She almost <span title="drowned..................?">drowned.....................</span>

Question

my daughter is 3 years old and was so excited to go swimming the other day, we got to the pool and without me even putting our towels down she jumped right into the 3 ft pool and almost drowned. she is scared to death to go swimming now. how can i get her to not be afraid of the water?

Answer 1

Go ahead and continue to take her to the pool, just make sure that you are in the water before her. Swim lessons are also a great way to help kids get over their fear of water, they help them learn how to swim so they won&#039;t drown when they jump into a pool too deep (hopefully once they get older they learn to see how deep the pool is before they jump in).

Answer 2

I wouldn&#039;t push her past her comfort zone.  Depending on when she almost drowned she might need a little more time to recover.  My little sister almost drowned (twice in the same day actually) and she was afraid of the water for awhile, but she did get over it.  Like others have said, start out small like in a bath tub or a kiddie pool that is very shallow then keep encouraging her.  Then as she builds up her confidence, go a little bigger and eventually back to a pool.  Just keep encouraging her and build up her confidence level so she&#039;ll have a good time in the water again.

Answer 3

It is important to get her back in ASAP.  Make it fun, if she doesn&#039;t want to get in sit on the side and have her splash you.  Sing nursery songs.  It is ok if she is clingy.  What the goal is is water adjustment and it has to happen soon, this summer or she will remain afraid. Try to get her in if she will let you.  Do not force her to the point that she is terrified.  I have taught many children and adults who had had a traumatic experience.  The progress will be slow.  When this kind of incident happens, it is best to remain calm, don&#039;t panic or raise your voice, ask if the child is ok.  What you need to do is keep control and get the child in immediately after the incident.  Tell the child you are ok, shake it off and get back into the middle of the pool until she calms down.  Kids take their cues from parents, if you reacted in one of the above ways, its ok most parents do, just work with it from here on out.  Talk about pool safety each time you are around water.

If you choose to get her lessons, I suggest to start with private and make it very clear that she has had a traumatic incident with water and you don&#039;t want her pushed or lied to and you want a fun experience for her.  With group lessons I have had kids who had their traumatic incident in lessons so until she has some skills, don&#039;t risk it getting worse.  Also you could do a parent/tot class.

Answer 4

I had a very similar ordeal. When i was in grade three I was with my friend in a indoor pool when we started to play truth or dare. My friend dared me to canon ball out into the water and i did. I almost drowned because i jumped in to far. the girl who is my best friend to this day dove in and pulled me free from the deep end.

I still LOVE to swim, my mom combated my fear by turning up the heat in our house and buying me a small kiddy pool. It was all set up and she was outside soaking her feet. The house went to around 30degrees celseus (alot in canada) and i went outside. It seemed even worse. She invited me to get into my bathing suit, Just to...cool off. I didn&#039;t have to go in the pool. Then she sat a chair with its front legs in the pool and asked me to sit with her. She read me a story while i soaked my feet. Then we decided to play with my toys. I went in and pulled out my favorite ones and after an hour her &#039;horse&#039; said that he was thirsty so &#039;mine&#039; said she would get a drink too. After a few hours my mom gradually sunk into the pool and lay down and began to read her paper (after our game was done). I have an above average IQ and since i can remember i loved to read the paper over my mom&#039;s shoulder so after she began to make some ..&#039;curious&#039; facial expressions and laughing at the comics, i lay next to her and read too. The rest is history.

Right now, i LOVE to swim. I am actually pondering getting a meter deep pool for my backyard. But i cannot swim in the deepend.

If your daughter is as lucky as i was and gets over her fear that much, please try to bring her to a public pool and get lessons for her when she is older so she can tread well and swim in deep water.

I regret never going in the deep end after that and have missed out on alot of school field trips because of my fear. I couldn&#039;t even do laps to GET in the deep end.

Also, in case it means something, I cannot swim without goggles. I have lucid dreams

(********A lucid dream is a dream in which the person is aware that he or she is dreaming while the dream is in progress, also known as a conscious dream. When the dreamer is lucid, he or she can actively participate in the dream environment without any of the inhibitions or limitations that otherwise would feel natural to persons who incorrectly believe they are in the &quot;real&quot; waking world.********) and in my one dream, a person tried to drown me. I asked him &#039;what do you stand for?&quot; and he said Quote: &quot;I am your fear of the unknown. Your longing for new levels, and your hesitation to try to reach them. Remove the mask and dare to go deeper.&quot; Next time im in a pool i will do just that.

Your daughter is in my thoughts, I pray she overcomes this obstacle and i apologize for the long reply.

Answer 5

In the tub with her.

Start by blowing bubbles &amp; progress from there.

Be safe!

Maybe you two can take a Mom &amp; Tots swim class.

Answer 6

In a bath tub, be close to her, and play games. She&#039;ll soon get over it.