I had my kids all do swimming lessons from very young but you can definitely get your child comfortable and happy in the water without them. Just make it all fun and your child won’t even realise what he’s doing. Blowing bubbles is a great and it’s good that he’s already learnt that now focus on just looking at bottom of the pool and saying ‘bubble bubble bubble breath’
Your child turns his head on the breath. You don’t even have to do the arms or legs just yet, just do this in a comfortable sitting or standing position to get used to his face being in the water.

I have other comments below about tips with getting confidence with children and swimming and putting faces in water when swimming. Also; the other tip to add is being a great role model for children and swimming with them and showing them that it really is ok to put a face in the water.

It took our children quite a while to be comfortable with putting their faces in the water when swimming. It takes time to get comfortable with the feeling of having a face in water. Keeping water play and swimming time fun and stress free is the way we went. Then they loved swimming lessons and no issues with faces in water.

It’s always a good idea to start swimming lessons early as possible. We couldn’t do so with my youngest as she suffered many ear infections and had multiple sets of grommets. When we then started swimming lessons when she was about 5-6 it was fighting to get her in the water and it took years for her to get where she is now. My tips would be to take it slowly, work on it at home when in bath too, get some cups with little holes in them and have your child pouring it over a dolly and over herself, make it a fun game and use gradual exposure, little steps like dipping the chin in the water or dip the nose in the water or blow bubbles on the surface of the water. I don’t know if you/your husband go in bath together with your child ? but may be helpful to work on his fear

This is totally normal and I think most kids experience it in the beginning. I encouraged my kids to start by blowing bubbles in the bath, then holding their nose and putting their face in the bath and they then progressed to doing it in the pool/ ocean. Give it time and practice!

Definitely a normal thing! I wouldn’t worry at all. Play some games with him while he is in the shallows to build his confidence. Use diving toys or hold up a number of fingers under the water and ask him to tell you how many you are holding up. Patience and reassurance and he will be doing it in no time

I have always found that it helps if you make everything into a game. It can be a bit daunting for your child at first, but in early learn to swim classes they sing songs in the water with their parents and do actions that may allow for splashing or little dips. You can also get diving toys and let them be the one to choose to go under with your supervision.

I think it’s a phase that will pass. I’ve been doing swimming lessons with my toddler since he was able to start and I’ve seen many kids have phases not wanting their head under. Then the fun slide at the end of the lesson comes out, or it’s time to jump off the ledge, and they can’t wait to do it. Just support them the best you can until they decide it’s time

Swimming lessons take time and patience. This is just a phrase and will it pass without him even noticing. Your swimming teacher has many tasks to ask of your child like jumping off the edge of the pool into your or their arms and they will indeed go under water and experience that. So over time the child will be able to put his whole face in the water. Just give it time.

This was me! And I still don’t swim. I think I had an allergy to chlorine that made it extra painful if it got in my eyes and I was VERY shortsighted and didn’t have prescription goggles – plus I lost all sense of direction when I went under water and found it a horrible sensation. I enjoy lolling in a pool if my head is out, but I won’t swim! At the beach, I’ll just paddle.

Oh i feel for you! We started swimming lessons just at the start of winter and my daughter was EXACTLY the same! Everyone kept telling me it would pass but i just thought, you dont know my child. She definitely feared the water just as much as your son, if not more. By the third week of swimming, she was a different person. It took 5 lessons before moving up to the next level and now, you would not even believe she was ever afraid! Diving for the toys on the bottom and everything! So trust me, once they learn the techniques, you’ll be so amazed at their confidence! Hang in there!! It gets easier!

My daughter went through the exact same thing where she was terrified of her head going under water. We ended up stopping swimming lessons for a little while as it was causing her to get more scared of the water and not enjoying going to lessons. We were told to try get her to put her head slowly under the running water in the shower while washing her hair and once she was comfortable with that, to move to letting her put her head in the water during bath time. Once she was comfortable with this we actually did one term of private swimming lessons (expensive but we found it well worth it) which gave her complete confidence in the water as she was swimming one on one with a teacher who was focused just on her. Now you would never imagine she was terrified of her head going under the water and loves going to swimming lessons.

I am sure the swim teacher will say the same thing, that it will come in time and that they often have kids like this. It’s common. I would suggest lots of play time in the pool with toys and things to try to pick up in the shallow area. They just need water confidence.

I remember my daughter being terrified of the water and when she was four I took her to a local pool for some lessons that were more focused on water confidence rather than learning to swim. I watched her gain more and more confidence each week. At age five I took her for swimming lessons where she did learn to swim in the second week. I think just regular lessons and making it fun will give your son more confidence to feel comfortable in the water.