This post was sponsored by SwimWays as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.
When I was young I was always very comfortable around water. My grandparents had a oink and I have pictures of me staying on the diving board, with my water wings on, looking as confident as can be.
Now that I have children of my own it is important to me that they be good swimmers and comfortable around water as well. Swimming is not only a fun skill to have when all the other kids are at the pool, but it is also one that can literally save their lives.
When my older son began showing some signs that he was afraid of the water, I knew that it was important to start teaching him the importance of water safety and teach him to be confident around water.
Tips For Building Confidence in Water
One of the simplest ways that I was able to start building confidence in my boys around water was simply to expose them to water. This meant that we visited our neighborhood pool frequently, played at the water park, and even visited the beach. All of these were ways that I was able to expose them to different kinds of waters and show them that as long as you are being safe, water can be fun.
Also be careful not to scare them. It can be easy to say “Don’t go close to the water because you will drown!” but then kids start associating water with a fear of drowning. They don’t realize that there are safe and unsafe ways to play around water. Instead, consider saying “Be sure to put on your life vest before going into the water.”
Another thing that immensely helped my boys was investing in swimming lessons. By giving them swimming lessons, it allowed a professional to teach them safety around water. The first class that Ethan started off on was simply teaching things like bobbing, floating, and some basic kicks, but by the time he was finished with the classes he was like a whole other child.
Hopefully your children will quickly be on their way to learning to swim, but in the meantime it is always helpful to have the correct equipment to help your children be confident in the water as well as help improve their swimming skills. This is why I have depended on SwimWays from the time the boys were young through now.
SwimWays Helps Kids Build Skills and Confidence in the Water
SwimWays is a leader in helping children to learn to swim and helps to promote water safety. In fact, SwimWays is so committed to helping learn to swim that they have organized the 6th annual National Learn to Swim Day that took place on May 20, 2017.
I have been using the Baby Spring Float since my boys were babies but now that they are older and learning to swim, SwimWays has some other fabulous products.
The Swim Step Two products, including the Swim Sweater and Swim Vest helps to provide support while children learn to balance and paddle — two necessarily parts of learning how to swim. The Swim Sweater was first introduced 50 years ago, and features a stable, circular torso design rides child’s chest for extra stability. It can be used both upright or in a forward stroke.
The Swim Vest has sturdy foam inserts which provide balanced flotation, as well as a front zipper with safety closure for easy on and off.
Both provide balanced floatation as well as UV protection.
My boys are both in Swim Step Three Power Swimmr which helps to give parents a swim training system. The graduated floatation device has 9 removable floats which allows the Power Swimmr to adjust to your your’s swimming ability.
The SwimWays products, both the Swim Step Two as well as the Power Swimmr have helped immensely when it comes to teaching my boys to swim. You can purchase both the Swim Step Two products as well as the Power Swimmr at your local Toys “R” Us and online.
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