Portable Pools Pose Biggest Drowning Risk

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Katrina

I cannot take credit for the head-turning headline (or breaking new story, either). HealthDay, brought to you by Yahoo! News, has the whole story here. But it’s true: 40% of all drownings take place in shallow wading pools.

Any body of water in your backyard — from garden fountains to filled up buckets to extremely shallow portable pools — is a drowning risk. It’s so easy to overlook these things, because we become so used to their presence. Or the safety associated with owning them gets neglected because it’s a downer or a hassle to do the right thing.

It’s kind of how I feel when someone I don’t see too often wants to hold my baby: I feel bad for asking that person to take a squirt of hand sanitizer, like I am some kind of germ-freak. And it sort of kills the mood. But it is what I need to do. I’m glad I’ve done it, because it turns out Josie has been exposed to whooping cough. And one time, strep throat. And then slap-cheek fever. And this past weekend, the flu!

Take precautions around ANY body of water! Don’t feel bad about being an advocate for safety. Hmm. Maybe next post is about how to be proactive around a pool (especially hard when the pool isn’t yours) without being annoying or taking away the fun.

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Part 2 of Starting Your Child Swimming Early, Pros & Cons

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Tina Ramser

With summer now underway and parents flocking to swim programs, this is Part 2 on a popular topic about the benefits (and detriments) of starting your little one (4 months to 2 1/2 years of age) off early in the water.

To summarize Part 1, we discussed while it is definitely important your infant or toddler partake in lesson or pool exposure, and that amazing things can happen at this age, the question When will my child be able to swim on their own? is a very loaded question with answers that hinge on a hierarchy of expectations. Swimming takes a certain physical strength and cognitive development, and while that develops daily for each young age, it will not be until much older, say 7 or 8, will your kid be able to handle the kind of true swimming independence where you can turn your back. If you need a refresher on Part 1, go ahead and click here.

Part 2 is about getting closer to the pros and cons with starting swimming at 1 1/2 to nearly 3 years of age.

The Cons: Moodiness, Lack of Judgment & Comprehension
This is usually a very difficult age for me to teach. I think this is a very difficult age for mom or dad. Lessons, or water exposure sessions, can go sweet or sour or any given day or moment. I’ve had 2-year olds love going underwater so much they didn’t want to leave after the first lesson, only to start screaming-crying at the start of the next.

I think it must be hard to have opinions and separation anxiety and not be able to express yourself verbally, which is what I feel is going on with this age group spread. I can only think to refer to this moodiness as early (and extended) “Terrible Two’s.”

  • My advice: Sign up for one private one-on-one lesson or group class where you can get in the water — a situation where you can be told and showed how to do skills and if your child isn’t having the best day, you can walk away without disrupting the class or loosing too much money. If you’re curious on what to work on skill-wise for this age, go here.

Another con to discuss is how at this age, children lack a sense of judgment. They might love the water, but they don’t know how to not run straight for it when they see it. Cognitive development — the kind we instructors need to have a retaining conversation about pool rules — isn’t there yet.

  • My advice: Always, alway, always, get into the pool first before your child, and make them climb out first as well. Use cuing. Meaning before they jump or swim to you once in the pool, make them wait until they hear your cue, such as 1~2~3! before they do it. No matter what your child can do, it is unacceptable to leave them in the pool unattended. Do not teach your child that swimming without you, or without someone else, is okay. Work on pool rules and safe behaviors now.

This leads us into comprehension, or communication. Instruction is about taking in information and applying it. What your early/extended Terrible Two’s cannot communicate through words is done through tears (and only a parent knows how to make it better). Crying in water, for any reason doesn’t grow happy swimmers.

  • My advice: Use adult words or swimming language from the beginning, especially on the safety front. Manage the communication barriers yourself. You cannot inflict an instructor with the impossibility of getting your child to do something they can’t mentally understand or emotionally carry out until their age allows them to.

The Pros: Submersion & A Good Start
The pros don’t need much cheering. The best thing you can do for your child is take them underwater, or fully submerge them.

  • My advice: Introduce the sensation of water pouring on the head using “water play” tactics. Sing songs and dribble over the face and head to establish comfort. Use your cuing before you dribble. Move on to secured lifts or jumps off the side of the pool, where you are holding your child the whole time and have eye contact. You cue into the water — and under the water– at your control and confidence. You build up to a full submersion together.

