The undeniably happy sounds of water splashing and pouring, a baby's giggles, a nursery song sung in lighthearted tones.  No crying, no tears, no gasps.  Introducing your baby to swimming should be as natural as child's play -- a joyful and gentle journey approached with laughter, a sense of adventure and fun!  Add a warm, clean, clear pool, lots of toys and games, positive parenting and a playful, relaxed time frame and you have the recipe for happy, harmonious learning.  It's the documented crux of all sound early childhood learning, just brought to a watery classroom!  For infants, toddlers and tykes, ages six months through four years old, swimming is a gift of movement, a burst of self-esteem, a healthy family activity and a potentially lifesaving gift that lasts a lifetime.

Baby swimming at an early age makes perfect sense.  After all, water is part of our very essence.  It surrounds us in the womb and it nourishes and cleanses us throughout our lives.  The joys and benefits of swimming include family bonding, building self-esteem, setting the stage for a positive attitude toward other learning and exploration, stimulating child development, and learning potentially lifesaving skills.  Swimming is a unique healthy activity from infancy to our senior years.
 
Teaching swimming to infants, toddlers, and preschoolers should be rooted in a philosophy and intent that celebrate the young child and how he or she learns.  There is more to teaching a child than merely skill mastery.  Inside each child is a being ready to grow with feelings, cares and memories.  Our philosophy has always been to teach the child first and swimming second.  We believe it is essential to provide the optimal learning environment, remain child-centered and child-paced, and allow the child to unfold naturally at his or her own unique rate.  And, of course, as children feel the joy and wonder in his newly acquired skill, they will want to swim more because they love it; and as they swim more, they will acquire greater swimming skills.  And as they do that, they can become safer in and around the water.  This is a process and not a product, so it takes a number of components, implemented over time, to get the results you ultimately desire.
 
Our six "Pearls of the Pool" introduce baby swimming that is tear-free, without pressure to learn and without force of any kind.  These ingredients create a child-centered, child-paced optimal environment for learning.
 
1. Prior to the Pool

Use bath time as the perfect precursor to the pool.  Bath time should be a playful, relaxing ritual performed with soothing tones and gentle touch.  Pick a time when you are not rushed and can be fully present with your child.  Sing, giggle, sponge and stroke your baby while he or she enjoys the warm water.  Place or support your child in a sitting position in the bath.  Using a washcloth, sponge or bath puppet begin dripping small amounts of water (no soap or suds) over your baby's mid scalp so that it gently rolls down his or her face and over the forehead, eyes, nose and mouth.  Your child may squirm at first; distract him or her with a toy, song, gentle touch, your happy voice, a slight bounce up and down or softly wipe the water away with your hand.  Over time and with consistent practice, your baby will become accustomed to this sensation and tolerate the slight flow of water with little or no fuss.
  
2. Patient Perceptive Parent

At six months, you can take your bath time routine into the pool.  Children are most secure with a parent in the water.  In a new environment, utilizing that bond of trust established since birth keeps her focus on the adventure rather than on separation.  Walk around the pool together laughing, chasing toys, jumping from the side, playing games and singing songs with hand and feet motions -- "The People on the Bus" and "If You're Happy and You Know It" are good examples.  As you did in the bath, pour water over your child's head (cue baby with a count 1, 2, 3...then pour) in small doses.  Read your child's body language and do just enough.  Phrase your teaching moments in a positive manner.  "C'mon, let's go chase that toy and put it in the bucket" rather than "Why aren't you kicking!" Encouraging rather than demanding allows you to build a positive teaching relationship with your child.
 
Keeping your expectations fully in line with your child's age and developmental abilities avoid berating your child, demanding from him or her what he or she physically and mentally cannot yet accomplish, or under-appreciating the skills he or she actually is performing. 

Tune in to the needs and readiness of your child.  Before adding a new skill, your child should be at ease and comfortable with current skills.  Skills should be progressive, developmentally and age appropriate.  Be in the moment.  Celebrate small steps along the way!
 
3. Peers Present in a Playful Program

Gather friends for water fun and learning.  Create a child-friendly pool classroom by adding colorful water toys -- balls, watering cans, colanders, water wheels, bath toys, and foam noodles.  Babies watching and playing with others benefit from peer learning and motivation and begin learning socialization skills.  Your group's energy automatically buoys everyone's spirits and diminishes initial perceived pressure.
 
