Hypnosis and the Fear of Water in Children

What if the fear of water were not only a question of learning, but also a question of emotion? In France, swimming lessons start early, from the age of 5. And at that age, the body and the emotions are still very much learning. I practise hypnosis, sophrology and neuro-linguistic programming. And when I work in kindergarten classes in particular, I see it very clearly.

There are two ways of experiencing water. For some children, water is a game, a place to have fun, explore and try things out. For others, the water is cold and deep, and all around them the sounds of the pool echo. That can be a lot all at once. In those moments, the body doesn't yet know how to feel safe. This is sometimes called aquaphobia, the fear of water. And this fear can have very different origins.

There may have been a specific moment: a surprise, a fall, a wave. I supported a woman who froze completely at the idea of going into the deep end of the big pool, even after taking swimming lessons. She could swim. Technically, everything was fine, but as soon as she could no longer touch the bottom, her body tensed up as if something were coming back. When she was 8, a wave had knocked her over in the sea, and her body still remembered it, even 20 years later.

At other times, the fear comes from an emotion linked to someone else, like a little girl I supported. It wasn't she who had been frightened in the water; it was her little brother who had fallen into the pool, and she had been frightened for him. Her body had kept that alarm: water is dangerous. And then there are also fears with no real specific event behind them. The water takes up a lot of space, the environment is stimulating, and the body doesn't yet feel ready.

That is what I experienced with my son. In kindergarten, he was afraid of sinking. The big pool seemed huge, deep and intimidating to him. He cried before every lesson. There was nothing serious in his history. It was simply a body that did not yet feel safe. So how can hypnosis help a child feel safe in the water again? With hypnosis, we never force a child to get past their fear.

We go through the imagination, which is their natural language. When a child plays, dreams or makes things up, they are already in a state very close to hypnosis. And in that state, the body can relax, the breathing can lengthen and the fear can lose some of its intensity. We help the child associate water no longer with panic, but with the idea that water can also hold and support the body. And that is exactly what I did with my son.

We drew his fears, crumpled them up and then let them go. We created images in which he saw himself capable, curious and held up by the water. Then we went to the pool together several times, just to be there and play, and little by little his body understood that water can hold you up. And today, the pool has become a time when he has fun and learns. That is what hypnosis is: gently transforming the emotion, at the child's own pace.

And as a parent, what can you do? The first step is really to welcome the emotion. Not to reassure at all costs, not to say "it's nothing", but simply to acknowledge that the child is going through something, to see that it's hard, and that together you can get there. And that alone makes the child feel they are no longer facing what they feel on their own. Next, what helps is grounding the body. For example, placing one hand on the heart and the other on the belly, and lengthening the out-breath.

In this case, it isn't to calm the child down, but really to show them, in their body: you can breathe here, you are safe, and you can come back to this when you are in the water. You can also rebuild a positive connection with water outside the pool, in a simple setting: playing with a basin, figurines or boats, blowing bubbles with a straw. The idea is not to train the child, but to tame the sensation and give the body gentle experiences it can control.

And if the child agrees, then go back to the pool, but without any goal. Not "today we put our head under the water", just going to look, to be there, to see how the water welcomes the body, and celebrating every small step, even a tiny one. Because this is not about courage, it is about inner safety, and that is something you build together. So the fear of water is not a fate, and with hypnosis a child can soothe the emotion, find a body that breathes again, and reconnect with curiosity and, above all, with the pleasure of being in the water.

If you would like to support your child in this process, you can contact Solutions Hypnose, either in person or by video, which works very well too. Thank you for watching, and see you very soon.

Hypnotherapy is a complementary form of support and does not replace medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have any concerns about your health, please consult a physician first.