If you notice, most of the advice I give for this age requires you get into the pool with your baby or toddler. That means having a pool or a membership at a pool. Most of my advice requires you being the first experience of a good swimming example, which means being patient and working on age-appropriate skills until the cognitive ability to understand more is present. Yes, to have a swim kid, you must be a swim parent and swim by example. That’s probably not just the safest advice I can give you, but the best head start too.

Posted in Children Learning to Swim, Parenting & Swimming, Swim Lessons & Programs, Uncategorized, Water Safety | 3 Comments

The Pros & Cons of Starting Your Child Swimming Early, Part I

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Tina Ramser

Every parent wants their children to be safe and unafraid of the water. I see wonderful, proactive parents attempting to start swimming lessons very early for their toddlers, and even infants, on a daily basis. It’s not the intentions that aren’t accurately examined for starting swimming lessons early: it’s the expectations that need to be fleshed out.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all about water exposure, which in itself is an entirely different form of approaching the water, as well as the act of teaching a lesson itself to a very young one, which I will classify between 4 months and 2 1/2 years of age. Some amazing things can take place when you start your child that early (and by the way, a good common age for starting swimming lesson is 3, 3 1/2 years of age.) But there are pros and cons to starting earlier — some very unexpected pros and cons, which is why we need to take this topic in parts.

Let’s start Part I with a very common and expected question parents ask me: When will my child be ready to swim on his own? That is a very loaded question with very unpredictable answers. I cannot, with honesty and accuracy, ever quote a parent on the number of lessons it will take for a child to be totally secure in the water. The answer extends beyond swim lessons.

For your child to swim on their own means to me you being comfortable enough to turn your concentration away from the pool for a phone call or allowing him/her to attend a pool party without your attendance. Personally, if it was my kid, I wouldn’t allow these situations to happen until the child was around the age of 7 or 8. Let me explain why.

Aside of being able to swim well, for a child to be safe enough to swim in the water with little adult supervision, the child needs to have the three following skills:

  1. Ability to tread water. The child needs to be able to get a good and safe view of the pool situation. Also, treading takes a lot of strength to perform. A great way to test their ability with this skill is to see if they can have a rather long conversation with you while doing it, and from a distance.
  2. Physical strength to push a person away. When a child is in distress, no matter how much you and I tell them to never do it, they are naturally going to grab for someone else. Multiple drowning situations are very common, and I’ve personally had to break up several of them. Your child has to be able to get out of a panic hold and swim away.
  3. Sense of judgment & control over emotions. People don’t drown because they cannot swim; people drown because they panic. Your child need to be able to talk him/herself out of panic. Even better yet, use their sense of judgment to stay away from situations that can create panic. This is why horseplay is often not allowed at public pools. Horseplay (ie. dunking, grabbing, throwing) has a way of turning bad, fast. Come to think of it, any situation where you cannot breathe has a way of turning bad fast.

From dealing with all age groups, it’s the 7 and 8 year olds that have the best mastery of the above skills. So, you can start your child swimming early, but the con here discussed in Part I is the fact you cannot necessarily turn your attention or control away once your child can swim until certain skills, or what I feel a certain age, is obtained.

This criteria isn’t engraved on the back of a Red Cross manual, although I am combining Red Cross safety standards. This opinion is formed from the collective experience of my peers, which include both instructors and lifeguards. This tallies up to be a lot of years of combined experience.

Whenever a family wants to start a child out with lessons earlier than the common age recommended above, if I don’t get asked first about when the child will be able to swim, I carefully ask the question to the parent: What is your definition of swimming for your child’s current age?

It begins a conversation about realistic expectations. There is a lot that goes into waterproofing, both in and outside the water. Like I said, kids can do amazing things in the water, but it’s important that parents can also see the child for the age they are, not just for the ability they want them to be, as sincere of a wish it is.

Posted in Children Learning to Swim, Parenting & Swimming, Swim Instructors, Swim Lessons & Programs | 2 Comments

Can Just One Swim Lesson Make a Difference?

