You can start the very first lessons at home. And the very first lesson is to teach the child how to breathe properly. Put yourself or the child in the palm of something very light: a piece of paper, a sheet. Ask the baby to take a deep breath in his mouth, and then a deep exhalation, through tightly compressed lips, so as to blow the object from the palm of your hand. You can practice in the bathroom. Fill the tub with water, throw a few floating toys into it and together with the baby, taking a deep breath, blow on them, so that they swim. And you can put heavy toys on the bottom of the tub so that they do not rise to the surface. Together with the child, in general all the exercises are better done together, close your eyes, take a deep breath in your mouth and put your head in the water. Open your eyes and collect toys that lie at the bottom of the tub. Such an exercise accustoms to swimming in water, under water with open eyes.
Watch that the child does not drink any water during the game. But if this happened, quietly pick it up, calm down, let it cough, do not shake the child, knock on his back. By these actions you will only frighten him, and not calm him. If the bath allows, put the baby on his back, in a bath filled with water, the baby's hands should be along the trunk, the chin is slightly raised. In this position, without bending your legs, ask the baby to throw water with socks. At the same time, hold his head.
One more exercise: the child takes a deep breath and, with bated breath, submerges in water for a few seconds, then emerges and exhales. Try to visit the swimming pool with your child more often, and in summer you go to the sea. The most suitable time for swimming is the morning. You can swim in an hour and a half after eating. Remember, you can not swim on an empty stomach and before going to bed, because swimming is a big physical load. Do not forcibly push the child into the water, hoping that he will get scared and float himself. This you will only frighten, and perhaps you will beat off the desire to swim with the child. He may have a fear of water.
How to teach a child to swim in 5 years? The surest teaching of swimming at this age is training in the form of a game. There are many games in the water. For example, the child takes a deep breath, plunges under the water, wraps his knees in his hands and in a position like a float, be under water for a few seconds. Another exercise: again, a deep breath and the child lie down on the water, immersing his face in the water, spreading his legs and hands in the sides, lying on the water for a few seconds. Children like to play in the water with the ball, you can invite the child to clasp the ball with his hands and stretch his arms forward. In this position, swim, while working only with your feet.
There are many ways to swim. Children learn best to swim with the rabbit, since with this method both feet and hands work simultaneously, i.e. in fact, the same movement mechanism as when walking, crawling. Children who learn the way of swimming - krol, quickly learn other ways of swimming: breaststroke, swimming on their sides, etc. When swimming with a crawl, the child must be treated to the surface of the water by lowering his face into the water. To draw a breath, you have to turn your head to the side. Legs are straight, alternating and not straining, the child makes movement with his feet up and down. When the movement is up - the leg is straight, down - the leg is slightly bent to the knees. Only the heels should be shown on the water surface. The swing of the legs is small. The main movement, when swimming with a crawl, is the movement of the hands. Move hands need to take turns: first one, then another. Fingers of hands together, the brush is bent in the form of a boat. You can try first driving on the beach. The child raises one arm up, the second one along the trunk. Gently lowering her hand down, the other arm, slightly bent at the elbow, pulls back and lifts up, straightening it. In the water, the same movements are carried out. Thus it is necessary to breathe correctly. When the hand falls down - exhalation, the hand rises upwards - inhaling, while the head is turned to the side opposite to the raised arm. Legs need to work faster than hands. When you teach a child to swim remember that a child of 5 years old can be entered if she is warm for no more than 15 minutes. If the child's lips turn blue, the skin becomes a "goose", urgently need to pull it out of the water, wipe dry, put on, give a drink of warm tea. If usually a cheerful, agile baby became sluggish, capricious after swimming, then it is necessary to shorten time classes. Increase the load gradually. Do not allow the child to go deeper into the water than the waist. Do not leave the child alone in the water, adult control should always be, even if you think that the child swims well.