Babies And Swimming - What Age ? Where ?

[Boo]

Oh dear. That was the topic all along. Please, do try to read properly.

[NedKelly]

Try Kasemrad Hospital at Prachachuen.......its easy to get to from the freeway past Chatuchak to the Ratchadapisek exit........then hit the main road at the bottom of exit and join it to the left and then at the intersection about 200 metres later...turn right........the hospital is on left side. They have a hydrotherapy pool with lessons for kids. Its about 2,000 baht for ten lessons. The rooms is small and well decorated and the water is warm. there is change areas and showers for afterwards. The hospital is private and has a severla places to sit down and relax with a coffee after. very civilised.

Basically it is just familiarisation with some exercises to practice when you go to the sea or other pools. There are tiny babies and bigger one too....mine is 1 year old and has been going for a couiple of months and can easily go under the water without swallowing half the pool. I think this type of activity is essential for futree swimming lessons as it develops a sort of confidence rather than absolute fear.

Go for it !

[samran]

um, can I say that I could swim pretty well and idependently at 4 years old?

Learned to swim at the Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Pool in Malvern, Victoria. Was swimming competitively at 12.

Pool was named after a former PM who drowned......

[redfish44]

I was trained as a swimming instructor in Australia back in the 1990s, and have been swimming as long as I can remember.

In Australia as a kid in the 70s-80s there were mum and babies classes before my lessons, where the mums would get in the pool with the babies in their jumpsuits and the babies would just float around and sleep or gurgle while the mums chatted, gently and slightly holding onto the baby somehow (I used to think when I was young they only held on to them so they didn't drift off across the pool and get stuck in the filter).

When I did my instructor training (with AUSSWIM), a big component was teaching of children, and they taught us that:

Ages 0-7 for water familiarisation - getting children comfortable and relaxed in the water, playing games to encourage them to open their eyes and put their heads underwater, so that they can learn how to hold their breath as the big drive for swimming lessons of small children was to prevent drowning. Water play teaches them the skills to survive if they end up in the water while having fun.

Ages 7+ teaching of the technical motor skills to swim specific strokes.

The reason why technical lessons were not encouraged below the age of 7 (when I was in Aus) is that not all children developed the motor co-ordination required for technical swimming until "about7 years".

They stressed that many kids may be able to swim well before that (I know I was), but kids are kids, they don't need to swim like Michael Phelps or race, just to stay alive.

Putting a bunch of kids the same age (under 7) in a swimming class while their brains and bodies are still developng produces wildly different results with different children. If one child finds certain things more difficult, it can affect their confidence and self esteem etc.

I would assume the same childhood development theories would apply to many activities.

If you have a kid under 7 that seems to be lacking in swimming skill compared to kids their age or younger - don't be concerned. As long as they are still having fun and are safe in the water, its ok.

[Bredbury Blue]

Think-tu-mut really should should stop looking for research on the internet to back up his/her belief that young kids can't swim and take a trip down Bangkok Dolphins (www.bangkokdolphins.com ) and see the kids younger than 6 who really can swim, and then he or she will agree that if kids are taught early they can swim.

[torrenova]

One thing you should remember is that kids should not be trained too hard. I was and I trained for over 10 years and my knee joints are damaged due to the excessive regime. This was not known about 30 years ago but it is now so I don't think most places would do it but just as important is a swim up and down which we were never taught and which caused other problems.

At 18 months or so our daughter loves water but our main concern is just to have her continue to enjoy the activity as he grows and move into learning strokes only when she is ready.

[mrbojangles]

My Daughters 4 months now and she'll be joining me in Saudi by the end of Jan. One of the first things I'll be doing is introducing her to one of the many pools we have, my dad threw me in the pool at 3 months old and i turned out to a very strong swimmer.

Hopefully there'll be no problems and the daughter will catch on pretty quickly, my main concern is teaching the Mrs to swim

[Bredbury Blue]

Just to keep this topic open, here are a few comments:

Bangkok Dolphins website is http://www.bangkokdolphins.com/index_babies.htm

They have about eight locations. The baby's only location is a specially built one (special chlorinators etc).

My boys, who are just 4 and 6 have both been going since they were about 10 months old - and they don't really swim elsewhere except on holidays - are now really putting it all together. The 4 year old can swim freestyle (can't do the arms yet) on top or under water and can probably go the width of a typical municipal pool (he swims head in water and rises to breath when needed). The 6 year old can do freestyle including proper breathing for about 15 metres (he goes further if he just does freestyle legs) and can do some backstroke. We still have to keep full alert on the 4 year old as he believes he can fully swim, the 6 year old we just need to be in the area and keep him in vision. The main thing is they love swimming and compared to their school friends they are fish - the 4-year-old friends cannot go under water for more than a few seconds and are reluctant to get their faces in water.

I would definitely recommend that every expat family get their kids down to learn at BKK Dolphins 30 minutes a week!