Swimming lessons-1 of the greatest gifts you can give your child

Swimming lessons-1 of the greatest gifts you can give your child
A sport that provides a multitude of physical and mental benefits. Here are 5 reasons why swimming lessons are one of the greatest gifts you can give to your child. Mastering any skill, builds confidence. As parent’s it’s our job to encourage and support our children as they tackle difficult tasks. Swimming lessons provides the added bonus of being in control of an environment which can potentially be unsafe. Once grasped, this makes every child feel as though they can achieve anything. Show your child that they can make and achieve small goals to reach a big accomplishment. Let them start with swimming lessons, this new found confidence will help them cope with a larger world.

Let us look at 5 reasons why swimming might be considered the best sport for our children.

1. Swimming is the only sport that can save your child’s life.

An alarming number of children don’t know how to swim or have weak swimming ability. Drowning is one of the most common causes of accidental death for children, so being able to swim is an essential life-saving skill. Swimming is the only sport that can save your child’s life or teach them how to save someone else’s.

There is water all around us. Water is a magnet for children. Would it not be great if you knew that your kids are water safe and that they can swim? You can send them on school camps, and take them to pools and the beach feeling confident that they will be safe in the water. (However, Never leave a young child unattended near water and do not trust a child’s life to another child)

Teach your children to respect water. Teaching kids to swim is just as important as teaching them to walk. That is why our children have the right to appropriate and relevant swimming and water safety skills. Let your child start learning a SKILL FOR LIFE

 

2. Through swimming your child will build courage that will lead to confidence

Nobody is born confident. Confidence is something you develop as you go through life. Learning to swim can be hard. Self-discipline is essential. It takes courage, and a lot of hard work and dedication. Swimming helps improve body awareness and concentration which provides a boost to self-confidence and capability.

Swimming is a wonderful confidence booster. It is a skill set and has a positive impact on your child’s physical and mental health. Goal-setting is another important feature of self-discipline that can be learned in swimming. Achieving goals that they have worked for, will improve their self-confidence and self-esteem.

Acquiring the skill of swimming will give them a real sense of self-esteem in themselves. It gives them sovereignty, teaches them about success and failure, and will shape them into confident swimmers and teach them that they can accomplish anything with hard work.

There is a enormously confident swimmer within you – all it takes is for you to take charge and bring that mentally relentless athlete out”.

 

3. The physical and mental benefits of swimming

Swimming is a healthy activity that you can persue for a lifetime. It is a low-impact sport that has many physical and mental health benefits. Swimming is the perfect exercise.

An extensive study revealed that children who began swimming early experienced expeditious and cognitive skill development than might otherwise be expected. Children who participate in swimming use more large muscle groups than young children do in most other types of physical activity. Water resistance helps them build muscle strength.

The development of better motor skills is an evident result of swimming lessons, as learning to swim require the use of muscles and coordination to develop motor skills.

Learning to swim can uncover important speech elements such as prepositions, and useful concepts like shapes and colors.

Young children involved in group swimming lessons were about 15 months ahead of the normal population in their social and emotional development.

Swimming helps the body to use oxygen more efficiently by providing a steady cardiovascular workout that stimulates heart and lung function and enables children to improve essential skills such as balance, posture, coordination and concentration. Swimmer’s bodies start to release more endorphins, because swimming is one of the best all-round exercises. This natural endorphin high leads to a more positive mental attitude, as well as happiness. 

 

4. Swimming will teach your child to live a healthier lifestyle.

 

The way that swimmers eat their food and exercise, their legendary swimmer’s appetite plays a crucial role in determining how they perform in the water.’

“Investing in early childhood nutrition is a surefire strategy. The returns are incredibly high.” ~Anne M. Mulcahy

Many of our swimmers in our learn-to-swim program fall in love with the sport and then move over to our competitive squads. Here they meet other children and have engaging social interactions. It provides them with a place to interact with others who often share similar interests and lifestyles.

One good habit swimmers learn very quickly is the importance of drinking water. Yes, swimmers do sweat during a workout in the pool. Swimmers go for water first when they are thirsty, not sugar-sweetened drinks! Dehydration leads to muscle cramps and becoming sluggish.

They have unbelievable appetites. During a practice session swimmers can burn 1000’s of calories. You want your child to eat healthy foods. Children needs nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, protein and fat. Limit added sugars.

Our aim as parents is to prepare our kids for the big wide world by teaching them how to make good choices on their own. Instilling these healthy eating habits in your children will ensure they develop into healthy adults. Swimmers are disciplined kids and will adapt quickly to a heathier diet to meet the demands of their bodies. Let us as parents be the role models.

 

5. Swimming will turn your child into an expert in time management.

The time management skills learnt through swimming will assist your child for the rest of their life. Swimmers develop time management skills from a young age. These skills are transferred into other areas of life. Swimmers manage their time more effectively and are a lot more productive.

If a swimmer is late to the starting blocks at an event, they get disqualified. All the hard work, effort and preparation…. gone! They will soon learn that the world won’t wait for them to show up. Competitive swimmers are whiz kids when it comes to breaking down splits and stroke counts. All that lap counting in the water, adding of times, and continuous focus helps them to concentrate in other areas of life.

Set SMART goals. Swimmers are very enthusiastic. Don’t bite off more than you can chew.  The key with setting goals is to change your frame of reference and become short-term focused.

Make sure your goals are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound.

Planning & prioritising – making sure homework is done, to fit in hours+ per week of training, plus competitions, requires this in abundance. Every second of the day has to be planned, every task prioritised and downtime accepted gratefully as a luxury!

The takeaway-“I firmly believe that the sport of swimming gives young people so much more on top of their academic qualifications and athletic prowess. In my business career I have also both worked with, and recruited, a number of people with strong sporting backgrounds, and would argue that the swimmers come out on top!” Nick Holmes

 

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