Scared Child Learns to LOVE the Water (Full Lesson)

Here is how the lesson started. And here is how the lesson ended. Very good. Thank you. This little boy's name is Parker. Last week, Parker and I had a really rough lesson. And I, as the coach, made a huge mistake by putting him underwater before he was ready. I thought ripping the bandaid off was the right move. But it definitely wasn't. And I thought about it all week. And I even brought it to all the coaches in our swim instructor community. They all supported me and told me that, you know, we are all human. We all make mistakes. The important part, especially as an instructor with children in the water, is to realize it, get better, and make a new plan that will help the child in front of you. So today's lesson, we're going to see me rebuilding trust and building Parker's confidence back up in the water. This is one of the most valuable lessons for any instructor. So watching this entire video is going to be super helpful for learning and working with children that are fearful of going underneath the water. I hope you guys enjoy this video. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave them in the comments. I smell like chemicals 90% of the time. I'm pretty sure I sweat chlorine. If that sounds familiar, then you're probably a swim instructor like me. If you understand what I'm talking about and that hit you differently, then you are the person that we built SSU community for. You can get a full CRM to help your business grow and operate like a real business. You get a website host and so many discounts on all your favorite products from all your favorite brand. This community has something for everybody. And I can't wait to connect with you inside. I'll see you in the SSU community. Thank you. Come on, buddy. I'm going to have to come and get you. Do you want to bring him in the, if you could put them in, maybe then I can. A little better this way. I think than me grabbing him. We're just going to play play. We can sit down and we put the toys in the bucket. We'll put the toys in the bucket. That's all we do here. Toys in the bucket. Wow. There look. Wow. Look, it's in the water. You can see inside. Hello. Say hello. Oh, it's raining. That's so fun. More rain. Wow. Lots of rain. You want the dinosaur? Oh, really? Look. Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho. Wow. Look at all the toys in there. Say knock, knock. Which one do you want? Whoa. That was crazy. You don't want me to splash you? Oh, man. Look, I have Jesse. You know Jesse from Toy Story? Yeah. Yeah, boo boo. Oh, what happened? You fell down at school? Oh, no. You want to put it in there? Look. Watch the water pour out. Oh, no. Do you want me to fill it back up? Yeah. More water? Agua? Hello? Can you knock on it? Do it again. More. You try. Hello? Look. You don't like it? Okay. Only Coach Diego. Water? Yeah, we pour it out. Hello? I fill it up. There we go. Here, I put them here for you. Put it away. Very good. Whoa. Wow. It's raining. Look, see? Starfish? Jesse? Starfish. Wow. It's a baby starfish. Baby. Can you put the baby starfish in here? It's their house. It's starfish house. Starfish house. Yeah, we can get them. Here you go, for you. Come on in. He's getting down there? Oh, no. Do you want to grab them? Oh, no. Okay, we get them later. We get them later. Can you put the starfish in there? Can you put the starfish in the bucket? This is their house. Put it in the house. This is their starfish house. This is their special house. Encouraging him into the second step. So we've got him in the pool now. We've got him on the first step playing. Now the second step playing. Very good. We're interacting. I'm constantly splashing him, getting water on his face. The last lesson was rough. I put him under water too early. I put him under too early and he really got scared. And that was my mistake. So today we're recovering. I put it here on your foot. It's not real. It's pretend. Oh, it's great that it's raining actually. That's because I can really expose him to the water. And I just swapped. It's raining on your head. It's just water. It's okay. Look, we wipe like this. We go wipe. Wipe your hair too like this. I got you. There we go. Good. See? Because the water gets in your hair and then it drips into your eyes. So you got to wipe your hair. You got to wipe your face and your hair like that. Good. So because he's scared of going underwater, a lot of water is wiping his face here and there. Get your boogers off of there. These are all things that are going to help desensitize the face. Okay, I won't do no more. No more. Huh? You see the crack? Yeah. Oh, wow. The water's in there. Can you get your starfish right there? Now we're going to try to... Oh, now we're getting them on the wall and coming out. You put your feet down. You can touch the ground. There you go. You're so tall. You touch the ground in your pool? Yeah. Wow. Can you get the blue one? The blue one? You went underwater at your house? In your tub you went underwater. Oh. Yeah. Wow. You want to go underwater here? No. Okay. I go under my water. Oh, yeah. You go under your water. Oh, okay. That's good to know. So we can practice here later. We go underwater here today? Maybe. We'll