Teaching Aaron to Swim

Aaron is registered in Tiny Tot 2 on Monday mornings at 11:00. Last week, I took Aaron to the pool by myself and I noticed that his teacher (Ty) was surprised that Aaron couldn't keep his face in the water while propelling forward. I told Ty that I would try to come for family swim sometime, so Austin and Aidan (Ty has taught each of them in the past) could play with Aaron a bit in the water during his class. Ty agreed that would be an excellent strategy to make Aaron more comfortable.

This week, I brought Austin with me to Aaron's class. Aaron had a substitute teacher (Hessam, who recently taught Austin 1:1 in I Can Swim Stage 4) today. For everything Hessam asked the class (only 2 students - the other 4yo boy is a good swimmer) to do, Austin would show Aaron. He did a starfish backfloat, kicked off from the edge of the pool, swam forward with his face in the water, lifted up his belly and kicked his legs while floating on his back. Aaron tried to copy Austin and Hessam helped Aaron a bit, then took every opportunity to let Aaron go on his own. Whenever Aaron was swimming successfully on his own, Hessam would congratulate him and make him aware that he had done it himself.

One time, Aaron swallowed some water and started to cough. As everyone does, Aaron hates to swallow water or get it up his nose. Hessam playfully plucked the air by Aaron's face and said, "Did you swallow a fish? I'm going to catch that fish!" then casually gestured a tossing aside of the fish, saying, "There, it's gone."

At the end of the class, Austin and Aaron stayed in the water for a few minutes. Austin asked Aaron if he would say, "Hi!" to him underwater. Then, Austin ducked under and Aaron copied him, staying down for a few seconds to pause and wave to his big brother. Until this point, Aaron had always done split-second dunks to avoid being underwater for long.

Austin knew that Aaron's next hurdle is to keep his face underwater while moving/swimming. Austin first asked Aaron to take a walk underwater while saying, "Hi," but Aaron kept saying he couldn't. Then, Austin invited Aaron to climb onto his tummy and they swam along, tummy to tummy until Austin dropped down. The first few attempts, Aaron resisted putting his face in the water, but by about the fourth try, Aaron's face went underwater as Austin swam them both along, looking into each other's eyes.

At one point, Aaron swallowed water while he was with Austin and Austin tried the "fish distraction" that Hessam had used. I noticed that Austin employed several good teaching techniques that he's seen all the instructors use with small children, over the years.

I was really impressed with Austin's teaching methods. When they left the pool, another instructor (Andrea) asked me if Austin wants to be a swimming instructor someday. I told her he really does, and is taking the lifesaving courses now, even though he's only 12. She said that's when she started too. Then, she went on to tell me that having a job like this has been the only way she can earn enough to put herself through university. Her sisters both work in restaurants, earn less than her and work very hard, often having to put up with some mistreatment. Andrea spent a month working as a waitress and she said that experience renewed her appreciation of her job as a lifeguard and swimming instructor. Andrea told me to let Austin know that if he ever wants some tips or just wants to ask questions about the job, he should feel free to ask any of the guards at the pool, anytime.