Swimming with my young nieces and nephew (and my own children) is a favorite summer activity. Often it's not swimming, per se, more like teaching them to be comfortable in water and practicing movements that will lead to swimming. We start first by putting feet in the water, then kicking/splashing...
Next we stand in shallow water and move arms and legs back and forth or walk to become familiar with the resistance. After that, time to gently glide into, and back and forth in the water supported by my forearms.
With lots of talk and reassurance as they eventually become comfortable with the buoyancy and sensation of floating.
By the end of this afternoon's swim, my two year old niece let me flip and float her on her back a couple of times to look at birds and planes flying overhead, and put part of her face in the water to blow bubbles... Next step, submersion!
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