talk about it. Yeah, that's a starfish. Wow. Oh, you want me to wipe your face? I got you. There we go. Very nice. Okay. Can we get the blue one? The big one? Let me help you. Here. We just bring it back to the stairs. We don't go in the water. We just go on the wall. You're not going there. You're just going to grab it and put it in the bucket. See? We just put it in the bucket. It's right here. Here. I get it closer. So easy. Blue. Can you put it in here? Yay. Look at all the water in there. Whee. It's pouring out. Wow. I'm going to pour a little on it. Okay. It'll be a little rain. I like to teach in the rain because it's not hot. So much better though. And it's good for the kids that are scared because water is constantly on their face. And he don't even... He don't even notice. I just do it all the time. Wow. You want me to wipe it? I wipe it. All better. It's really working on that. Good job. Wow. Okay. Can we get the rings? We put them away. Aba, I carry you. We don't go in the water. No. We don't. Look, look. I hold you. Grab it. And back. All done. You did it. What a day. Yay. You don't want to go where? Where? You don't want to go out there and get the rest of them? Okay. We'll do it in a little bit. Not right now. We'll take a break. Can you grab this one? The starfish on your foot? He's eating your toes. Here, gotta grab it with your hand. Now your feet stand up. Stand up. You can get it. Look. See? I put it there so it's closer to you. There you go. And look, you can get these ones too. You do it at the house? Can you show me? You can't do it at your house. You don't know how. Show me. Do that one. Do the yellow one. Here, can I have this starfish? Can I hold it for you? Put it in its house so it stays warm. That way it doesn't get wet. Yeah, you gotta put it in the bucket of water. There you go. No, leave it in there so it can sleep. That's its mommy. It needs to be with his mommy. It's hungry. Here, get the ducky. Look at the ducky. Right here, the ducky. Look, right there. You grab it. There you go. Good. Good job. So he didn't put his face in, but he leaned in. And that's what I want to see, him leaning in. Can you put the ducky in the bucket? Oh, look at this one. There's another one. Here you go. Can you stand on the step? Just stand right here. You grab it. No, go on the big boy step. This is the big boy step. You can touch here. You can stand up. Whoa, look how tall Parker is. You did it. You want me to wipe? Okay. Good job. Awesome. I don't want to get it. Here, just get the white one. I won't splash you anymore. No more splashing. I'm sorry. I just wanted to see how that would go. A little too much, too early. Did you feed the dinosaur? Did you feed him? He's hungry. Here, you get the ducky. Wow, he's hungry. Hungry, hungry. So hungry. Okay. Come, let's go get one more ring. I'll hold you. I don't let go. Just get one. Which one do you want? Can I eat it? Can I have one bite? I'm hungry. You want to go back? Oh, okay. Okay, here. Here you go. No, no, no. Here, I'm going to push you over there. The first one I cradled. The second one, we separate it. Oh, no. He's in the water. He's underwater. He's going under. Can you go underwater like him? Look at this. Watch me. No, I'm not going to do that. You're not going to do that? Maybe later? That big one is swimming. I didn't see it. Right there. Right here. Do you see this? Holy guacamole. It's right there. Where'd the ring go? Where'd the ring go that we got? Where'd the ring go? The one with the beads in it. Where is it? Is it behind you? It's not behind me. Where is it? You gotta put it away. Right there. You gotta put it here. It doesn't go in there. It goes here. Look, he's swimming. He's swimming underwater. Does he want to jump? Have him jump from here into the pool. The dinosaur can jump. He did a big jump. Amazing. Let's feed him some more food. We'll get more rings. He really likes the rings. You gotta feed him. Here, he'll eat it. Why don't you give him the yellow one? He likes bananas. Did you let him eat the yellow one? You want to look around? Look, it's my water bottle. Do you have a water bottle too? Yeah. Which color? Blue and red. Blue and red water bottle? Oh, wow. Wow. That's so cool. That's American. American. Okay, which one do you want? Just get one and we bring it back. That one? Okay. I'll hold you. I don't let go. I got you. Here we go on our belly. We're done. We're back. Whoa, how many did you get? I want to play here. We are playing here. I thought you wanted to get out. You want to stay and play? I want to get out. Okay, well, wait, wait, wait, wait. Let's clean up and then we get out, okay? Here, I bring them to you. I bring them to you. The dinosaur. Put it in the bucket. Do you want to put it in this bucket or do you want to do the other bucket? Should we get a different one? Should I go get the basket? Should I get the basket? Okay, I'll be right back. You stay there. Oh, hey, look. Dinosaur. Here, I'll throw the dinosaurs over there. Right there for you. Throwing the toys right in front of them. Whoa, that one hit you. Whoops. You want the big one? And the big one? I got a big one. Look at my big. I think it's a Brachiosaurus. You want this one? You want this one