Introducing Water

New parents need not be afraid of having their little ones in the water. Slowly introduce the feeling of being submerged with these tips from Cartledge. “Start introducing your children to water at a young age, during bath or shower time. I like to start by trickling water over their face and work my way up to going underwater, that way by the time I take them into the pool they are find going underwater and have already mastered the reflex of holding their breath.”

If it is the first time you are taking your child into a pool, evalutate how comfortable you feel teaching your child to swim before you get in the water. If you feel comfortable, Cartledge incourages parents to do so, making sure that they are in the water with their child at all times. She also stresses not to put children in floatation devices and let them float around. If parents do not feel comfortable taking their child into the water, think about siging up for a parent and child swim class.

“The challenge many parents have is that they don’t know what to do with their child once they get them in the water. In this case, a parent-and-tot class can be a lot of fun and provide you with the knowledge of what to do with your child in the water.”