Swimming is not only beneficial to health, it can also help your children build self-confidence both in the pool and in life.
When parents send their children to swimming classes and swimming competitions, their children will learn that training, competing, winning and losing are all part of their swimming journey. They learn not just from winning, but from losing too. These are valuable lessons in swimming and in life. When children learn to accept both victory and loss, they will become more resilient and confident, and be able to deal with the highs and lows in their lives.
Here are ways swimming parents and teachers can help build self-confidence in their children:
Take every opportunity to encourage and support your children. Your children will feel that no matter what happens, you will always have their back, thus helping boost their confidence and performance.
- Avoid criticism, make sure that any feedback you give your children is constructive. There will always be something positive that you can comment on your children’s performance. For example, your child may not be the fastest in the pool. But he or she may exhibit elegant arm strokes. You can say, “Your swim times are not the fastest, but I like the way your arms pull through the water.”
- Encourage your children to do their best, and not just on winning. Every child is a winner as long as he or she has done her best. This way, your child will feel proud even after coming in third, instead of feeling disheartened. They learn to enjoy the journey as well as the outcome.
- Encourage persistence. Even the best athletes have the occasional bad race or make mistakes from time to time, but because they have self-confidence and faith in their ability, they stick with it and believe they can do it.
These tips will help contribute to developing self-confidence in your children. They will also help ensure that they are happy and enjoy swimming.
Yvonne Swim School provides swimming lessons which are both fun and enriching. Check out the photos and videos of the swim school’s annual swim competition which was held on 30 March 2019 at ONE°15 Marina Sentosa Cove. From the happy faces of both parents and children, you can certainly sense the pride and joy which was prevalent that day! For more enquiries on swimming and aqua lessons, click here.