From Calgary’s Child Magazine, May-June 2012

by Lana Whitehead, the founder and owner of SWIMkids USA

Early introduction to aquatics is best, because a child under age one is less influenced by negative attitudes about the water.

Swimming is such fun, and it is a wonderful way to stay healthy for life! Did you know that babies can develop a passion for swimming? They are born with a love for the water so parents can go together on an exciting adventure as their child learns about water and eventually learns to swim!

Before the age of three or four months, the bathtub is a perfect place for your little one to begin to develop a healthy relationship with this liquid medium. In their early training, the infant will experience a great deal of tactile stimulation from water resistance over their entire body. The water has over 600 times the resistance of air, which is great for the muscles, and it encourages neurological development, too. The more tactile stimulation of the nerves the child experiences, the more that interconnections and neural pathways can develop in the brain cells. This touch and connection with the water between a parent and child can also establish a deeper emotional bond between the parent and child because they’re face-to-face, skin-to-skin, touching in the water. If parents start their child in lessons later, it can be harder to get the child comfortable on their back in the water. It often takes longer for the child to get used to the teacher, the water, the distractions at the pool and submersion. An older toddler may have reached a ‘clingy’ stage and is resistant to leaving the comfort of mom’s or dad’s shoulder. However, it is better to start swim lessons when a child is older than not at all because of the importance of teaching water safety to all children.

Sadly, drowning is fatal and final. Drowning is the fourth most common cause of death by unintentional injury in Canada, after highway deaths, falls and poisoning. The latest data provided by the Canadian Red Cross and Statistics Canada show drowning as the leading cause of death for recreational and sporting activities and it is children ages one to four who drown most often. The highest rates of hospitalization for near drownings were also seen in toddlers and infants. Many children are left with permanent brain damage due to drowning accidents.

Research has shown that swim lessons can make a child safer around water. A study conducted by Ruth Brenner and her colleagues in 2009 at the National
Institute of Health, discovered that participation in formal swimming lessons can reduce the risk of drowning by 88 per cent among children aged one to four years. The researchers concluded that swimming lessons had a “preventative effect” and “should be considered for inclusion as part of a complete preventive program.”

The goal for the combination of swim and water safety lessons for the one- to four-year-old is for them to learn a swim-float-swim technique used worldwide to prepare the child for an emergency situation. When the child falls in the water, they are trained to hold their breath, kick to the surface and then roll over onto their back where they can rest, breathe and scream for help.
Then the child rolls in a horizontal position back onto their stomach and continues a swim-float-swim sequence until they reach the safety of the wall or steps. There are inspiring true stories of children saving themselves in a
near-drowning because they learned this technique or have been taught to grab for the wall or kick to the steps for safety.

And, there’s a big bonus for a child who learns to swim! It helps them get ready for learning and school. Scientific studies of young swimmers at the German Sports College have shown that early water stimulation helps the child develop physically, mentally and emotionally. Compared with a control group that did not take year-round lessons, the children who swam consistently from infancy (three months) were
significantly stronger and more coordinated when tested at two, three and four years. The children also scored higher for intelligence and problem-solving, which carried over into excellence in academic achievement. Emotionally, they were found to be more self-disciplined with greater self-control and an increased desire to succeed. The consistent goal-setting and skill achievement in swimming can help them feel great about themselves as they have fun splashing around.

We at SWIMkids USA know that each child is unique.  They all have their own learning styles; that’s why we have a variety of instructors.  Recently, our instructors did an exercise in how to say the same thing in a different way, in a way that would make each child understand.  Here’s what they came up with.

SWIMkids USA will be closed November 20-27 to celebrate Thanksgiving and to give our staff and pools a break.

We close four weeks each year, leaving 12 - four week billing periods.  Depending on the day of the week, you will receive five lessons some months and three lessons other months, averaging four per month over the year.  The next break will be Christmas week, December 25-January 1.

During breaks, we clean out the Lost & Found, so please check  for any of your families’ belongings before then.

Learning how to swim does not mean that children are completely safe around water. They are safer, but no one is water-safe or drown-proof.

• LEARN TO SWIM – teach your child to swim
• Use layers of protection around your pool.
  • Surround your pool on all four sides with a fence
  • Make sure the gates self-close and self-latch at a height children can’t reach. Lock the gate and place the key high, out of a child’s reach
  • Put a safety net over the pool
  • Use door alarms to alert you whenever anyone leaves the house
• SUPERVISION – There is no substitute for parental vigilance. A responsible adult should be in the pool area within arm’s length of children, providing “touch supervision”.
• Make sure adults are trained in CPR and life saving techniques so they can rescue a child in case of emergency
• Keep rescue equipment (shepherd’s crook or life preserver) and a portable telephone near the pool.

