As a parent sitting in the viewing area, you see you little one having a blast in the water, interacting with the other children, giggling about and smiling as the instructor takes them through the lesson week after week. But also week after week you notice that your child is
doing the same thing over and over again.
Is this frustrating for you?
Do you wonder if your child is really learning anything? Is your child making progress by repeating the same exercises week after week?
Learning to swim is just like many, many other skills that your child learns: it must be done again and again for it to “stick.”
When your child repeats activities as guided by her swim instructor, he or she is learning the building blocks of swimming in stages.
Little by little your child is building strength and stamina and learning skills.
How Learning to Swim Works
Think about the process for learning other skills.
Riding a bicycle without training wheels: If your child doesn’t successfully peddle down the sidewalk the very first time you attempt to take the training wheels off the bike, do you say “OK, you had your one try at learning that!” Most certainly not! You run alongside, helping to balance the bicycle – over and over again until your little one has made that solo – yet perhaps wobbly – trip along the sidewalk.
Drawing and forming letters: The first time your child tries to draw a circle or a straight line, they may mess up. They may need to do it over and over again until they can match the ending point up with the beginning point of the “circle” and produce a reasonably “straight” line. And after your child masters these elements, you can excitedly help them to learn to make letters
– practicing them over and over again until the “e’s” and “s’s” face in the correct direction! This process doesn’t happen overnight (or even over a few days). It takes time to build the foundation and then guide your child as he or she learns new layers to skills with every
lesson.
So you must consider the same process when your child learns to swim.
• Learn simple skills.
• Practice those skills to build the foundation for more complex skills.
• Learn more skills.
• Practice those skills to add to your foundational skills.
• Learn more skills.
• Practice those skills to prepare for more complex skills.
See the pattern?
Hitting a Plateau
You may also notice plateauing in the learning cycle. Your child may learn several initial skills – like putting his or her head in the water or kicking his or her feet. Then the rapid pick up of skills seems to taper off.
Hmmm. Frustrated again?
You’re not seeing it, but your child is making progress. While your child is doing repetitive activities, he or she is committing those skills to muscle memory – which helps him or her to learn to really swim!
Repetition is Crucial When Learning to Swim
What you’re seeing in repetition cycles is really common. In the beginning, you’re watching your child knock out basic milestones quickly – like putting their head under water, turning over to back float or treading water. But then the learning pace slows.
You’re concerned that your child has lost the initial excitement for swimming and isn’t learning anymore – but you’re mistaken. They are actually making a great deal of progress because they are learning more difficult skills that depend on muscle memory and basic skills. Combining movements into swimming strokes is hard work and it takes lots of repetition to do it.
Repetition Breeds Confidence
As your child repeats skills over and over again, week after week, you may not be aware of the confidence that is building inside. Your child is gaining self-confidence, trust in the instructor and is more comfortable in taking on whatever comes next. So be patient as your child progresses into his or her swimming lessons. Lots of learning is going on even though it appears to be the same ol’, same ol’. Look closely and you’ll see clues. What was a two foot glide last week is now a three foot one and next week may be a four footer. And you’ll be able to see the confidence build on your child’s face and demeanor.
Your patience will pay off. Because it is a beautiful thing when all of that practice makes perfect!
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