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Katrina

Let’s say you aren’t too sure about your child’s current swimming ability. Maybe they were doing fairly well last summer, but you are worried they might have forgotten a lot of their swim skills. Of perhaps your child was really afraid of the water and you’re not sure how to go about addressing it in the upcoming months. Can just one swim lesson make a difference in their swimming abilities? The answer is yes.

There are a lot of reasons why a parent might find themselves in the dilemma of looking into just one swim lesson. Budgetary issues, for one (which is why I am publishing an Ebook on teaching your fearful child to swim — it is much more cost efficient to flat-out buy my teaching skills than hire my teaching skills.)  Time is another constraint. Because it takes time to find the right swim program; and once you do, it takes time to get there. I feel your pain.

Which is why I think it is okay to sign up your child — regardless of their swim ability — for one swim lesson. Hear me out on how one lesson can work for you:

  • Choose a seasoned instructor. If you search for an experienced teacher, you should be able to squeeze out information better as to what swim skills your child can be depended upon to execute — as well as which they need to work on.
  • Focus on an assessment only. Make it clear to the teacher you are there to find out where your child is at with as many swim skills as they can possibly review in the time given.
  • Ask for examples of what to work on. Have the teacher show you the two top skills your child needs to master. Having the right “professional” holds and cues makes all the difference in your child learning the swim task.
  • Get advice on what would be the best next step. I’ve dealt with a lot of parents who went about getting their child to develop swim strokes — or even just a trust with the water –the hard way. This means they either signed up for the wrong class or program because they went into it with blind faith.
  • Private, private, private. Anti up for the one-on-one private lesson. It’s unrealistic to expect a teacher to give you a solid assessment on your kid if your stuck them in a group class with a ratio even as low as 4:1. In fact, I rarely get the full picture on a child’s true swim strengths and weakness after four group sessions. I’m too busy keeping them interested and being fair with turns to be able to focus too deeply on just one of them.
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Follow the Laws of Readiness For Fearful Swimmers

Posted on May 5, 2011 by Katrina

Is there such thing as Laws of Readiness? Yes, according to Edward Thorndike. This question was posed between master swim instructors at a recent staff meeting. We were discussing how to appropriately handle parents who feel their child needs to “move up” in swim levels before we know the child is ready.

I wrote about a child’s personal sense of readiness when learning to swim a few weeks ago found here. But I wanted to share with you Thorndike’s definition:

Law of Readiness
The Law of Readiness means a person can learn when physically and mentally adjusted (ready) to receive stimuli. Individuals learn best when they are ready to learn, and they will not learn much if they see no reason for learning. If trainees have a strong purpose, a clear objective and a sound reason for learning, they usually make more progress than trainees who lack motivation. When trainees are ready to learn, they are more willing to participate in the learning process, and this simplifies the instructor’s job. If outside responsibilities or worries weigh heavily on trainees’ minds or if their personal problems seem unsolvable, they may have little interest in learning.

In my opinion, what this excerpt is saying (if you apply it to learning to swim) is that one major factor is crucial for progress: A feeling of security in the water. Because a child is not going to perform if they feel fear.

As parents and teachers, we can assure the child that they are very safe and can do it, but if they are convinced they cannot perform the task, our convictions have no effect. Fear develops from real experiences, such as knowing how much resistance the water adds to their efforts, or maybe swallowing enough of it to create discomfort — factors that area a part of life in swimming and difficult to control or remove.

Fear is something to be honored, not ignored, and it can take a child time to work through it. Hence, their Law of Readiness in action. Your thoughts on the subject?

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The Great Swim Debate: Private or Group Lessons?

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Katrina

I originally wrote this post about three years ago. But it is time to revisit the subject. The debate between signing your child up for group swim lessons or private one-on-one lessons is an important one to ponder. It’s especially tempting when trying to balance the family budget. So I want you to hear me out on a couple of points.

When I think about using a group approach to get a swimmer started, I recall a quote my friend’s grandmother used to say: “Only the rich can afford to buy cheap, because they can afford to buy something again and again and again …”

Enrolling in group lessons to teach your child, which are cheaper than paying for a private instructor’s time, can feel a lot like that quote. Read further, as I have some points that can save you time, money, headache, and get you to end up with a safer swimmer.

