Alert, Aware, Always.
When bringing your child to swim be it a pool, parents should always be alert and monitor their child’s movements. Most accidents happens when parents are distracted with another conversations or on mobile phones.
At what age kids should be able to swim on their own without supervision?
Kids should never be left to swim on their own unsupervised!
Children can be unpredictable in their behaviour. Parents should always be alert where their child is playing or swimming and ready to respond to avoid any accidents or injuries.
What should parents look out for when bringing their children swimming?
Different aquatic environment poses different dangers. Parents should be aware of the environment before bringing a child to the pool or open water.
Depth of water in the pool, water features and sharp edges and conners around the pool are a few areas parents should to look out for.
Tides, current and weather changes very quickly. Before heading to the beach for a day out, parents should always check the forecast and be prepared.
Is it ever too early to introduce a child to water?
It’s never too early to introduce the aquatic environment to your child. Learning to swim starts with being safe and comfortable in and around the water.
Parents can start with introducing their child to water in the bathroom through waterplay and water confidence activities at any age!
At AquaBambinos, we start water confidence and water safety lessons for infants 6 months onwards.
What should I do if my child dislikes or are afraid of water? How should parents help them to overcome their fear?
Slow and steady wins the race! Always follow the pace of their child. Children are sensitive and they pick up emotions quickly. Start with introducing the aquatic environment to the child in the bathroom using a tub before gradually introducing the child to the swimming pool.
A good swimming coach can also help shorten the learning curve as they are more aware of the right time to advance a child aquatic ability.
Should kids who do not know how to swim rely on floats?
Use of floats should be kept to a minimum. Floats create a false sense of security for the child which can cause over reliance on usage of floats. With the false sense of security, there have also been reported cases of parents not attending to their children, assuming that they would always stay afloat and/or safe
Our infant and toddler lessons focus on parents being the “floats” to their child and children learn confidence and movement skills through the assistance from parents. Our coaches, when necessary do also rely on specifics floats which can be useful in allowing children to be comfortable and learn to swim better.
Published by Aquabambinos Swim School (29 January 2018)