45 AM on June 23, 2015
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 7:45 AM on June 23, 2015
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What I can say from experience is that it's fairly common for children to be apprehensive about learning to swim. I taught swimming for several years.
Kids can be apprehensive for a bunch of reasons - some don't like physical stuff, the water is cold, some have parental separation anxiety, some dislike strangers, some maybe have a genuine fear or dislike of being in the water. Compared to adults learning to swim there are a bunch of reasons kids can be reluctant swimmers. Adults who never learned as kids either have a fear they need to overcome or simply need time to develop new motor skills which is a slower process in adults than it is in kids.
So, to your question, I think that a float vest might help overcome some issues, but that in general it's best to try to figure out what the actual issue is and address it directly. Kids really are natural swimmers once you get them past all the other issues they have going on. Being unwilling to even wade into shallow water seems like it's not just an issue with deep water but of it being something else.
There is the throw-them-in-deep-water approach which works well with some tiny fraction of kids but is probably mostly traumatic for everyone involved. The way most swim instructors deal with reluctant kids is 1) lay on the enthusiasm super heavy and then double it. SWIMMING IS THE MOST FUN THING EVER YAY LETS BLOW BUBBLES and 2) a combination of pleasant separation from parents and peer-pressure with a group of other kids learning to swim.
Have you tried enrolling your child in swimming lessons? 4 is probably a little on the young side, but not excessively so. My kids' summer swim team has 5 year-olds competing in 25 yard swim events. These kids are clearly one side of the swimming bell curve, but I think by 5 or 6 any kid could do fine in structured basic swimming lessons. Like I said, the advantage here is two-fold: one, separation from parents so that the kid gets to break out of whatever mental pattern they're in with swimming and two they get to see other kids doing it. It may also stress you out less to simply walk away from getting into a struggle with your kid about getting into the water.
So, to summarize, being able to float isn't necessarily going to make any difference for your kid. All that said, these things don't kill kids so if you want to try it out go for it, but I advise against making a habit of it or letting it become a crutch for your kid being in the water. They simply can't rely on a floatation device past 5 or 6 for basic beach or pool swimming.
posted by GuyZero at 1:41 PM on June 22, 2015 [1 favorite]