I take a number of the kids from church snorkeling quite frequently and lately one of the 9 year olds has been wanting to join in the fun, but she is terrified of the water.
Here's what we did last time out, and I'd appreciate any other tips you can offer to help her get comfortable in the water (P.S. she is trying because her best friend goes to the beach a lot and they want to be together, plus her friend is trying to convince her to get Scuba Certified when they both turn 12)
Started out with her on an innertube sitting above the water and being towed around in about 3 ft. of water (full wetsuit in case she fell off to give her a little bouyancy) after about 30 min. I had her lie on her belly on the innertube. Then I placed a mask on the water and let her look through the glass. After a few minutes I asked if she would like to put the mask on her face so she wouldn't get water splashed in her eyes - she did. Now she would put her face in the water, then lift it out to breath and repeat. After a few more minutes I introduced a snorkel to her and she breathed off of it while looking under the water. Lastly I put fins on her feet and let her try paddling herself around on the innertube. All this took about 1 hr. She really enjoyed herself, and wants to try again, but she still would panic anytime the tube would rock a bit or she would start to slide off.
Next time out I'm hoping to replace the inner tube with a "Pool Noodle" (actually it's my dsmb blown up - same thing though) and hoping that in a few trips she'll be paddling around with everyone else. We are fortunate to have a very calm shallow area at a nearby beach that works well for this.
So any other suggestions for helping to introduce nervous kids to the water?
Aloha, Tim
P.S. Her two older siblings are already OW certified.
Here's what we did last time out, and I'd appreciate any other tips you can offer to help her get comfortable in the water (P.S. she is trying because her best friend goes to the beach a lot and they want to be together, plus her friend is trying to convince her to get Scuba Certified when they both turn 12)
Started out with her on an innertube sitting above the water and being towed around in about 3 ft. of water (full wetsuit in case she fell off to give her a little bouyancy) after about 30 min. I had her lie on her belly on the innertube. Then I placed a mask on the water and let her look through the glass. After a few minutes I asked if she would like to put the mask on her face so she wouldn't get water splashed in her eyes - she did. Now she would put her face in the water, then lift it out to breath and repeat. After a few more minutes I introduced a snorkel to her and she breathed off of it while looking under the water. Lastly I put fins on her feet and let her try paddling herself around on the innertube. All this took about 1 hr. She really enjoyed herself, and wants to try again, but she still would panic anytime the tube would rock a bit or she would start to slide off.
Next time out I'm hoping to replace the inner tube with a "Pool Noodle" (actually it's my dsmb blown up - same thing though) and hoping that in a few trips she'll be paddling around with everyone else. We are fortunate to have a very calm shallow area at a nearby beach that works well for this.
So any other suggestions for helping to introduce nervous kids to the water?
Aloha, Tim
P.S. Her two older siblings are already OW certified.