Ratios Equal Reduced Attention, Period
Even in the best group swim instruction ratio settings, which typically is (and I wouldn’t settle less for) 4:1, your child isn’t going to get all the nurturing, turns, information and swim time they require to make significant progress. You’ll end up repeating the process again and again and again …

In any numbers setting, a teacher will always find themselves teaching the medium, or middle, which ultimately means learning and practicing skills all students can somewhat do. This slows progress for both the highest-level student and lowest-level student. So if the highest-level swimmer can put their face in and swim back-and-forth to the teacher, but all the lowest-level swimmer can do is swim assisted with their face up, common ground has been found and all students will stay within the confines of this activity.

Water is a safety issue — an instructor cannot turn their back on a student just so another could be pushed to swim further out. And you wouldn’t expect an instructor to force a fearful child to keep up with the pack.

Breeding Ground For Bad Habits
Another reason you might want to reconsider group lessons is because it can breed bad habits. Even if your instructor attempts an individual approach using a watchful eye, kids still have to wait their turn. They get bored. They start doing things they shouldn’t be doing, from spitting water to swimming away.

Instructors in a group setting are generally forced to go against instincts and become an entertainer, doing a lot of what I call “plate-spinning” (you know, a busy act clowns do in the circus), as well as spend thirty seconds of every minute gently disciplining/educating.

When A Semi-Private (2:1 Ratio) Works, When it Doesn’t
If you haven’t figured it out yet, I don’t teach beginner’s group classes if I can’t help it. I don’t even really like the semi-private lesson approach, where two students share one instructor; be it siblings or friends.

More often than not, the two students are mismatched swim partners. They might be great friends and get into the pool because they have one another, but it can jeopardize long-term results in the form of acquiring swim ability or establishing water safety. You end up with what I’ve described above, and I’m back to my old plate-spinning routine to keep them engaged.

The exception to the semi-private rule is for students who are able to swim by themselves in the water. I see lots of 6 year-olds and higher benefiting from the extra push a swim partner gives them. And of course an exception is if the parent begins to see that splitting any two apart will net in more results.

Not all instructors feel the same. I’m simply not a fan of group or mismatched semi-private lessons because each child deserves to get exactly what he/she needs in a swim lesson to make progress toward being be a safe swimmer.

But all instructors can agree that if you are very serious about getting the job thoroughly done, you go with one-on-one instruction. Water safety needs to come first before play or relying on any group dynamics that at some point stop delivering results. And you’ll save more money in the end.

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5 Ways Swimming Supports Simplified Parenting

Posted on April 18, 2011 by Katrina

I recently read a really great book about resisting the trend to give your kids too much, too fast and too soon. Simplicity Parenting by Dr. Kim John Payne uncovers how the paradox of choice can actually cause a child have low self-esteem. Dr. Payne has helped many parents solve their child’s issues by simply removing a ton of distracting or unhelpful stuff from their rooms, schedules or lives.

For example, is your child acting up in school or maybe having trouble sleeping at night? Get rid of the screens (computers or televisions) in your home and cut your child’s toy cache by 75%, tossing out “fixed” objects (toys that don’t make you think but are loudly entertaining) or marketing-induced things (Little Mermaid dolls).

It made me start thinking how swimming provides a marketing-free, clean and simple environment. Here’s 5 ways swimming supports simplified parenting:

You don’t need much to get started. Just a bathing suit, really, and a pool of course. The water provides everything you need to stay engaged. From the sensation of floating to the feel of the water, swimming ignites all your senses and makes you exist in real-time.

Pool environments support creative free play. Once upon a time we told our kids to go outside and play. We’re so afraid of our kids being under-achievers or being bored that we schedule the heck out of them. Swimming takes back the idea all the creativity and confidence we need lives inside us — we just need the proper playground to get back to it.

Material items aren’t required to enjoy. You don’t need professional paint brushes to excel at swimming. Nor do you need sparkly shoes to be accepted at swimming. Goggles can help, and diving toys do increase the fun, but they aren’t necessary. It’s also very hard to carry stuff around the pool when your arms are needed to move and when I do see kids swimming with toys, sooner or later they abandon them.

Marketing to children doesn’t exist. There are no underwater banners painted on the pool walls to buy Pampers or McDonalds. Rarely do swimsuits advertise a brand. There aren’t any television or computer screens involved. The worry about owning and buying gets tossed out the window when swimming.

