Did you know that according to a recent survey conducted on families with newborns, that the vast majority of parents felt that swim classes was a rewarding experience that provided benefit to their baby.
No argument here.
There are a myriad of factors that make baby swim classes beneficial to both babies and parents. While most clubs offer some variation of parent & baby swim classes, this article will focus on the innovative swim classes offered by Canada Swim School and the Montreal Institute of Swimming.
You can start at 3 months old
Name 3 other sports you can do with your infant. Ok fine, just two. One?
Enough said.
Healthy, active lifestyles can start in infancy. For active couples and all parents, there is no better way to exercise your infant than to start from the get go. Making swim classes part of the weekly routine and maintaining it for the first few years of a child’s life essentially guarantees the child will be able to swim safely at the youngest possible age.
A great activity that mom/dad and their baby can do together
Parent & Tot classes involve the parents participation in the water with their child. And while the child is being introduced to fun skills, parents are also learning important skills like how to hold their child, how to safely enter the pool together, and more.
It’s a great bonding experience, as infants will achieve great things. And what parent wouldn’t want to be right there sharing in the accomplishment?
It’s fun
Parent & Tot classes must above all provide a fun introduction to swimming for babies and toddlers. If toddlers love the pool, learning how to swim comes faster and more naturally in the subsequent years. While these classes do also focus on learning essential lifesaving skills and establishing a strong foundation for future swimming, the fun always comes first. These classes are filled with songs, games, and stimulating activities.
Essential lifesaving skills are learnt
Building on the last point, there is still much more than fun and games. “Games with Aims” promotes learning through fun, and learning will be had in droves. Typical skills that are taught include safe entries, holding the breath and submerging, floating, basic kicking, and rollovers. As babies adapt to the routines and repetition, instructors increase the intensity so that babies before more and more independent. This results in children learning to swim safely younger and faster.
The younger they start, the faster they learn
There are several reasons for this. First of all, by making swimming part of the routine at the youngest age possible, it becomes part of the child’s lifestyle. In this sense, babies can learn to swim before they can walk (even before they can crawl in exceptional cases).
Further, another huge advantage of learning to swim very early is that you can bypass the potential ‘fear of water’ phase entirely. Around 2-3 years old, children’s minds are developed enough for them to truly understand the fear and danger of swimming. Developing this fear before learning how to swim add years to the “learn to swim” phase of a child’s swimming career, essentially delaying their progress.
It’s easy, flexible and community oriented
Register online. Choose from multiple days & times & instructors. Multiple locations. Dedicated customer service. Home grown companies where the owners are still teachers themselves. Swimming with a private swim club has many of advantages over community and public pools, namely the culture, service, and innovation.
Finding the right activity for your newborn is essential. Swimming checks off a lot of the boxes, from health, to survival, to fun and bonding. Don’t wait, inform yourselves and get started at a pool near you!
