Numerous parents are completely unaware that babies can learn swimming at a very young age. Baby swim lessons are intended to acclimate your baby to the water, assist them in learning to swim strokes, and teach them water safety and survival skills. Babies are unlikely to learn to swim in the traditional sense, but they will gain preliminary abilities and confidence in the water. Even a small baby can learn to hold the pool's edge or roll onto his back to float with repeated teaching. However, there are certain pros and cons to baby swim lessons.
Let’s start with the benefits of teaching swimming lessons to babies.
1.Swimming lessons for babies can help prevent drowning
Water literacy is a skill that can be learned and used throughout one's life. Being comfortable and confident in the water at an early age helps eliminate obstacles to future swimming sessions. While swimming is a fun recreation and sport, water safety and drowning prevention are certainly a major motivator for parents to enrol their children, especially babies, in swimming classes. However, please keep in mind that swimming lessons, especially for babies, do not substitute monitoring in the bathtub, pool or any body of water.
2.Physical Development
Several of children's milestones are linked to fine and gross motor skills when they are young. Swimming lessons actually help children improve gross motor skills and muscle strength. The activities they undergo in swimming lessons will ultimately help them acquire breath control and build physical stamina. While babies are still growing, baby swim lessons will assist them in mastering benchmarks that may appear minor but are the foundation for all subsequent motor abilities.
Researchers in Norway and the United Kingdom discovered that babies who had baby swimming lessons did considerably better in prehension (holding and grabbing things) and static stability than babies who had never taken a swim lesson.
3.Language improvement
One of the most exciting baby milestones for many parents is when their child says their first word. This could happen sooner than expected if you take swimming lessons. After all, the instruction provided throughout the lessons aids in the development of language. Instructors frequently use phrases/cue words such as 1, 2, 3 Balloon Face, Kick, kick kick, paddle paddle paddle which assists children in naturally absorbing important tenets of speech such as prepositions and useful words such as cues, colours, shapes, and others. Simply hearing and observing these types of conversations throughout the course of a lesson can significantly improve language skills.
4.Development of Social and Emotional Skills
Swimming lessons are a great way for infants and young children to make new friends. For starters, they are involved in a recreational activity and are surrounded by other children who are also having a good time in the pool. As they explore friendships with peers, children learn valuable skills such as resolving conflict and caring by immersing themselves in the social environment. They also learn to respect boundaries as they realise their actions do not take place in a vacuum but have an impact on others in the class. Infants who participate in group swim lessons become more social and extroverted as they learn to embrace socialising with others.
5.Confidence & Commitment
Babies learn to commit to an activity and to work hard when they participate in baby swim school (even as babies). They don't knowingly learn these skills, but by coming back once a week and teaming up with their parents or guardians, they adopt them. When babies learn to move through the water, they develop self-esteem and a sense of confidence.
6.One-on-one Bonding
Baby swimming lessons are an excellent one-on-one bonding opportunity for parents and babies. Swim lessons are taught in a group setting, which allows babies to connect with teachers, other babies, and parents while also improving their social skills and adaptability skills. Swimming lessons for babies are usually taught with a parent (or two) in the water with the baby. Swim schools that offer "learn to swim" programmes frequently highlight this one-on-one time as a major advantage of baby swimming lessons.
7.Good Sleep Cycle
Handling erratic sleeping patterns of a baby is one of the most daunting challenges of parenthood. One of the reasons parents appreciate enrolling their baby in swim lessons is the longer and deeper sleep that generally follows a pool session. Swimming on a regular basis helps to create good sleep cycles for babies. Even if the lesson appears to be relaxed and calming, babies are active throughout the session.
8.Prevent Fear of the Water
One of the most prevalent concerns that parents of older children have when their children begin swimming lessons is their fear of the water. Most children do not develop an instinctive fear of water until they are about two years old. Enrolling your child in infant swimming lessons before this age bypasses the transition that causes them to develop a phobia of water. When children are afraid of the water, swimming lessons are much more difficult, so it's best to start before they develop this phobia. Ensure you are relaxed as possible when you partake in lessons to ensure your fear is not passed through to them.
Why Fulton Swim School?
Fulton Swim School offers swimming programmes that evolve with your baby's needs. We take a gentle approach to infant swimming and place a major emphasis on parent-child connection in our lessons to ensure that each participant makes the most progress possible.
Baby swim lessons are taught in a nurturing way by our Swimming New Zealand accredited instructors. As a result, your baby is considerably more likely to love swimming lessons through us. We have swim lessons for babies aged 3 to 14 months and all ages, which are divided into age groups. Both age groups require parent or guardian participation and class size is limited to eight children.
3 - 5 Months
Swim lessons last 20 minutes which include an introduction to swimming as well as fundamental skills that will aid in your child's development and swimming abilities.
6 - 14 Months
Swim sessions are 25 minutes and cover fundamental swimming techniques from beginner to advanced.
All of our pools are kept at a constant temperature of 32 degrees, ensuring that both babies and adults are kept warm and comfortable at all times. Moreover, we do not use harmful chemicals, giving parents and swimmers peace of mind.
If you are still on the fence about baby swimming lessons or if you're entirely on board and want to learn more about our programmes, we'd be happy to speak with you. Feel free to book swimming lessons for your child online or contact us here.