ALSO:

Children drown in BATHTUBS, BUCKETS & TOILETS

• Put toilet lids down. Never leave open buckets of water standing around the house
• Never leave a child unattended (by an responsible adult) in a bathtub!
• At parties, have a designated WATER WATCHER supervising the pool at ALL TIMES. Their job is to keep their eyes on the swimmers. They should not be talking, eating, reading or talking on the phone.

Swimming is learning to balance oneself in the buoyancy of the water. A good instructor will gently bring the child outside his comfort zone each lesson, but not so far as to invoke fear. The gradual path is most often the most successful in this arena. Building trust with the child student in the water is paramount when teaching a child to swim.

Encourage underwater exploration. Let them play on the steps. If they step off into deeper water, calmly and gradually help them back to the step, the side of the pool or rotate them onto their back where they can rest and breath. Let them retrieve toys of rings from the top step, then a lower step and eventually the bottom.

-by SWIMkids USA President Lana Whitehead

We are the Valley’s Water Safety Experts!  We’ve been featured lately on local and national media.

CBS’s Early Show visited SWIMkids USA to learn more about Water Smart Babies.  Along with the Drowning Prevention Coalition of Arizona, SWIMkids USA is helping bring Water Smart Babies from Florida, a program in which a doctor gives a non-binding prescription for swimming lessons at a child’s 9 or 12 month well visit.  Check out the well-done video.

Look at all these great stories from this summer:

Channel 15

Channel 10

Channel 5 Momster Monday

Channel 12

Channel 15

Raising Arizona Kids Mompreneur

Our Kids Blog

Points of Light

US Swim School Association Newsletter Swimformation

Grandparenting Today Show on Radio WMKV in Cincinnati

World’s Largest Swimming Lesson coverage on June 14:
Mesa’s Arizona Republic

Fox Channel 10

“Prescription for Water Safety” is the latest movement in drowning prevention. With a backing from Florida pediatricians, “Well Baby” visits will now include water safety education. On the child’s nine month visit, their pediatrician will write out a “Doctor’s prescription” for water safety lessons. The parents will also be given the Water Smart Babies handbook which includes tips on home water safety, water safety lesson facilities (by county), CPR classes (by county) and safety device information, such as pool fencing, door and pool alarms. As the child visits the pediatrician in subsequent months the doctor will follow up to make sure the family is getting their home equipped with the layers of protection and the child is participating in water safety lessons.

The brain-child of Kim Burgess, the pilot program was originally launched by the Broward County Task Force, February 2010 in Florida. Along with a position paper written by Mrs. Burgess and Lana Whitehead, the entire program was adopted by the Florida Pediatric Society, the state chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Drowning Prevention Coalition of Arizona task force is scheduled to pilot their programs in April of 2011; with a program roll out scheduled for August.

Members of the US Swim School Association are helping the Water Smart Babies Prescription Program to gain momentum and launch throughout the entire United States. Karen King (Broward County Task Force), Sue Mackie, Lana Whitehead and Bob Hubbard (Arizona Task Force) and Jim Hazen (New York Task Force) are encouraging all member schools to join with them to form drowning prevention task forces in their areas and adopt the Water Smart Babies Prescription Program. Drowning is the leading cause of accidental death for children ages 1 to 4. If we all work together, we can help curtail needless child drowning in our neighborhoods.

-by Lana Whitehead, from the Summer 2011 newsletter of the U.S. Swim School Association

As temperatures rise, it’s time to think about your summer plans. Here are some winners:

Jump Start Sessions-Thinking about enrolling a sibling or need a boost? Our two week swim sessions (Monday – Thursday) are for survival levels and accelerate your children’s learning.  Jump Starts are available in the evenings, and will start May 16 in the mornings. The cost is just $124, a great value per class.

Summer Swim Team-Build teamwork and goal-setting skills in your child at our fun Summer Swim Team June 6 to July 30. Levels Silver and above are eligible to participate. The cost for Gold/Gold Competitive and above is $90 (plus your regular monthly fee and a $30 facility fee) which includes a weekly skill practice (in addition to your child’s regular weekly class), a weekly team practice, team cap, team photo, and championship party.  Silver level is $20 less but do not get the weekly skill practice.   There is a Parent Orientation Meeting on May 7 which is the registration deadline; after that date, there is a $15 late fee.

Second Class-Add a second class, whether it’s swim, gym, dance, or our new martial arts.  Cross training helps with coordination, strength, endurance, and flexibility. If the second class is a different activity, the cost is 50% off. For the same activity, it’s 10% off. Try a class for free.