Swimming and summer time just go hand in hand.
Since we don’t have a pool to help ward off the Texas heat, I have a systematic plan to visit all the local pools and water parks over the summer months. Oh, and if you are a friend with a pool, you won’t be surprised to see us sneak into your backyard.
Learning to swim is an essential childhood skill:
- Drowning is the 2nd leading cause of accidental death for kids 1-14.
- Swimming lessons can reduce the risk of drowning by 80%.
But safety isn’t the only benefit to being a swimmer, it is a life-long fitness option and participating in swimming as a sport builds social and teamwork skills.
One of my boys was afraid of putting his head in the water. I felt like in the first few years of swimming lessons he made little progress. We kept with it in a positive and playful way. Today, at the age of 11 he is in the middle of the fun at a pool party. It is fun for me to see how far he has come.
How to teach your child to swim:
Finding a great teacher or swimming class for your child is important. I recently was introduced to the USA Swimming website: SwimToday.org.
It is a great resource for moms.
There is a swimmer quiz that you can take to determine at what level your child is currently swimming and tips about choosing a swimming teacher.
One of the coolest things is the search feature:
By entering your zip code or city, you can find places to take lessons and swim teams located near you.
There is also information about the Make a Splash program which partners with local swimming lesson providers to teach kids to swim even if their family can’t afford the cost of lessons.
Getting Kids Excited about Swimming:
This year is an exciting time to get kids interested in swimming with the upcoming Summer Olympics. SwimToday.org has ALL the essential information about The 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials.
If your kids are into building like mine, they might enjoy seeing how the Olympic Trial Pool in Omaha was constructed {I thought it was pretty cool too}. After seeing this stop-motion video, I can’t wait to see the pool in action:
Watching the Team Trials on TV as a family is a great way to gear up for the Olympics…and your kids summer swimming lessons. They will air live on NBC June 25 – July 2.
The Quirky Mommas are excited to be working with The Motherhood and USA Swimming toward the goal of teaching EVERY child to swim. Please follow along with us on Twitter with the #SwimToday hashtag.
Check out these swimmable mermaid tails!
Such an important topic! Our son began swimming lessons last summer (he’s 3). At that age it was more about water survival than actual swimming but it is so vital. SwimToday.org looks brilliant. I love the idea of the swim quiz so that I can be sure to choose the class that best suits my son’s abilities and comfort zone. Tha video was fun too! We watched it twice!
Hi. I am a Certified Infant Swimming Resource instructor and a Certified Red Cross WSI Instructor. It is so important that your children be safe in and around the water. Though I teach traditional swim lesson, I also teach aquatic self rescue (water survival) skills to children 6 months – 6 years. You can contact me at
wa*******@ya***.com
for information about how to teach your children to save themselves in an aquatic emergency.