Why You Should Get Your Kids in the Pool Now
One concern that parents have for their kids is the water. Being safe around the water and knowing how to swim are valuable skills to teach your children. But it’s cold out now, so your first thought is not abut swim lessons. If your children are old enough for lessons, why wait until next summer?
It starts with safety. It’s just a reality that drowning is a significant issue with children, especially the younger ones. It is reported that formal swim lessons can lower the risk of drowning by up to 88 percent in young children. Swim lessons are too important to fit into the schedule when you have time. Having the kids learn to swim will be a high priority in the lives of your children. Here are more resources with some great information:
- Why Take Swimming Lessons in the Fall or Winter?
- Swimming Pool Safety: Layers of Protection
- 4 Reasons To Start Swim Lessons
A lifetime skill. Have you ever been at a pool party, and seen a youngster sitting off to the side, looking miserable while the other kids play in the water? That’s a great reason to make sure your children know how to swim. Teaching your children to be safe in the pool, lake or on the beach is an excellent idea, because they will be around the water in some form many times in their lives. If you equip them with the proper knowledge about how to take care of themselves in the water, you’ve given them a valuable skill.
At what age? It is suggested that a child is developmentally ready around 3 or 4 years of age for formal swim lessons. By that point, they can physically handle the movements involved in learning swimming, and can follow and retain information that is presented. Your kids are just at the age where they can take swim lessons, but it’s now the fall. The schedule includes football or hockey, and the water is a lower priority. But if you think about it, this might just be the perfect time.
Fall or winter for lessons? What happens with kids the last day of school? They run and yell and celebrate the escape from teaching. They’ve been in classes since last fall, and they just want to play. What are they going to do if you mention swim lessons? They’ll likely protest, and not be super receptive. Anything that has the word “lesson” attached to it is a red flag for the kids in the summer. In the fall or winter, the kids have returned to school. They are refreshed after playing all summer, and have gotten back into school mode – listening to a teacher is more natural. If there is an indoor pool available, like most YMCAs have, swim lessons can easily be taken even when it’s cold outside. The kids will be more attentive and listen better. Otherwise winterize your Houston pool, it is easier than it seems to be.
The teachers are more relaxed. When do you think swim instructors are the busiest? During the summer. They have larger classes of students, and an intensive schedule. In the fall, there will be smaller classes, which means less noise, chaos and distraction while the lessons are given. The instructors will have rested up from summer, better focused on the lessons.
A head start for next summer. If the kids have to wait until next summer to take lessons, they would rather get into the pool with best pool filters and play with their friends. If they have already taken lessons, they are ready to go enjoy the fun of swimming, and there’s nothing holding them back.
You watch the kids at the pool as they play a game that only they understand, and you just have to smile, knowing you have prepared them for a lifetime of fun in the water.
Kaitlin Gardner started An Apple Per Day to explore her passion for a green living lifestyle, and healthy family living. She and her husband have just moved to rural Pennsylvania, where they enjoy exploring the countryside to discover interesting and out of the way places. She is also learning how to paint watercolors.
Related service: Dallas Pool Replastering Company.
