TEACH ME HOW TO SWIM!

THE LIFEGARD STORE STAFF WRITER

As parents, we all want our children to succeed in every arena in life — academically, socially, emotionally and physically. That’s why we help them with their homework, encourage them to make friends and talk them through difficult emotional moments. But what can you, as an active and loving parent, do to promote your child’s physical health and development? We think one of the best ways to help them succeed physically is to encourage them to explore different physical activities that are fun while also being fantastic forms of exercise.

Swimming is just one of the many activities you might encourage your child to participate in. Swimming is fun for most kids, and it’s an ability that will serve them well their whole lives. It keeps them healthy, gives them the skills they need to stay safe everywhere from the beach to the pool and also gives them a great way to have fun and develop confidence in their physical abilities.

However, if the idea of your child in the water scares you, you’re not alone. Plenty of parents become nervous at the thought of their child — particularly if the child is very young — jumping into a pool. They envision all their worst fears coming true, and they may keep their child away from the pool. This decision results in a child who grows up without this crucial skill.

While fearing for your child’s safety around the water is understandable, it shouldn’t stand in the way of you giving your child the gift of swimming.

Why Should Kids Learn to Swim Early?

There are countless reasons why children benefit from taking swimming lessons at the young age of 4 or 5, as opposed to waiting until they’re older or never learning at all. If you aren’t convinced, here are some of our top reasons why learning to swim early is important.

1. Learn the Basics of Water Safety

Out of all the cases of accidental drowning in the United States in recent years, one in five of those deaths represents children under the age of 14. For many parents, this fact may be a warning to keep their children as far away from the pool as possible. But while these parents may feel they’re protecting their children from harm, the reality is that they’re actually putting their child in greater danger.

It’s inevitable that your child will find themselves around water at some point in our lives, whether that’s the pool, the ocean or even a small creek. If a child knows how to swim, they will be in no danger. Even if an accident were to occur, the child would know how to swim and rescue themselves from the water. The child who has never learned to swim, however, will be at a far greater risk of accidental drowning because they will be unable to rescue themselves.

Children who attend swimming classes learn how to swim and learn the basics of water safety. They learn how to behave around the pool in a way that will keep everyone safe. They learn who to go to

if there’s an accident, and they learn what to do if they ever find themselves in a situation where they’re losing control of themselves in the water. Kids who never attend swimming lessons will learn none of these skills.

Not every child who takes swimming lessons will become an Olympic champion. But even if your child never learns more than a basic doggypaddle, they’ll have learned the most vital lessons of all — the rules of water safety.

2. Experience a Boost in Confidence

For better or for worse, swimming is often a highly social activity. As your child grows older, they’ll inevitably be surrounded by friends and classmates throwing pool parties. There may even be swimming lessons and tests in school. Knowing how to participate in these activities enthusiastically will do wonders for your child’s confidence and self-esteem, making them feel they’re part of the group, as opposed to being the only child present who can’t swim.

Besides belonging in a group, swimming will also help your child to feel more confident and comfortable in their own body. They’ll feel surer of their physical abilities, making them more likely to try other sports in the future and more comfortable taking part in other challenging physical activities. Swimming can lead to further confidence and higher self-esteem down the road.

3. Enjoy Healthy Benefits and Promote Healthy Habits

Swimming is one of the very best full-body workouts a person can do. While plenty of sports and activities exercise specific parts of the body, none engage the full body as well as swimming. It promotes overall health and wellness, helps build strong muscles and improves heart-health and respiratory function.

One of the great benefits of learning to swim early is that children will get a great dose of exercise without it ever once feeling like work. Because swimming is fun, they’ll start to develop good

habits regarding exercise and physical activity, viewing these activities as enjoyable rather than something to avoid. These habit formations lead to a greater likelihood that they’ll continue to maintain an active lifestyle for years to come, even if they never continue with organized sports.

4. Increase Physical Development

While learning to swim is a great idea for anyone of any age, it’s particularly beneficial for kids because of how it helps with their physical development. By learning to master the complex movements required to propel the body through the water, kids gain the tools they need to increase their hand-eye coordination, muscle development and physical dexterity. These are all skills and developments that your child would eventually gain, but participating in a form of exercise like swimming means your child has a greater chance to develop these skills sooner than a child who doesn’t exercise.

5. Learn When Learning Is Easiest

It’s never too late to learn how to swim. Even if you’re well into your adulthood and haven’t the faintest idea how to swim, you could still develop the skill if you had the time, patience and dedication. It wouldn’t necessarily be easy, but you could do it. Learning to swim is a lot like learning a second language, however — it’s much easier when you’re a child.

This has to do with the way the brain and body are still developing in young children as well as with the way we’ve trained ourselves to think. As an adult who has never learned to swim, you’ll have likely spent a lifetime learning to be afraid of the water. This means that to swim, you’ll need to learn the physical motions while also overcoming this lifetime of apprehension. Most kids don’t have this fear, however. They’re more than willing to

jump into a pool, not yet realizing it’s something they should be afraid of. Because of this, their road to learning how to swim is much smoother.

