5 Year Old Can't Move In Water

My son has been having lessons for the last 2+ years and he is happy putting his face in the water and then moving his arms and legs HOWEVER he does not move in the water and when he pulls his head up he's gasping for air - what is he doing wrong and how can I help him?

Thanks for your question about your son's swimming. You don’t mention how old your son is, but I will make some suggestions based on my experience.

Firstly if your son is very young (3 or 4 years old), the chances are he is doing absolutely nothing wrong. It is very common for children of that age to lack the strength to pull themselves through the water. Also, when it comes to taking a breath, they cannot always pull themselves up enough for their mouth and nose to be clear of the water's surface.

As long as they get plenty of time in the water to play and have fun, they will develop the strength needed to become more and more independent slowly. As they grow, they will also become stronger naturally, which will help to boost their swimming.

Most young children are very happy underwater and can often ‘swim’ for as long as they can hold their breath. This makes them gasp for air at the point when they do actually need to breathe.

Encourage him to take a breath before he needs to instead of at the point of exhaustion. He may then find breathing comes easier over time.

If your son is older, then he may not be coordinating the movements of his arms and legs correctly. This means his arms may be counteracting his leg kicks, resulting in him swimming on the spot and going nowhere.

If this is the case, you will need to break down his swimming strokes and address each part, in turn, to correct them and ensure his technique is efficient.

Overall it is important to give some children time to learn to swim. Whilst some learn quickly, like riding a bicycle, some kids are not natural swimmers and take longer to get there. They all learn to swim in the end.

As long as they have fun and enjoy their pool time, along with the right guidance, learning to swim and be safe in the water will come in time.

I hope I have helped in some way. Good luck.

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My Four Year Olds Funny Leg Kick

My 4-year-old has been having swimming lessons on and off for over a year and gained his 10 meters probably six months ago. However, he refuses to kick with a straight flutter kick and insists on doing some egg-beater kick. I am teaching him myself, but it has been suggested that we try to teach him breaststroke legs instead, but I am not sure how to go about this. What would you recommend?

Thanks for your question.

This is not uncommon in children of this age. Most children learning to swim will favour either a straight alternating up and down kick, whilst others will find a breaststroke kick comes more naturally.

It is important to teach both, but be patient with the leg kick that doesn’t come naturally to them.

I have taught many children over the years who appear to be unable to kick up and down without excessively bending their knees. No matter what teaching points you give them or how often you practice, it just doesn’t seem to go in.

Have you tried getting him to perform the kick on his back? Sometimes children respond better to something that they can actually see, which they can do to a certain degree when swimming on the back. You can even perform this one together, side by side.

With a woggle under his arms, he can sit up slightly, watch his legs kicking, and see for himself if they are straight. (we know this is technically incorrect, but it serves a purpose in this case!)

He may then start to get the hang of kicking with straighter legs, and if you enforce to him how it looks and feels, he may then be able to reproduce the kick on his front. The results of this are not always instant, but in time it might help.

If you’re still getting nowhere, give it a couple of years or so and try him with some fins on his feet. The fins won’t eliminate his knee bend, but it will give him a good sense of an alternating leg kick, apart from the fact that they’re great fun! He’s probably a little young at the moment, hence waiting a couple of years or so for him to grow and develop some strength. By then, his swimming will have come on a long way.

In the meantime, don’t stress too much. I’ve seen many 4-year-olds naturally tending towards a breaststroke kick and completely failing with a decent alternating kick. Then one day, when they are 6 or 7 years old, a very nice alternating leg kick magically appears!

By all means, teach him breaststroke legs.

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