too? Parker? Peekaboo. Peekaboo toy. Parker, you want the big green dinosaur? You want this one too? Here you go. Whoa, what happened? Hey, you knocked over the rings. This is a dinosaur food. Remember, they eat this stuff. Look, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. See, this is where they eat. It's the feeding tree. Look at them all eating. Look how hungry they all are. Do you like that toy? Peekaboo. I see. Does it float or sink? Let's see. Oh, whoa. Oh, no. You can grab it. You can grab it and we can keep playing with it. Do you need help? You want me to help you? Me what? You want me to get it? Okay, I can help you get it. Here. Just stand on this step. The big boy step. You just stand right here and then I pick it up for you. But you got to come down here on the big boy step. Very good. There. Right there for you. Much better. Open and close. Oh, my goodness. Look. What are they doing? Are they eating? Here, we got to get them more food. They're going to run out of food. Which one do we get them? Which one? Okay, which one you want? We got to get them more food. They're going to run out of food. I'll put that over there for you so we could go get it in a minute. Here, get some more food for the dinosaurs. There's so many dinosaurs over there. I think they're going to run out if we don't get them all the food. Okay, let's go back to the stairs. We're all done. You did it. Where does it go? We got to put it on the tree. Yeah, that's a tree. Look, and they're eating all the food from the tree. These ones are eating all the squirrels. These ones are eating all the leaves because they like to eat meat. You are meat. You're people meat. Look at these meaty toes. They look tasty. Can I have one bite? No. It's my Parker toe. It's your Parker toes? Or Parker's toes? Yeah. Parker, can I have one toe? You don't need all of these. You got so many of them. Yes. You need them all? I cut it all off. You cut your toenails off? Yeah. Oh, that's good. I don't like toenails when I eat my toes. Yeah. I eat my toes. You eat your toes? Yeah. Oh, that's gross. Peekaboo. Want me to do it for you? No, I'm going to do it for you. Oh, thanks. That's silly. Come. Oh, no. They're running out of food. Oh, no. We have to get them more food. I'll go with you. Let's go together. Which one do you want? I hold you. I hold in you. Here. Here, here. I'll put this over there for you. So we go play with it. Here, grab one. Oh, can I taste it? Make sure it tastes good. Oh, ew, that was gross. You want to go back? Okay, I'll hold you. You want me to hold you close? Do you want me to hold you tight or not tight? You want to go back? Okay, okay. Here, I hold you real close. Ready? And there you go. Very good. Which one's going to eat that one? Look, he's the only one tall enough. You really like that toy, don't you? That's so funny. We need to get more of those. All the kids love that toy. It's crazy. I was at the thrift store. I got a big bag of toys and that was in the bag. Peek-a-boo. Can I show you something really cool? I'll give it right back, okay? Look, it goes under and it goes peek-a-boo, under, peek-a-boo, under. Wait, wait. You want it? Okay, I'll put it down here for you. You go get it. You got it. Very good. Do you get it? Do you want me to wipe your face? Okay. There you go. Better? With all the water. He don't seem to mind. He's just afraid of going under. His anxiety builds up so much. No, well, this is good. You know, well, and I learned last week what not to do. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to keep getting him. Because you saw there, he was like, do scribbles to the water. So what I do is I get them reaching out. When I see them put their mouth and their nose. When I start seeing that, then I know they're ready. Wow, you're amazing. The food's floating away. Hello? Is your name Parker? Can you put them away on there? Put them the food. They need their food. Oh no. Oh boy. Okay. We got to go get them a little more. Yeah, wait right here. Look, you want to get two? So we get done faster. Here, grab this one. And you want this one too? You want pig? No, we can't have three. That's too many. You want to go back? Yes. Okay. Do you want to grab anything else before we go back? You want to bring the car? The car right here? This one? Who's that? I don't know. You don't know that? Yes. That's Pluto. Pluto from Mickey Mouse. Mickey Mouse. Oh boy. Hello, Parker. Are you farting? You're not pooping, are you? Did you fart? Did you have a big fart? You want to go back? Go back? Okay. We go back. I hold you. Let me hold you really close. You want a kick or no? Okay, go over there. Go ahead. I hold you. Very good. So he got a little frustrated, but he didn't panic. His body stayed actually pretty calm, which is good. I think I could just slide him under. He'd probably be fine with it, but I don't know if I want to risk it. Yeah. I have this bubbles at my home. Oh, you have one of those jets at your home in your pool too? Yeah. Isn't that so fun? I have this at my home. Oh, really? That is so cool. That's a bulldozer. You had a bulldozer in your driveway? Yeah. Oh, wow. Mommy and daddy are building something? No, my dad. Your dad is a builder? Yeah. Wow. That's so cool. I got