How Did You Teach Your Child to Swim in the Ocean?

How old is she? I would keep her close. I am a great swimmer but was caught off guard in Hawaii. I was a teen and out swimming with my dad. At the beaches they have rock formations a ways out that are to keep people in and sharks out. I love the water and was out by the rocks. In the blink of an eye, I was swept out past the rocks. I fought like crazy to get back over the rocks and it was like running in place. Soon, I was panicking because I could not get back. My dad was not very far from me, but he could not hear me yelling for help. I swam and swam until I finally got back over the rocks and the water was calm. I was completely exhausted and could barely make it back to shore. It can happen so easily and quickly. I still love the water and will go in any chance I get, oceans included, but you just have to be aware of the special dangers in the ocean.

My kids have been swimming since they were babies, it's what we do here in AZ when it's hell hot. They are very good swimmers. However, when we go to the beach, they don't "swim" in the ocean. They splash around and maybe go in waste deep. They are "afraid" to go in where they can't touch the bottom and that's fine with me. Have you heard all the shark attack stories lately? No thanks, not worth the risk. Good luck.

To me, there are 4 issues with ocean swimming:

1) rip currents - how to recognize the water patterns, what to do.
2) regular currents - how to pick a spot on the shore and stay lined up with it (a guard tower, a fluorescent umbrella, etc.), checking it every few "waves" and either swimming against the current to get back to your position or riding a wave in to shore and then walking to your location.
3) how to dive into a breaking wave - going under the crest and coming out behind it
4) how to go with the flow when you miss #2 and get hit by the wave. You have to know "you will always come up" so don't fight it.

An awful lot of this has to do with body strength and swim stroke strength. That's an acquired skill. Kids (and adults) don't realize how tired they get with ocean swimming. This is so very different from swimming in a pool where you are never more than 15 feet from a wall and where there is clear water to make you easily visible to a lifeguard.

Some ocean beaches allow those flotation suits that have inserts in the material, that the child actually wears. That helps keep a child buoyant without constant treading of water. No open water beaches around here allow strap on life jackets or "water wings" (nothing inflatable at all). Some of ours allow solid boogie boards which can help a child navigate on top of the waves, learn to paddle, help them learn the timing of riding a wave in to shore. Mostly, it's just experience.

Seriously, though, a child needs to swim laps in a pool (not just make it across once) or (better) do some distance-type swimming in calm but open salt water (harbor, bay) to get used to waves, salt, seaweed and sea critters. Otherwise, they aren't really safe in ocean water above the waist, since waves will put them over the head pretty easily.

I swam laps in a harbor when I was growing up (including some in a sweatshirt!) to build up arm strength. And a strong kick is important too - teach kids to kick without making a huge splash because it's much more efficient and will propel them more. Anything out of the water is pretty much wasted. Let them watch a swim meet on TV (or live) and note how little they see the swimmers' feet actually out of the water.

We live in Northern California. Our beaches are gorgeous but deadly. Even excellent surfers and swimmers drown here several times a year.
We have taught our children NOT to swim in the ocean, it just isn't worth the risk (plus it's cold!)
When in So Cal or Hawaii, we swim together. Even though the water is calmer and warmer it's still never a good idea to swim alone.
Ocean swimming should ALWAYS be a buddy activity, no matter your age.

my perspective on this is skewed because i grew up in bermuda, which has pretty much the most wonderful beaches in the world. so i was about 5 when my dad tossed me in and yelled 'kick your feet', and that was that. it would have been considered bizarre for parents to be within a handspan of their kids in the water when i was growing up. all of us were in and out like otters, all day long. our parents barely glanced at us.
not that that's necessarily desirable. even in bermuda's mostly-mild currents there are riptides. my little brother got pulled out by one. had we not noticed that he was getting very hard to see, it could have ended horribly. i got out to him and kept him afloat, barely, until some nice people saw my stepmom yelling and came along with a life ring. i was about 12, i guess.
but ocean city's water is much colder, rougher and scarier. the boys were probably in their early teens before we were okay with them swimming there without us, although they did boing about in the surf at will. and of course they could both swim very well by then.
khairete
S.

