This is great, Jeff and I have been trying to figure this out.
A lot of lessons include learning to float on your back. This makes sense for babies, who are more chub and less bone. It seems like ability to do this for kids and adults depends a lot on how buoyant you are, and my kids are not built for it. One of mine managed to backfloat once under perfect conditions, but I’m assuming any amount of panic / waves / etc would sink her. So I’ve stopped trying to use “learn to swim” time for this, and they can practice it “water play” time if they want.
Another question is whether to learn a standard method for treading water vs develop your own style. Both Jeff and one of my kids have developed something non-standard that works for them, and with the other kids I’m unsure how much to teach them the more standard method vs “you do you.” Some of both, I guess.
Passively floating on your back is hard for skinny folk! Much easier to backfloat while moving, and it’s still a much lower energy activity than treading water upright. I wouldn’t recommend a kid trying to practice backfloating while holding still unless they’re naturally buoyant. Instead, the question is ‘how little energy can you expend while staying up’, and ‘tracking your position by looking at the ceiling so you don’t bump your head while doing backstroke laps’. The faster you go, the easier it is to stay up, but the more energy you expend. There’s a comfortable medium that’ll be different for each person, and change as their body changes.
This is great, Jeff and I have been trying to figure this out.
A lot of lessons include learning to float on your back. This makes sense for babies, who are more chub and less bone. It seems like ability to do this for kids and adults depends a lot on how buoyant you are, and my kids are not built for it. One of mine managed to backfloat once under perfect conditions, but I’m assuming any amount of panic / waves / etc would sink her. So I’ve stopped trying to use “learn to swim” time for this, and they can practice it “water play” time if they want.
Another question is whether to learn a standard method for treading water vs develop your own style. Both Jeff and one of my kids have developed something non-standard that works for them, and with the other kids I’m unsure how much to teach them the more standard method vs “you do you.” Some of both, I guess.
Passively floating on your back is hard for skinny folk! Much easier to backfloat while moving, and it’s still a much lower energy activity than treading water upright. I wouldn’t recommend a kid trying to practice backfloating while holding still unless they’re naturally buoyant. Instead, the question is ‘how little energy can you expend while staying up’, and ‘tracking your position by looking at the ceiling so you don’t bump your head while doing backstroke laps’. The faster you go, the easier it is to stay up, but the more energy you expend. There’s a comfortable medium that’ll be different for each person, and change as their body changes.