Water phobia

[Elphaba75]

My DS is terrified of getting his hair/face wet! We've tried everything, he'll have a bath but not have water poured on him ! Have to wash using a flannel and this means hair aswell which is not ideal :-( he's almost 5 years old now and still screams the place down
We've tried reasoning with him, playing games, reassurance , bribery ! Nothing seems to work :-( I'd like to take him to swimming lessons as his siblings had because he will start swimming with the school in a couple of years but I can't see it working! I hoped he'd just grow out of it:-(
Any advice please ?????

At this age I would consider cognitive behaviour therapy. It's because soon he'll be expected to join in swimming lessons at school...and what does he do in the rain bless him?

If you don't want to go down the therapy route, I'd try to completely stop asking him to get his head wet....and show him how you're willing to assist him in his desire to never get wet....and as soon as he's confident it's not an issue, introduce as many positive water experiences as possible....without asking him or mentioning his head getting wet.

So visits to fountains, to ponds to see ducks, to the aquarium, maybe get him a fish in a tank....encourage water play...overwhelm him with positive water experiences and it could cancel out the fear and he may eventually just get his head wet without noticing.