I almost got swept out into the ocean when I was little, so I have had a very healthy respect for the ocean ever since. I can swim, but I don't go much further than chest high and that's only if I still have a solid footing on the sand. When my 8 year old is with me, he is within arms reach at all times. Swimming in a pool is completely different than the ocean. I would maybe feel comfortable when my son is older and if he had a ton of time swimming, like being on a swim team and practicing two hours a day or if he had gone through lifeguard training. Just passing a standard swim test at a community pool would not cut it for me.

Growing up in Florida, we always went in the ocean to swim, but had to be with a friend. It was no big deal back then. We would body surf and boogie board.
Now that i have kids of my own, we still make them stick with a friend, and only go waist deep or less. But we are right there at the edge of the water. If a group of them want to go out further, one or two adults go out with them. These kids are aged from 9 to 12 and are good swimmers. We swim near a lifeguard, but always keep our eyes on the water and what is happening. The Atlantic can be rough, it depends on the day. Plus we look out for jellyfish, sharks, rip currents...ack! If it is low tide, there are nice tide pools and usually a sandbar they can wade out to.

Kids are NOT ready to swim in the Atlantic until at least high school. Certainly not when they are not within a hand's reach of an adult. Nobody should swim in the real ocean without a buddy. Kids should learn to recognize currents, watch the lifeguard and flags and know what to do when they are knocked over much earlier. If you mean standing/paddling in water that they can stand in while you are with them - substantially younger but ocean swimming takes a lot of strength.

Swimming in the Gulf - fine before they can swim in a pool - no currents, no waves, excellent buoyancy.

Both of my kids were enrolled in a junior life guard program at age 6. The program goes up until age 15 and this is what my kids do every summer. They learn respect for the ocean, how to read tides, including rip currents, CPR, first aid, sun safety, rescue swimming with and without buoy, paddling and basic surfing. It is an amazing program. We live right on the coast, so this was an essential skill for my kids. My friend whose husband is a life guard is the one that insisted my kids do this and I am so glad she did. Even if you do not live near the ocean, see if your rec program or YMCA has a program like this. Sometimes they are even held at lakes.

We spent father's day at the beach and my 12 year old went out swimming and paddling with two of his friends. I was still nervous, but the truth of it is that those 3 kids all could have saved each other or anyone else that was out there. They have more training about ocean safety than I ever will have.

I agree, no swimming alone in the ocean. The best swimmers can still get caught in a current or become fatigued. Sharks also do exist and if you are alone out there and get bit, well that isn't good.

Could you update us with how old she is?

In high school my sister and I were in the ocean with an inner tube when we hit a riptide. Scariest thing I've ever experienced. I wouldn't trust my kids out past chest high water until they were VERY strong swimmers (which may be never for my son!).

While he was under 8 yrs old we had our son wear a water ski vest when we went in the ocean.
If the waves are rough then we barely get our feet wet - we don't go in if we're going to get beat up by the surf.

The ocean scares me. When we go to the Gulf of Mexico (often) and it's so much calmer than the Atlantic, I'm a nervous wreck letting my daughter swim in it with me right there next to her. No further than waist deep! But she tries to go in further - she's a great swimmer - but the ocean is a force of nature that shouldn't be made light of.

I can recall as a kid swimming in the Atlantic past the breaking waves with friends. At about 11. Makes me nervous just thinking about it. I was a strong swimmer but...!

We use a boogie board on my daughter so she has a device to hang on to. As long as your kids are strong swimmers, I think that slowly introducing them is best!

Huge difference between safely swimming in a pool and any other body of water. My kids could swim laps, like forever, and I still made them wear life jackets in uncontrolled bodies of water.

So the same age they could swim in a pool but they always had to have a life jackets on.

Oh, now that they are adults and can kind of drive to an ocean or lake by themselves I don't make them wear their life jackets...unless they are skiing.

good question. I grew up swimming in the ocean every summer. I don't think I was allowed out by myself until I was a teenager. Currents and waves can really screw with you. But i think when I knew my limits, my parents trusted me. Until then, we jumped a lot of waves together and they taught me how to use the current to my advantage. Body surfing is something you could teach,

I like Diane B's check list. Check with the local life guards if there isn't some sort of beach swim training course that you can enroll her in.

Meanwhile, having her close is a good idea, just make sure that you are well versed in water rescue, and that she knows how to keep her wits about her. Someone who is panicked can bring themselves down as well as their rescuer.

F. B.

I didn't. Swimming in the ocean is so dangerous! Adults shouldn't even do it alone. We just play in the waves and maybe body surf on boogie boards, all within arms reach of each other.