.jpg "Submarine (2)")
.jpg "Submarine (3)")
This is a question that has been asked many times. What is the answer? It depends on who you ask.
Some say to start teaching them as soon as they can get wet in the bath. Some say not to teach them to swim before they are three. Some say don’t try to start teaching them until they are six years old or even older.
My personal feeling is that they should be taught to at least be able to turn them selves over to be face up in the water as soon as possible which many programs advocate. Some organizations feel that if you start teaching your children to swim at a young age, you may make them overconfident around water and increase their chances of drowning.
Other organizations say that you should teach them to swim at a very young age to protect them from drowning if they happen to fall into the water.
The famous words, “Studies show…….”
Studies? Which ones? For every study that “proves” one theory, there is at least one study that “proves” just the opposite. Can any of these studies be trusted 100% completely? I can’t answer that – but my personal opinion is that they are all subject to some suspicion.
We have taught all of our kids to swim at a very young age. Every child is different and they have all progressed at different rates. Our three year old boy swims like a fish and is completely at home in the water. Does that mean that we will let him swim by himself or play near the water unsupervised? Not by any chance! I think that is a key to water safety.
Regardless if you choose to teach your child to swim by the time he (or she) is six months old or wait until they are six years old, always supervise them around water!
When they are around water, always be sure that you set the rules of safety and be sure that they know the rules! Above even that – ENFORCE THE SAFETY RULES!
Safety rules mean nothing if they are not enforced.
Good safe water fun makes it fun for all. We love the water whether we are on our sailboat sailing out in the ocean or swimming in our own swimming pool here at home.
There is an excellent discussion on this topic at: Cruisers and Sailing Forum
It can surely be an up and down road! We used a flotation vest with removable panels for him. We slowly removed another panel at a time and before he realized it, there were no panels left but he felt confident with the empty vest on. We showed him that he could then swim without the vest and there was no stopping him after that!
learning to swim has been a dance for us. he was so close, swimming a short distance underwater and then he decided he didn’t like it so we haven’t tried in a long while but summer is on it’s way.
great photos. your little guy looks very confident.