Swimming gets kids moving again. There is nothing about swimming that is sedentary. No matter your kid’s body or brain size, swimming supports all shapes and abilities. It is kind on bodies because it is low-impact and water makes us weightless. Yet it is a 3-D work out because resistance is everywhere.

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Precursor to Learning How to Swim, Part 4: The Goal-Setting Aspect

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Katrina

This is a part of a four-part series on precursors in learning how to swim. We are attempting to figure out the most common parental question, when will my child learn to swim, by discussing four vital aspects that play a big roll in answering this question.

Part 4: The goal-setting aspect. Being able to manipulate the water enough to float, counting on swim memory to get safely to the side of the pool, and breaking through personal sense of readiness barriers all hinge on one thing: goal-setting. Fearful kids have got to have a good reason to want to swim. It can be something as minuscule as a material reward for coming to a lesson. It can be something as significant as wanting to attend an end-of-summer pool party without the water wings. It is up to the parents to find out where their child’s motivation or “currency” is located. Your family dynamics, parenting style and child’s personality should help guide you into what kind of language and expectation or goal-setting works best. I’ve seen small after-lesson treats like ice cream work. And I’ve seen moms telling their child in a firm voice that learning to swim is a “non-negotiable” work, too. For the instructor, I use the reward of playing with fun water toys only after skills have been accomplished as a means to teach my students about the importance of goal-setting.

Does this answer the question, when will my child learn to swim, much better? But it also leads us to another common but oh-so-hard-to-define swim question: What is the definition of swimming?

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Precursor to Learning How to Swim, Part 3: The “Personal Sense of Readiness” Aspect

Posted on April 12, 2011 by Katrina

This is a part of a four-part series on precursors in learning how to swim. We are attempting to figure out the most common parental question, when will my child learn to swim, by discussing four vital aspects that play a big roll in answering this question.

Part 3: The “Personal Sense of Readiness” aspect. Some people will tell you that their 2-year loves water so much that they have to watch them with hawk eyes around every single open water environment, from fountains to fish ponds. The American Academy of Pediatricians will tell you children are not developmentally ready for formalized swim lessons until the age of 4. Your story might be that your 5-year doesn’t even like to put their face in the water. The point is to not allow yourself to be guided or intimidated too much by using a set age of when your child should be able to accomplish certain skills in the water. The fearful student needs the space to come into a sense of personal readiness when they are ready to grasp the responsibilities associated with swimming.

I’ll give you an example of a child I am working with that is working on a personal sense of readiness with swimming. This 3-year old student of mine loves coming to lessons. Milo is all smiles when asked to put his face in the water and kick or scoop – he even hangs onto the pool edge all on his own. But with one exception: as long as I am always near him. When it comes to performing these mastered actions from a longer distance – like jumping out to me from the pool steps without the assistance of my hands – although he can clearly accomplish these tasks, he is hesitant to perform them because of the distance between us. My job is to continue to coax his current abilities into this new level of independence, but the other half of his success hinges on his development of a personal sense of readiness. This comes from replacing imagined water fears with new and positive experiences. With consistent lessons, practice, maturity, self-realization about flotation capabilities and the trust a fearful swimmer develops with his support team (teacher and parents) students like Milo always come around.

Next entry: The Goal-Setting Aspect!

Posted in Children Learning to Swim, Parenting & Swimming, Swim Lessons & Programs | 1 Comment

Precursor to Learning How to Swim, Part 2: The Memory Aspect

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Katrina

This is a part of a four-part series on precursors in learning how to swim. We are attempting to figure out the most common parental question, when will my child learn to swim, by discussing four vital aspects that play a big roll in answering this question.

Part 2: The Memory Aspect. Swimming can be a forgotten activity, especially for young learners not yet able to control their emotions. The difference between progressing students and non-progressive students – be it working on putting their faces in the water or performing the freestyle stroke – is the amount of practice that has been put into mastering the skill or task at hand. Memory aids swimmers when they panic; skill repetition kicks in and they remember what to do in order to swim or be safe. I can always tell when a student has been practicing in the water with a parent and when they have not. It’s built on a very simple premise: practicing students perform the last task you worked on them with much better than what you witnessed during your previous session. Practice solidifies memory.

Next entry: The “Personal Sense of Readiness” Aspect!

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