6. Prevent a Future Fear of Water

The longer your child goes without knowing how to swim, the greater the chance that this will develop into a fully-fledged fear of water. They’ll spend every pool party and every trip to the beach lingering on the sidelines, afraid to get their feet wet. And if they do happen to have a scare where they accidentally end up in the deep end, this fear will grow, and could even lead to them having a major mental block against ever learning how to swim.

This fear is easily preventable by allowing your child to learn to swim early on. Once they understand how to move through water and rise to the surface, they’ll see there’s no reason to be afraid of the water. They’ll realize the only thing to be afraid of is a lack of knowledge about how to handle themselves in the water.

7. Learn a Lifelong Skill

Swimming is a wonderful activity for children, but it’s also a fantastic way to get exercise and have a little fun at every age. Even much later in life, swimming continues to be a relatively safe way to get some physical activity long after other options will need to be ruled out. Because swimming takes place in water, it’s a low-impact sport with little room for injury. Where biking, running or even using an elliptical machine at the gym carry the risk of falls as a person gets older, swimming doesn’t have these risks.

The enduring appeal of swimming means it’s great for kids while they’re still kids, but it’s also a great way to invest in their future. By helping them learn this critical skill at an early age, you

ensure that they’ll have the ability to exercise and stay active throughout their whole life, thus helping them to lead happier, healthier and longer lives.

8. Get a Head Start Social Skills

Most kids will have their first experience in a truly structured classroom environment at age 5 when they enter kindergarten. While they may attend pre-school or other pre-school themed activities, these will likely be very loosely structured without a lot of true direction-following or expectations for the kids.

Swimming is different. Most experts agree that while every child is unique, many kids will be developmentally ready to start swimming lessons at age 4, a full year before they begin kindergarten. These swimming lessons will involve listening to the instructor, following directions, behaving appropriately around other children and learning to act in an instructional setting.

It’s true that your child will learn these same skills in kindergarten the following year, as well as every year for the rest of their childhood. The advantage of taking swimming lessons at this young age, however, is that they give your child a jumpstart on becoming comfortable in a structured class setting. This preparation helps set them up for success academically, socially and emotionally as they prepare to start their schooling.

9. Fuel the Brain

Kids who participate in swimming from a very early age are, on average, more cognitively and physically advanced than children of the same age who haven’t begun to swim. A study completed by the Griffith Institute of Educational Research in Australia tested a large group of children from ages 3 to 5 and found that those who had begun their swimming lessons had more advanced fine motor skills and stronger hand-eye coordination.

While these physical advantages might be expected due to the increased physical training from swimming, there was also evidence that

these children who practiced swimming had more advanced levels of oral expression. These children also had greater literacy and numerical understanding, suggesting a strong correlation between these swimming lessons and increased cognitive abilities. This seems to suggest that children who start their swimming lessons at an early age will be better equipped to begin school than those who haven’t started to swim.

10. Relieve a Little Stress

Let’s face it — life is stressful. For many of us, we tend to associate stress with the pressures of adult life, such as holding down a job, caring for a family and managing money. But the truth is kids have a lot on their plates as well. The older they get, the more their school load grows. They’ll learn to deal with complicated relationships and friendships and figure out the basics of timemanagement as they attempt to juggle school, activities, friends and family, all while figuring out

who they want to be in this world. While these things may not be concerning your 5-year-old, these are absolutely concerns that will weigh on kids as they enter their pre-teen and teenage years.

By giving them the gift of swimming early on in life, you provide them with a healthy way to blow off some of these emotions and deal with their stress as it comes into their life. The physical action of swimming helps clear the head and also promotes good physical health, which in turn promotes good mental health. In this way, a little exercise such as swimming can do wonders to help manage your child’s stress levels and lead them towards a more balanced and healthy life.

Purchase Swim Gear for Your Swimming Lessons It’s never too late to learn how to swim. Whether you’re 10, 20 or 50, it’s always worth putting in the time and effort to learn this lifelong skill. Swimming can provide a fantastic workout for your body, and it can also lead to a variety of improvements in your mental wellbeing and stress levels.

Of course, learning how to swim is tricky if you don’t have the right gear for the job. From swimwear and goggles to pool floats and kickboards, there are plenty of items you’ll need to get your swimming lessons started off on the right foot. Not quite sure where to get started? Begin your swimming journey by browsing our product offerings here at The Lifeguard Store.

We stock hundreds of products at some of the best prices around, and we’re committed to making sure your experience as a customer is a good one. That’s why we offer hassle-free returns and free exchange shipping, as well as free shipping on all orders over $60. So why wait? Browse our full catalog today and get ready to start your swimming lessons.