Breathing through a snorkel

[BarbadosSlim93]

I am teaching my little girl how to swim and some neat things about snorkeling, but when it comes to the snorkel I have a little bit of an issue...

I could always just breathe through a snorkel but she cannot get the hang of it. My advice is to just breathe through it, and I cannot give any good tips, especially to a little kid. She says its too hard. Any tips?

[awap]

Have her breath through it while out of the water to get used to breathing through a tube. Then move to water she can stand in easily and let her slowly lower her face into the water.

[Splitlip]

I am on board with awap. How old is your girl?

Mine started about the time she could swim (2?) in a little kiddie pool. She put her face down at her leasure after "playing" with the snorkel. She used it often in the pool. Eventually into the ocean. Started collecting tropicals at 5.

You are in cold country, so I would guess you don't have my advantage.

edit: also my kid was on the boat when dad did his thing. Again, "summer" weather year round is unfair when a little Sunday boat rid offers the opportunity to jump in and check stuff out.

Let her play with it and breath through it. When she puts her face down on her own, you are golden.

[BarbadosSlim93]

My kid is 5. We are going to the community center pools to get her doing all this neat water stuff, and she really wants to learn how to do it. I'll try awap's suggestion and see if I can't just transition her to it while going deeper.

[Splitlip]

Originally Posted by BarbadosSlim93

My kid is 5. We are going to the community center pools to get her doing all this neat water stuff, and she really wants to learn how to do it. I'll try awap's suggestion and see if I can't just transition her to it while going deeper.

LOL. 5 is fine. Let her do it at her own speed. Breath (play) above the water. She WILL put her face down.

If she was 12, I might be thinking about it,

[Italianprincess]

Is she trying to breath through her nose? Little ones are nose breathers and it may be a little tough talking them through mouth breathing, but practice at her pace and she should get it eventually.

[Lulubelle]

Originally Posted by Italianprincess

Is she trying to breath through her nose? Little ones are nose breathers and it may be a little tough talking them through mouth breathing, but practice at her pace and she should get it eventually.

Ditto, that may be the issue. Principessa and I both do "kids". Nothing wrong with her pinching her nose when she first puts her face down to get used to breathing through the snorkel. May take some of the fear away.

The younger the child, the less fear there will be. We were swimming at 9 months of age, snorkeling as toddlers. It took a few inhales of ocean water before we figured out how to hold our noses.

Nice that you are working on this with her. Otherwise she could grow up not loving the water.