The many wonderful reasons to teach your child to learn to swim:  Being part of that process can be one of the most enjoyable and rewarding experiences a parent can have with their child.

By Julia Ham (Hampton Swim School) Some parents choose to delay the commencement of their child’s swimming education, believing that their backyard pool plays a more important role in aquatic development than structured lessons. BUT WAIT, in 2009 alone in Australia over 50 children between the ages of 0-17 years died by drowning, with many more near-drowning incidents and accidents occurring around the pool or beach. As previously reported, many of these children were left unsupervised, so it's easy to see why swim lessons sooner rather than later provide an additional barrier against drowning. Safety aside, swimming is a great form of exercise and, as well as being fun, it promotes time with the family and opens the door to many water sports such as water polo, sailing and nippers. The most common question asked by prospective parents of children of Hampton Swim School is, “when is the best time to start swimming?” Opinions on this topic vary. Given Qld’s lifestyle, the likelihood that a child will be...

Everybody needs to remember not to be complacent about SUPERVISION as the primary layer of protection in the prevention of drowning. Vigilance is required, no matter how confident a young swimmer may be. Home pools are becoming more common every day. It is estimated now that more than 1 in 5 Australian homes have a swimming pool and, with QLD’s perfect weather, the water is the place to be! But beware: this great Aussie Icon can be dangerous! The RLSSA National Drowning Report for 2009 showed an alarming increase to 302 in the number of deaths caused by drowning. This is the highest figure in 6 years, and a wakeup call to parents especially when we consider that 32 deaths were in the under 5 years age group and, of these, over 60% were in backyard swimming pools. Combine this with the recent tragic drowning of 2 children at public pools, and we need to realise that supervision CAN, and DOES FAIL. Last week, Hampton Swim School conducted a Mother’s Morning Tea at which a segment interviewing a parent of a young child who had drowned was aired. There was not a dry eye in the room, and the grief and guilt of the parent was felt by everyone in attendance....

Some parents choose to delay the commencement of their child’s swimming education, believing that their backyard pool plays a more important role in aquatic development than structured lessons.

BUT WAIT, in 2009 alone in Australia over 50 children between the ages of 0-17 years died by drowning, with many more near-drowning incidents and accidents occurring around the pool or beach. As previously reported, many of these children were left unsupervised, so it's easy to see why swim lessons sooner rather than later provide an additional barrier against drowning. Safety aside, swimming is a great form of exercise and, as well as being fun, it promotes time with the family and opens the door to many water sports such as water polo, sailing and nippers....

There are plenty of wonderful reasons to teach your child to swim, and being part of that process can be one of the most enjoyable and rewarding experiences a parent can have with their child. Swimming encourages fun and learning, and helps a child develop confidence and a positive self- image. Research has shown that early swimmers perform better both socially and academically and that swimming from an early age enhances not only gross motor skill development and coordination but also the personality development of a child...so swimming...

As reported recently in the media, it is estimated by the Royal Life Saving Society of Australia that nearly 1 in 5 children will leave Australian Primary Schools in a few weeks time without the required aquatic skills to swim 50m and unable to perform basic survival and water safety techniques that could potentially save their lives. This statistic means that over 50,000 of our children aged 11 to 12 lack fundamental swimming and water safety skills, and comes on the back of news that a high school in Melbourne has cancelled its swimming sports because not enough students know how to swim. With aquatic activities at the heart of our national identity and lifestyle – when and how did we start neglecting to educate our Aussie kids on the basics of learning to swim safer? Does the responsibility to ensure our kids are taught swim safer skills lie with parents, our schools, or with our governments? The growth in the numbers of children under 5 years of age being taught at private swimming complexes is increasing,...

Summer holidays are fast approaching– within a month our children will have finished school for yet another year! For many of us, at least some of the Xmas school holiday period is spent away from home visiting relatives or catching up with family and friends, and of course enjoying some much needed relaxation amid the celebrations associated with this festive season. In many instances, this holiday period is spent near and around water. However, a festive and fun summer holiday can turn to tragedy in an instant, and parents need to be mindful of the increased probability of childhood drowning when on vacation. The places visited by a family while on holiday are very often unfamiliar, and the excitement of the festive season may in some cases result in the dangers inherent in these places going unnoticed. Parents need to make themselves familiar with all of the aquatic environments - including rivers, lakes, dams, swimming pools and beaches – they are likely to encounter during the family vacation, and they should take the time to identify the potential hazards of each different location....

