The First Thing to Teach your Kids When You Move to Arizona
By Liz Suto
I had just removed a life-jacket from my 2-year-old while we were on the top step of the pool, and began to step out of the water. I turned around to dry off my son, and found him completely submerged in the pool. He had fallen backwards off the step, and sunk into the 3 feet of water. What struck me in those fleeting milliseconds is that he didn’t seem to move under that water…why wasn’t he struggling to get to the surface? When I pulled him out of the water, he understandably began to scream, and I gained a new understanding of how young children can slip away so quickly to become a drowning statistic.
With our warmer weather and huge number of neighborhood pools, it’s not surprising that Arizona ranks number 2 in drowning deaths, behind Florida. Every year, an average of 250 children under age 5 die in swimming pools nationwide. The national rate of deaths among children 3 and younger is 2.95 per 100,000. In Arizona, the death-by-drowning rate is more than double that, at 7 per 100,000 children. Our un-honorable ranking at number 2 means that we need to be more aware of the dangers of water and small children, and more diligent in training our young children to swim. But most importantly, we must be more careful in our supervision.
Swimming Lessons De-mystified – Questions and Answers
What is the best age for learning how to swim?
The experts disagree as to what age children should start the swimming lesson process. The American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend swimming lessons for children under the age of 4, mainly because lessons may give parents a false sense of security about a young child’s swimming ability. However, the American Red Cross promotes learn-to-swim programs for very young children, and the Anthem Recreation program has classes with parent involvement starting at 6 months. Swim Lesson instructor Karen Foley, believes that early familiarity with water is essential. “I feel that once they reach 3, then they are usually ready to start learning,” she says. “The longer you wait, the more fearful the child gets.”
What swim skills should my young child learn?
Early exposure to water is essential. Parent-tot classes provide instruction for very small children, with the parent staying with the child in the pool to provide a feeling of security and reassurance.
Foley believes that that young children need to learn about water and how their bodies work within it. “The whole dynamics of swimming is physics,” she explains. “I put toys on the steps for them to pick up, starting at the first step. As the toy is put on the lowest step, the child tries to reach down and get it, but they can’t.” Foley says that this simple game teaches small children that they can’t sink all the way to the bottom, and their bodies are meant to float. She teaches kids simple tricks to help them float on their back. If your chin points up, you are telling your legs to float. Once your chin drops, your legs begin to sink. She believes that when kids understand the basic physics of swimming, they will feel more confident in the water.
Kids of any age need a healthy respect for the water. If young children fall in, they need to learn how to turn over on their back to breathe and regain control. Foley tells parents that kids need plenty of practice without the “floaties.” Life vests teach kids to be vertical in the water, but without a vest or floating aid, kids naturally are horizontal to the water. She relates a story about a kid that always went in the water with a life vest or floaties. One day he ran to join some friends in the pool, and forgot he didn’t have any life vest on. He panicked, but luckily his dad was nearby. The boy could have stood up in the chest-deep water, but his dependence upon a floating aid made him totally helpless in the water without them.
Lessons every summer are important. Skill repetition is necessary, and children need to be exposed to the basic techniques each year.
My older child gets along fine in the pool. Should he take more swim lessons?
Often kids learn the basics of getting from one side of the pool to the other, without learning the more advanced techniques of swimming. Kids who do not know good stroke production may run into trouble when they swim in oceans or lakes; powerful ocean currents can cause swimmers to tire easily. If you don’t learn how to swim correctly, you aren’t going to last long on the ocean or lake. You need to know how to relax in the water, and to swim on your back. Before taking a beach vacation, parents might want to set a goal for kids to swim 2 laps in the pool before they can go in the ocean.
Whatever the child’s age, parents should apply the Boy/Girl Scout “Be Prepared” motto to swimming. Water safety is a life-or-death skill, and for Arizona residents, learning water skills needs to be a priority.
