How I’m helping my toddler feel safe in the water

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Living in Florida, we are surrounded by water; our neighbor has a pool, there is a pond in front of our house and a lake behind it, and you really can’t go more than 50 feet without encountering some body of water. We are also a family that loves to travel, and between hotel swimming pools and the beach, my children spend an awful lot of their time around the water in one form or another.

That is why it is so important to me that they learn about water safety at an early age and that they learn to swim. I’ve partnered with SwimWays to talk more about why water safety is so important to us, and how their products are helping my toddler feel safe in the water.

This post was sponsored by SwimWays as part of an Ambassador Program for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

How I’m helping my toddler feel safe in the water

While my older son is incredibly confident in and around the water, my toddler Grayson is much more hesitant. He’s a more anxious child, and is often nervous about new experiences.

Now the weather is warming up and I know we’ll be spending more time in the water, I’ve been trying to help him feel more safe in the water, so he enjoys the experience and looks forward to learning to swim as he gets older. On our recent trip to Amelia Island, I decided to take along our SwimWays Baby Spring Float Sun Canopy to try to help Grayson get more used to the water.

When I was researching swimming aids for toddler, I found out that this is the number one selling baby float in the US and is consistently given 4 and 5 star reviews by consumers – and since us moms can be a hard to please crowd, I figured it must be good!

Since this trip was just the boys and myself, I was pretty weighed down with stuff when we left the room to head down to the hotel pool, which is why I was so happy that the SwimWays float takes up so little space! It comes in its own bag, and when you want to use the float, you simply pull it out of the bag and it opens itself out – then fold it back up into three compact circles to put back into the bag when you’re done!

Unlike so many other floats, there is very little inflation required with this float, meaning I wasn’t left huffing and puffing poolside while my kids waited impatiently! It was a sunny day so I attached the removable sun canopy, which has 50+ UPF protection – so important for that delicate baby skin! – and we took to the water.

At first Grayson was definitely a little hesitant, and I was worried he wouldn’t enjoy the experience. But once he was secure in the comfy mesh seat, and the large circumference of the float allowed him to sit right in the middle without tipping forward at all, he started to relax – and so did I.

The safety valves and dual air chambers for enhanced security made me feel totally comfortable letting him float around, and he absolutely loved the inflatable green sea creature* with the removable toys.

*An octopus maybe?! The jury’s still out on that one!

At 24 months, Grayson is at the top end of the age range for the float, which is designed for infants ages 9-24 months, but I felt like he was safe and secure the whole time, and he was soon splashing around and squealing with delight. The seat is surrounded by a mesh play space and he had so much fun splashing around and getting as wet as possible!

It was the first time I’d ever seen him feel really confident and secure in the pool, and it made me so happy! I think this will be a great jumping off point for him looking forward to learning to swim in the future, which is something that is so important to me; being surrounded by water, I really want my kids to feel happy, confident, secure, and safe in the water.

The SwimWays Baby Spring Float Sun Canopy is part of the SwimWays Swim Steps learn to swim program, with Swim Step 1 helping babies and toddlers gain confidence as they are introduced to the water.

SwimWays is the industry leader in promoting water safety, and encouraging families to teach their children how to swim, which is why they founded National Learn to Swim Day, which aims to educate parents and kids about being safe in and around the water, as well as the importance of everyone learning to swim.

Established in 2012, this day falls on the 3rd Saturday in May, and will be celebrated on May 19th this year – and we’ll definitely be celebrating it in a pool! You can read more about National Learn to Swim Day here. I’m so glad we took this float on our Amelia Island trip, I really think it made a difference in Grayson’s attitude towards water, and he’ll be ready to hit the pool big time this summer! For more pool safety tips for babies and toddlers read through this post.

How do you help your little ones to feel safe in the water?