immersing head under water

Question
My 2.6 year old daughter enters the water confidently with arm bands.  However, she is terrified of immersing her head under water and even avoids swimming if there are children in the pool splashing incase her face gets wet.  Washing her hair is an ordeal with alot of screaming!  how can I overcome this obstacle? Have tried using her sister as a model and lots of encouragement to no avail.

Answer
I would suggest enrolling her in a swim lesson with other kids her age. Also it helps to sing songs with her that encourage blowing bubbles and splashing. Here is a song to help you.

FIVE GREEN AND SPECKLED FROGS
Five green and speckled frogs
Sat on a speckled log,
Eating some most delicious bugs.
Yum, Yum!
One jumped into the pool
Where it was nice and cool,
Then there were four green speckled frogs.
Ribbit, ribbit, ribbit!
(Continue rhyme until all frogs jump into the pool)
Traditional
Have your children act out the rhyme if possible.


You can also sing pop goes the weasel and any children's songs and make it fun for them to splash and blow bubbles.

Good Luck!