Get them used to water on their faces from the start!

A few ways in which you can get your baby and your children ready at home before they even take swimming classes is to start pouring the water over their heads at bath time and even taking showers with them or letting them shower and letting the water run over their heads and faces! Doing this will help them learn how to hold their breath when water hits their nose and mouth!  Do the same in your pool! Seeing you do the same shows them that it's okay also! Don't wipe their faces every time they get water on it! And don't ever even start putting a wash cloth over their faces! We do understand that keeping shampoo out of their eyes is one thing, but water? If you start them young, letting the water go on their faces, they will come to see that water is not bad, but if you cover their face and act like water is a bad thing, think about it, what exactly are you doing? You're telling them that water is bad on their face every time you put that wash cloth over their face and you're lessening their chance of survival if they fall in to a pool!

 Imagine what might happen if they were to fall in, never having had a drop of water touch their face and if they think that it's a bad thing because you never let the water touch their face? To them, it is  now bad to have water on their face because that's basically what you're saying every time you cover their face or let them dry their face off if water touches it!

We've seen kids literally claw and scratch at their faces because they are so freaked out that water is touching them! And they might not even try to get themselves out of the pool. How can they do that, when there hands are covering their faces? And if they think that even daddy and mommy think it's bad for water to be in their face, that's all they are going to be thinking about! Not how to get out!

By letting water run all over their faces you are showing them that water is okay on their face and you are helping them by doing this. The more they are used to water on their face the better their chance will be if they were to fall into a pool. They are less apt to panic as much if they are already comfortable with water.   

   The same applies with using water wings and such (of course a life jacket on a boat is something they should always have), but you want them to learn how to swim on their own, so it's to their benefit to not even start wearing  any of these floatation devises!

Wearing these can possibly create two different scenarios'-

Many kids will think they can swim, even without their water wings,floatation devises and throw themselves into a pool. Or if they fall into a pool without them, they won't do a thing because they are only thinking about the fact that they don't have their water wings on. They become so dependent on them that's the only thing they're thinking about instead of thinking "how do I get out of here?"

Being around the pool with your kids

If a child cannot stand in the shallow end of your pool or you're telling them to stay away from the deep end or frantically grabbing them the minute they're near the pool, especially the deep end, what you're going to do is make the pool and the deep end become some sort of a monster and will most likely make them panic more if they fall in! Because here again, the only thing going through their minds is "I'm in the place that daddy and mommy say is so bad!" And they may not try to get out if that's all they're thinking about! 

Accidents are just as likely to happen on the steps just as much as the deep water! So, no matter what, wether you have a fearless child who jumps in the minute they see water or one who is so afraid of water, you have a serious issue at hand. They need to learn to swim and to be pool safe! A child who is less apt to panic, has a better chance then the children who are afraid or don't like water on their face and waiting until they get older, is worse. That just gives them ore time for the fear to set in, way more panic if they fall in!

 A child who is comfortable with water on their face and who doesn't panic if they fall in a pool has a much better chance of survival! No matter what their age!

So, yes, teach them to stay away from the pool if you're not there, but do it in a way that doesn't scare them of it! Trust me! You are helping them!