The arrival of the hotter summer months and the return to the aquatic environment is usually accompanied by a sharp increase in drowning or near-drowning incidents, especially involving children of the under 5 years age bracket. The majority of these episodes occur in backyard swimming pools, and it is often a family member who discovers the child face down in the water – a scene which is of course horrifying for the person concerned. When supervision and barriers fail, and learning to swim does not provide the swimmer with adequate drowning-prevention skills, emergency procedures (including CPR) offer the only other remaining life-saving means. CPR stands for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; a life-saving technique that involves chest compressions and rescue breaths to help keep blood circulating to vital organs and provide oxygen to the lungs. In incidents of drowning, CPR is not designed to remove water from the lungs. We have all heard a horror drowning story, and no parent wants to believe that this could...

Parents are enrolling their children in water-familiarisation lessons at a younger age than ever before to ensure their child’s acclimation to the water at an early age. Also, given we inhabit a continent surrounded by coastline and live in a climate where aquatic recreation is available to many, becoming aquatically adept can be regarded as an important element in making the most of what Australian lifestyle has to offer. As strong a reasons as these are to have a child taught to swim, there is a tendency for parents to get caught up in how far their children can swim, rather than to focus on how long their child is able to stay afloat or if their child can get themselves or others out of danger if required. While the #1 reason indicated by parents for taking their child to swim lesson is to enhance their child’s water safety and survival skills, are parents confused as to the relative importance of their child becoming a strong ‘technical’ swimmer as opposed to becoming a strong ‘survivor’ or ‘rescuer’? If...

There is no debate; the #1 reason parents enrol their children in swimming lessons is to enhance their child’s safety in and around the water. However, before, during and even upon completion of the learn-to-swim process, parents may consider having their child use a flotation aid as means to provide added security against their child accidentally drowning. A variety of flotation aids designed to suit children of different ages and at different stages of the learn-to-swim process (including armbands, backpacks, vests and noodles) are available. In my role as a swim instructor, I feel I have a good understanding of the benefits and drawbacks of each type of flotation device from the perspectives of both learning-to-swim and safety. First and foremost, it is important that parents understand that flotation aids are not a life-saving device, and that they are not an excuse for the absence of constant supervision while the child is in the water! Unfortunately, too many children drown each year in Australia, and the majority of these tragedies occur as a result of the child falling accidentally into a body of water. While no drownings with the child using a “wearable-type” flotation aid have been recorded, the use of a flotation aid may create in both the parent and the child a misplaced sense of child’s confidence in water....

Babies arrive in the world from the warm, liquid environment of their mother’s womb free of inhibition and without an inbuilt fear of water. Typically however, a baby’s innate responses to the aquatic environment are lost at around age 12 months, and they may sometimes develop a fear of water or a sense of feeling uncomfortable in water around this age. In last week’s article on bathing basics I discussed preparation rituals and bath positions that can benefit and enhance the aquatic experience for your newborn. Once the child has become accustomed to these positions in the water, parents are then able to commence a so-called “water-conditioning” of their baby as part of an introductory phase of the water-familiarisation process. Newborns are born with a trigeminal reflex that enables them to automatically stop breathing for a short period of time if they are submerged underwater, or if water touches the nasal/mouth region of their face. This reflex allows the infant to avoid inhaling water (even with their mouths wide open) for a short period while underwater....

Everybody needs to remember not to be complacent about SUPERVISION as the primary layer of protection in the prevention of drowning. Vigilance is required, no matter how confident a young swimmer may be. Home pools are becoming more common every day. It is estimated now that more than 1 in 5 Australian homes have a swimming pool and, with QLD’s perfect weather, the water is the place to be! But beware: this great Aussie Icon can be dangerous! The RLSSA National Drowning Report for 2009 showed an alarming increase to 302 in the number of deaths caused by drowning. This is the highest figure in 6 years, and a wakeup call to parents especially when we consider that 32 deaths were in the under 5 years age group and, of these, over 60% were in backyard swimming pools. Combine this with the recent tragic drowning of 2 children at public pools, and we need to realise that supervision CAN, and DOES FAIL. Last week, Hampton Swim School conducted a Mother’s Morning Tea at which a segment interviewing a parent of a young child who had drowned was aired. There was not a dry eye in the room, and the grief and guilt of the parent was felt by everyone in attendance....