Sunny-Side Up in the Water: Learning How to Float

Yay for back floating!

Surprisingly Hunter was unable to do this until recently. I have seen people teach little babies how to float on their backs as a life-saving technique if they were ever to fall in the water. I'm not sure how they did it though. Hunter was first introduced to back-floating in his brief YMCA swimming class when he was two. But for the life of me I have not been able to get him to do it until this summer.

He hated it!

He actually did this for the first time during our long Fourth of July weekend camping. We had been practicing a little bit most every time we swam, and he finally built up the confidence (and balance) to independently defy gravity (well, sort of).

I have now started a new technique.

Instead of helping him by lifting him up to his back and then gently releasing him to float, I have been, well, not helping him. I usually throw him in and have him flip over and kick up his legs himself. He even ends up getting a little water splashed in his face or moving waves sent his way while trying to stay relaxed. (I'm lovely, I know)

But in the end my playful antics have helped him become a better floater and, more importantly, he has learned to use this technique to rest and relax despite the circumstances. Because I think that, even more than a wonderful exercise in balance, full body control, and as a result of that - brain development - that it is good to be able to rest and stay calm while mid water. You know, just in case.

His current time floating: two minutes. It was originally thirty seconds at a time.

I hope to be able to work up to five minutes straight by the end of the summer. But either way, we'll see. We're just having fun and learning something in the process, as always.

"Now therefore be not grieved... for God did send me before you to preserve life." 

Genesis 45:5

Hunter is 5 years, 4 months old