How to Teach Your Kid to Tread Water

Emphasize a front-to-back arm motion. Your child’s arms should be held out in front of them, then moved slowly backward. Ask your child to repeat this motion (front to back, back to front) the whole time. Demonstrate this movement, and encourage your child to try.^[6]

• It may feel more natural to your child to move their arms up and down, but this is not an effective way to tread water and will tire them out quickly.
• Try pretending you and your child are in the jungle, using your arms to part the vines.

Pay attention to your child’s palms. The palms of your child’s hands should be facing in the direction their arms are moving. When their arms go as far as they can comfortably go toward your kid’s back, they should rotate their hands so that the palms face forward while moving their arms toward the front.^[7]

• Ask them to pretend they are parting grass or vines and pushing them to the sides so they can get through.
• These motions should be done slowly and evenly to conserve energy.

Get your child into a position with their feet off the ground. Once your kid has mastered the proper arm motions, you can move on to teaching the proper leg motions. Although breathing and arm-only exercises can be practiced standing up, in order to do leg exercises your child will need to sit, lie down, or try other positions.^[8]

• Practicing at a playground is ideal because your kid can be helped into a position where their feet are not on the ground.
• You can help your kid hang from a horizontal bar or suspended rings on the climbing tower.
• To demonstrate these motions, suspend your own body off the ground.
• You may need to maneuver your child’s legs for them until they can do the motions on their own.

Try a scissor kick. One of the easier leg motions to learn is known as the "scissor kick." To do this, ask your child to move their legs apart (one toward the front and one toward the back) then reverses them. Demonstrate this move for your child. Then ask them to pretend their legs are scissors cutting through a piece of paper.^[9]

Do a frog kick. The "frog kick" is a move where your child will bend both legs, with the knees pointed outward. Then they will extend both legs at the same time. Demonstrate this for your child, then ask them to pretend like they are a jumping frog.^[10]

Work up to the eggbeater. The most efficient leg motion for treading water is called "the rotary" or "eggbeater." Unfortunately, this move can be difficult. For this one, one of child’s legs will make slow clockwise circular motions, while the other leg makes slow counterclockwise motions. Demonstrate this for your kid, then ask them to imagine they are mixing eggs with each foot. Have them try to do each leg independently, and work up to doing both at the same time.^[11]

Let your kid practice treading water in a pool. After your child has learned the arm and leg motions, the lessons should be continued in water. A pool works well for this because it is much safer than using the ocean or a lake.^[12]

• The pool needs to be deep enough that your child cannot touch the bottom with their feet.

Get into the water with your child. For safety reasons, you should stay in the water near your child throughout the lessons in the water. If your kid has never been in a pool, take extra time to help your kid get used to it.^[13]

Practice going under water. Although the purpose of treading water is not to go under, you want your child to be comfortable submerging. This will make them more comfortable and capable when treading water. Ask your kid to hold their breath (and pinch their nose closed) as you gently pull them under water and immediately bring them back up. Practice this multiple times until they can go under on their own.^[14]

Start the lesson near the edge of the pool. Start the lesson at the edge of the pool so that your kid has the added security of holding onto the wall. Ask the to begin by doing just leg motions. Then advance to them holding the wall with only one hand, and doing leg motions plus arm motions with their free arm. Once your child manages to tread water while holding the wall, encourage them to release their hold on the wall.^[15]

• It can be very helpful for you to get into the pool and demonstrate these actions for your child.

Provide some extra support. If your kid is worried about leaving the security of the wall, offer to support them at the waist as long as it can be done without interfering with your kid’s arm and leg movements. This exercise is meant to make them safer and more comfortable around the water, not create additional fear. Avoid pushing them to anything they are not comfortable with.^[16]

• You child can also wear some type of flotation device such as armband floaties, an inflatable loop around their waist, or a life vest, that keeps your kid’s head above the water and does not interfere with the movement of their arms and legs.
• When you and your child feel comfortable, your kid should tread water without any support from you or flotation devices.