Anchoring
Anchoring is the experience of making contact with the wall, platform or pool floor with your child’s hands or feet, making your child feel safe, stable and supported in the pool environment.
Why?
To teach your child how to hold on, reach out or grab hold of a person or object for their safety.
WaterBabies 1 (4-10 months/ 10-18 months) and WaterBabies 2
1. During Sit Listen and Wait, practice anchoring to the wall. Letting your child hang unsupported for a couple of seconds.
2. If your child does not want to hang on the wall that’s ok. Put a toy just out of reach and place your knee under their bottom for support. Put your hands on the wall and talk to them about reaching for their toy.
3. Anchoring underwater will be introduced once your child is cruising and has a breath control count of 3+ seconds. Let your instructor know when they are cruising.
WaterBabies 1 (18-36 months) and WaterBabies 3
1. Letting Go: Parents this is a big skill for you! It is an important safety skill for your child to reach out for you and find you in the pool instead of you grabbing hold of them. The first step is to let them go, then reach for a hand and help them find your arm under water. This is part of the process of your child becoming independent in the water.
2. When introducing anchoring to the wall, platform or you, give lots of support until your child is confident they can do the skill on their own.
3. Platform: whenever placing your child on the platform, make them reach out and grab the bar with their hands first, then they will be able to anchor their feet to the bottom.
WaterBabies 4
1, Yoga Balls: Children balance on parents hands. If your child decides to jump out of your hands, let them. Put your arm out for them to swim back to, go underwater so you can clearly see when they are running out of air. If you need to help them get close enough so they are able to reach
out and grab your arm.
2, Anchoring to the bottom of the pool: Blow out bubbles to help you and your child get down to the bottom of the pool.
3. After you anchor your child’s feet to the bottom of the pool, let go of your child and help them turn and find you underwater.
4, Roll from back to front and anchor hands to the wall: Support their head, rock the hips and let child roll and swim to your arm or the wall with
little support.
WaterBabies Grads
1. Working on Pencil bobs, learning that exhaling helps your child sink to the bottom of the pool.
2. Introducing sitting on the bottom of the pool. (Tips: Parent exhale all your air to help you and your child sink.)