a new pool too. You have a new pool too? It's confidence. Playing around. He's messing around. This is good. I got a hot tub. You have a hot tub? I have a hot tub too. That's my hot tub. You go. My hot tub's right there. It's probably different than your hot tub. No, my hot tub. Your hot tub is your hot tub? Can I borrow it? No. Why? Come, we have to get the last ring. I'll go too. I'll hold you really close. I'll go there. Okay, grab the green one and we go there. Grab the green one. That one is the leaves. That one's for the herbivores. Do you know what an herbivore is? I'll go there. Okay, I'll hold you real close. Good. Grab the step. Good job. You did it. That was so great. Can you put the white one and black one and the pink one on? My dad bought a big house, a blue house. A blue house? My dad bought a big blue house. A big blue house? It's West Norman blue house. Okay, what is the blue house? Where is? It's North Carolina. North Carolina? Yeah. Wow, my family has house in North Carolina too. My mommy and daddy live there and my sister. I have a sister. You have a big sister or a little sister? A big sister and I have a sister with. Oh, really? Yeah. Wow, that's so cool. I have. Are you on the bottom step? Yeah. Whoa, that's so much confidence. Wow. Here, get these toys. Oh, now you're not even touching the step. Wow, look at you. I'm so impressed. You're amazing. That's great bouncing. Very good. That was great. Very good. Oh, good. And we're kicking too. Whoa, who is this? Who is this kid? Who are you? Really? I don't believe it. You must be Peter Parker. Spider-Man. You know Spider-Man? No, I have Spider-Man on my head. Really? Did you see I have Spider-Man right there? You see, he's watching you. You see him in the window? You see? I have Spider-Man in the window. You see him in the house? I have Spider-Man looking at me. No way. That's so cool. Got the ducky. Let's go back. Here you go. Grab the step. Very good. That was great. I have a big house. I have a black house and a blue house. Oh, really? Wait, let me hold him. No anxiety when I was holding him. He's being more comfortable. I let him do a little jump back. That was good. No, my house is really cold. Your house is really cold? Yes. Oh, boy. It's cold up there? Yeah, I bet. I bet. Especially in the winter. Do you guys have a fireplace? Yeah. Really? So cute. No, my poop really stinks, but I pooped. Sophia pooped in her pool. Somebody pooped in the pool? Sophia pooped in the pool? She pooped in her pool? Yeah. Did you poop in your pool? No. Okay, good. Don't poop in Coach Jacob's pool, okay? Big no-no. If you have to go poopy, you say, Coach Jacob, I have to go poopy. And then we take you poopy in the toilet. Do you have to go poopy? Are you all done? Okay. Okay, let's go clean up. We're all done for today. Go ahead. Great. Can we grab the toys and put them in the bucket? Here. Here you go. Grab the one by your foot. Let me get all the water out. Here, grab these toys right here. Can you grab those for me? Good. Thank you. All right. I got all the water out. Here. I emptied it. That was a little risky. I poured a bucket of water on your head a little bit. Did it get on you? Yeah. Oh, savvy. Very good. Put them all away. You did such a great job today, buddy. Here, I'm going to leave that one out because it's kind of big, but you can put all the other ones in there. Here, grab these ones. Grab that one. Here, right here. Here, I'll hold it for you. I'll bring it up for you, but you got to grab it. Here you go. Whoa. It almost came out of your hand. Wow. Here, a couple more. Almost done. Almost done here. You got one? Put that one away. Can you blow bubbles? Wow. Blow bubbles star. Yeah. Look, I like to blow bubbles and get the stars. So it's multitasking. Look like this, like this. Watch me. I got it. Now you do a bubble. Bubble. And you get the star. Very good. So we can teach him the habit of doing both at the same time. And he's going to... Wait, wait. Last one, your peekaboo toy. He'll get the habit of... Bubble. Very good. So he'll start learning like right away. Okay, Parker, you give me high five. Big hug. Bye-bye hug. No, no, like this. Like this. Thank you. Love you, buddy. Very good job, Parker. So last week was rough. He was screaming, crying. Didn't want to go underwater. And I pushed him anyways to see if I could... You did so good today. I'm so proud of you. So good. And we got it all on video. Yay. Yeah, but so we weren't sure how this week's lesson, this lesson was going to go. But it went really well. You know, I didn't push him. I challenged him just the right amount. And as you saw that confidence, just really started to grow throughout the lesson. Playing on different stairs, reaching out, grabbing toys, showing me bubbles, all those things. That's what we needed. So great job today, Parker. If you guys want to learn more about teaching kids to swim, especially ones that are afraid or fearful, let me know in the comments and we'll do my best to help each and every one of you. And if you're a coach, and you're looking to learn more things about stuff like this and working with kids and challenging each other as instructors, learning more things, you can click the link in the description below.