Teaching Your Toddler to Enjoy the Water

This post was sponsored by SwimWays as part of an Activation for Influence Central. I received products to facilitate my review.

I should have titled this post "Teaching Your Baby to Enjoy the Water" but since Adalyn is 19 months now, it didn't seem quite right. We started swimming with Adalyn very young. We did not do any swim classes or anything yet (but are thinking of doing it this summer) but have spent a lot of time in the water.

Last summer, we went to our local pool all the time, different splash pads, my parent's pond at their farm and several different lakes around Michigan. Adalyn loved swimming from the get-go. We hold her in the water, toss her in the air and just have a ton of fun.

She is still very scared to go on her back at all even when being held. This past weekend, we spent some time at a waterpark and Adalyn learned to jump into my arms from the side of the pool. I was so proud! She enjoyed it so much that she kept doing it over and over.

To me, the key for Adalyn loving the water is letting her play in the bath from young on and then starting to take her to the pool when she was about 9 months old or so. If your child is scared of the water, just hold them, let them know that they are safe and make it fun by splashing around and having some fun water toys. Also, it helps to start in the baby pool.

Today, I teamed up with SwimWays which is the brand of an awesome Baby Spring Float. We have been using this float since last summer and Adalyn has gotten so much use out of it. It holds her up well and is great in a lake, pond or pool- we have tried it all!

SwimWays focuses on helping children learn to swim and promote water safety. May 21st is National Learn to Swim Day. We won't be celebrating then but our pool opens the next weekend so we may go then. Water safety is super important to me because I want Adalyn to be able to enjoy the water but of course, it can be very dangerous and I am trying to teach her that. 

Enjoy swimming with your little one this summer! I cannot wait to check out every pool, lake and splash pad that we can get to!