Terrified of taking DS swimming.

[TheBigPurpleOne25]

My DS is nearly 3 and he has never been swimming. He is suspected to have ASD but he does love water. We as a family are going swimming tomorrow to a water park. My partner will be supervising his 6yo DS and obviously I'll have my 3yo to supervise. I'm terrified of him drowning. He won't wear a floaty vest or arm bands because he hates the change and uncertainty, textures, wearing things etc and he is not capable of understanding to use a noodle or any other flotation device. I'm super worried but at the same time I want DS to be able to participate. Any tips for safety apart from the obvious. I'm a ftm and quite an anxious person anyway and usually avoidant of doing pretty much anything like this due to being scared.

Is there a shallow teaching / splash pool that you could take him in, as part of the set up?

I'm a big fan of swimming with kids, but a setup where he can't get out of his depth might be less nerve wracking.

Make it fun - Agree with just walking around and splashing in a shallow bit first - where he can stand up and do things at his own pace. If you take him straight into deep water to 'swim' he'll be terrified.

Take some stuff for him to play with, plastic cups, watering can etc.

I think his very first experience of swimming being at a water park might be a bit much! Find a local leisure centre with a shallow kids pool and start there. Sign him up for some swimming lessons too. Revisit the water park idea in a year or so when he's better able to cope.