Posted on 08/24/2015 10:20:32 AM PDT by PJ-Comix
This VIDEO of my 6 year old niece, Genesis the Mermaid, proves that swimming is 99% mental. As recently as this past May, she could barely swim. Years ago I tried to teach her older brother, Kenneth, how to swim at age 8 but it didn't work out too well. He didn't really learn to swim until he was at least 12. Therefore, I took a completely different tactic with Genesis.
First of all, I only barely showed her the swim strokes. Instead I worked on her mind by getting her comfortable with being underwater to show it was no big deal. Just dip the head under the surface for a few seconds. And then repeat until comfort level goes up.
As an incentive, I promised to get her a mermaid tail if she demonstrated swimming proficiency since she is into the whole mermaid thing. It all worked out fine and the only major hurdle was to get her to swim in the deep end of the pool. She would go hand over hand on the side to the deep end and at first let go only for a split second before grabbing the side again. I encouraged Genesis the Mermaid to wait a bit longer each time before grabbing the side of the pool again until she was comfortable swimming in the deep end.
When that happened I got her a mermaid tale and the video is of her swimming for the very FIRST TIME as a mermaid. Oh, it also marked the first time I used my GoPro Hero+ LCD in the water.
Thanks for the extra info. It is such an excellent idea.
I went to Weeki Wachee in Florida where they have the mermaid shows in the warm springs. Just wow. I wanted to become a mermaid! Bravo for your niece!
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