‘Teaching Children to Swim’ is different to the normal learn to swim eBook.
It is written to give parents, grandparents, family members and family friends the step-by-step guidance and the confidence needed in teaching children to swim.
The book is based on methods I used to teach children to swim over a twenty-seven year period.
Although I have read widely on the subject, I do not align myself with any particular school of thought. Rather I have developed my own method based on what worked.
I continually searched for ways to put relatively complex ideas into language that the children could visualise, understand and remember. I regularly drew on my experience coaching children in, not only swimming, but also soccer, gymnastics and netball as well as my career in teaching.
The book contains the lesson aids and explanations I developed and used to successfully teach all my thousands of students to swim. When writing Teaching Children to Swim I aimed to relive being in the pool with the various children, recording my teaching techniques and aids, step-by-step, as I progressed through a lesson.
What others have to save about this book
I was very impressed when I read the Teaching Children to Swim book as it is exactly what I was looking for – very comprehensive and clear instructions on teaching swimming.
This book is easy to follow with clear steps and colourful photographs illustrating each step. It provides a comprehensive guide to teaching the skill of swimming.
Why did I write Teaching Children to Swim?
Every time I read or hear of a child drowning I think, “While many factors combine to cause a tragedy questions I ask are:”
- Was it because the parents couldn’t swim?
- Were they unable to afford swimming lessons?
- Did they lack the confidence to teach their own child the valuable life skill of swimming?
I believe the best person to teach their child to swim is their parents, grandparents or a very close relative or friend. This is because:
- No time is wasted getting to know and gaining the confidence of a child.
- The group is small, allowing the child to be engaged in the activity the whole time of the lesson.
- You can shorten or extend the lesson to suit the child‘s personality, confidence and ability to progress through the various stages at a pace that suits them, rather than the lesson being tailored to the dominant or slowest member of the group.
- The frequency of lessons is based on the child’s needs, not the family budget.
- It can be great fun and extremely rewarding for the teacher and the child.
Why teach children to swim?
If a child can swim confidently:
- It could save your child’s life or they could even save the life of another.
- It is fun, a social activity and an excellent addition to a healthy life style.
- They would have mastered a pre-requisite skill many sports and recreational pastimes.
- They can participate, with confidence, in school and club swimming meet/carnivals.
