Swimming: Everybody In!

Our Kidspace Pool Party at Mounger Pool in Magnolia is coming up the evening of July 16th. We hope your family will come enjoy a fun night in the water with all your Kidspace friends. When high summer comes water safety is on all our minds. Kidspace children enjoy regular water play on the playground and chances are your family is taking advantage of great weather to get out boating, wading at a beach or splashing about at a local pool. What have been your thoughts about swimming lessons and water safety programs for young children? Have you come to any conclusions about what a good age to start your child swimming would be?

I taught Red Cross water safety courses to elementary school age children when I was a life guard in my college days, but was never introduced to classes for the very young until I was a parent myself. We participated in a park and recreation "parent and me" class that was aimed at just getting toddlers used to the water and reducing fears; but, I had friends who enrolled their babies in "drown proofing" classes and whose little ones did learn to bob up from the bottom and float on their backs. My family had a boat and pool in the backyard when I was growing up, so sending me to progressive swimming lessons was important to my parents and was a big part of every summer for me from age 6 to 12. Besides the "Parent and Me" classes at age 3 we enrolled our daughter in swim lessons at age 6 on up. Are you sending your child to any lessons? If not, do you have plans to? I came across this Washington Post article, "At what age should a child learn to swim? Very early may not be best, experts warn," that may be helpful to you in determining a good age to start and which explains some cautions and many benefits. It is brief yet in depth in the questions it considers and concludes,

 The good news is that the rate of accidental drowning has decreased in recent decades. This trend may reflect the more widespread adoption of preventive strategies such as pool fencing and swimming lessons.

 I hope you'll give it a read and I wonder what questions come up for you, especially those of you whose babies have had early training.

I know we are all invested in the children's safety. Teaching them to use approved flotation devices, how to act around water, and giving them organized swimming instruction provides them a lifetime of water safety and the skill of being able swimmers who enjoy all manner of water activities and sports. I hope you'll share your thoughts in our comments section. You may also be interested in re-reading a Mentor Memo I wrote in 2013 in response to a near-drowning incident Cathy Fedele witnessed at her lake-side home and shared an article about. It's called "Drowning Doesn't Look Like Drowning: A Timely Reminder."

Hope to see you at the Pool Party July 16th!