About: matthewharrigan

1. 1. Learn to swim yourself. Parents who don't swim or don't know how to swim often raise kids who can't swim. Make it a family activity. Kids do as we do, not as much as we say.
2. 2. The Power of the Shower. Don’t mistake this for the bath! Shower your...

Children must master four skills to be able to swim: submersion, buoyancy, balance and breath control. The "big hairy monster" in all of these is submersion. Being underwater can be scary. The job of professional swim instructors is to break this process into steps, remove the fear and give children the tools and confidence they...

After meeting, greeting, and speaking to many parents over many years of giving and studying swim lessons, I wanted to write an article to help bring all the different notions and opinions closer together. I’ve come to realize that across all parents, there exist many definitions of “swimming.” Most parents believe “swimming” means freestyle...