If you are looking for swim lessons or a swim school, pick wisely!  Beware of programs that attach the word "drown-ing" or that concept to their lessons for the very young.  No child is ever "drown-proof".  Be wary of "survival" programs and forced survival back float programs for young ages.  Similarly, forced submersion programs aggressively impose a teacher's timeframe on the learner and rush skills before a child is acclimated or ready.  These are fear based methods and are marketed to parents by convincing them that these methods are the only solution to keeping children safe.  Programs with that sort of agenda place skills first and your child's well-being second.  A child-centered program will have no crying, choking or vomiting, will include parents in the program as co-teachers, teach in a progressive manner similar to the way this age group is taught on land in other types of accredited early childhood or preschool programs, and have toys, songs and games for enrichment.  We suggest you go and watch a program unannounced so you can actually view how young swimmers are being taught at a school, and not just trust the sales pitch over the phone.
 
There are wonderful learn-to-swim programs available for you and your child.  If one is not available in your area, you can successfully teach your own child to swim with love, respect, and fun!
 
4. Persistent Practice

Frequency, consistency and repetition over time are the keys to progressive, natural learning.  Initially, optimal water practice is at least four times per week for approximately 30 minutes per session in warm water.  Our suggestion for minimal practice is twice a week, and even with a busy schedule, this is the ultimate in quality family time.  Where else do you get to play face to face, skin to skin with your baby in a relaxing, liquid environment?
 
If a child is frightened of the water, practice time becomes even more critical.  In the initial stages of teaching baby swimming, it is ideal if you can work with your student for at least eight weeks, a minimum of four times per week.  This will help jump-start your student in learning to like the water, to learn facial immersion and breath control, to develop a kick, and to become a "Diaper Dolphin" who swims between mom and dad with ease and confidence.  Frightened children may take this long just to overcome their fear.  Once they have overcome their fear in approximately eight more weeks, they, too, will be swimming like "Diaper Dolphins."  If students are unable to participate for 30 minutes, even 15 minutes can be beneficial.  If students cannot practice four times a week, don't worry.  Your students will improve.  The improvement will just be spread out over a period of months.  As long as the teacher and the parent are patient, enjoying the experience and there is no immediate need to get them swimming, this will work for you.  We have seen many children swim only once a week and in this case, the water adjustment and basic skills process is just stretched out over six months to a year.  However, if you do wish to see your students improve, we would not practice less than once a week.
 
5. Perfect Pool

Ideal pool temperature for "Diaper Dolphins" is 90-92 degrees Fahrenheit.  If the air is above 80 degrees Fahrenheit and there is no wind, 84 degrees Fahrenheit water temperature may be tolerable.  We have found babies prefer air temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit or above with no wind.  Once a child is hooked on swimming, he or she may tolerate slightly cooler temperatures.  The chlorine should be 1.0 PPM and the pH balance between 7.4 and 7.6.  Non-toilet trained babies should wear swim diapers.  These can be specially designed disposable swim diapers or washable and reusable cloth swim diapers.  The water clarity should be crystal clear.  Once our young swimmers are old enough to wear goggles without pulling them off, we encourage their use.  Tiny swimmers, whose eyes are frequently submerged and open during a 30-minute lesson, will be much more comfortable using goggles.  We see goggles as invaluable training equipment, much as a runner sees running shoes.
 
6. Preventative Perspective

The best care is prevention.  Parents need to be fully conscious of water safety and develop a comprehensive safety plan for water emergencies.  They must always supervise their children and know where they are.  It is important that they install and maintain all barriers between their home and the pool, and other bodies of water.  Install child-care locks on exterior doors and windows.  Keep your portable and cellular phone by your side at the pool.  Never leave a child alone near any body of water-bath, pool or pool area, pond, lake, etc.  Learn infant/child CPR.  Parents need to continue to practice swimming and safety skills if they wish their child's swimming to remain sharp.  At parties, designate an official pool watcher.  The joy of swimming is its own reward.  Learning swimming safety skills is the gift of life.