Kids Swimming Lesson Benefits
Every parent want their child to get a head start in life and swimming has proven to be just the right choice for mental development. Here we will list …
The top 5 benefits of swimming you didn’t know can help your child.
Although swimming is often viewed as a good exercise because it works out all the muscles, your arms, your legs, your glutes, the benefits can be seen in children at a very young age.
So just to name a few, we have picked out “The top 5 benefits of swimming you didn’t know can help your child.”
1. Healthy Brain
Swimming helps stimulate a child’s mind, which can further quicken brain development and intelligence.
Researches have observed that children who learnt to swim at an early age have developed much earlier than the norm.
This, after a study by Griffith Institute for Educational Research found that children under 5 years old, who learnt to swim at an early age, had better visual-motor skills compared to the normal population their age.
Their oral expression was also better as well as in the general areas of literacy and numeracy.
The study noted there were no gender differences between the early swimmers and their non-swimming peers.
Robyn Jorgensen, the lead researcher also mentioned that young swimmers had learnt to count to ten, faster than their peers.
She explains their findings in a video on YouTube.
The researchers surveyed almost 7000 children from Australia, New Zealand and the United States and the results have given swimming the thumbs up.
They concluded that children who learnt to swim early will be better prepared for the transition to adapt to the life in schools.
So an additional step you can take as parents of a toddler is to enroll your child in a swimming course.
EC Swim has a structured plan to help toddlers take the first steps to learn to swim and you can book a visit for swimming lessons in PJ now.
2. Boost Confidence
There’s a lot going on when you start to learn to swim, it’s not just the physical benefits that we get with exercise but a whole lot of confidence boost, especially when it comes to kids.
The first thing every swimmer learns is to overcome their fear of water. Overcoming any fear for that matter will help you conjure up that ‘Nothing’s Impossible’ attitude.
This newfound confidence can be applied to other social situations, especially when your child interacts with their peers in new circumstances.
Developing your child’s social skills is definitely the right move to increasing your child’s self-esteem.
When your child begins swim lessons, he or she will be given a series of tasks to follow, which involves breathing under water and learning the strokes.
Once they have mastered the tasks, it will give them a sense of achievement. Especially for a child, to achieve their goals will increase their self-esteem and when learning in a group, their social skills will also improve.
While swimming is often seen as a solo activity, for children it can be a common ground for them to interact with other children.
Children love to interact with one another, and giving them the platform early in life to socialize can be very beneficial.
3. Life skill
New parents often look for ways to teach their children life skills as ear as possible.
Swimming can be one of the most important life skills for a child, because children are easily attracted to water, in various ways and forms.
A report in the NST cited a study by the Perak Clinical Research Centre, which said that “about 500 people, mostly youth, drown in Malaysia annually – making drowning the second cause of death among those between the ages of 1 and 18.”
If you have kids, you’d probably know by now that water is a magnet for children. They love to play with and in water, but are not aware of the dangers of it.
It’s also been reported that children have drowned in a hotel pool, while their parents were checking in at the lobby.
Parents can surely play a more responsible role by monitoring their kids, but it would also benefit them and their children to learn to swim or at least be taught how to manage themselves in the water.
Rowdy Gaines, a three-time Olympic gold medal winner says “when a child learns to walk, they should learn to swim”
This will also give parents some peace of mind, especially in Malaysia, where there are many waterfalls and beaches to visit during holidays.
4. Reduce stress
In this day and age, we see children experiencing stressful situations from an early age. There can be many reasons for this, but we won’t go into that right now.
However, let’s talk about a possible solution which is swimming.
We know that physical activity releases endorphins in the brain, which then reduces the stress hormone – cortisol.
Swimming is one of the activities that can get the endorphins flowing to put your child in a happy mood.
When a child needs to express their frustration, they usually throw things or scream. This is because they haven’t learnt how to manage their aggression.
In the pool, your kid could use the strokes of moving their body from one end to another as a way to use their aggression in a safe physical way.
After having a good workout in the pool, your child will probably be calmer and out of energy.
This could lead to a good night’s rest and probably that’s all they need to turn their mood around.
The most important thing to do in being calm is to have controlled breathing.
As your child learns the rhythm of breathing in the pool, they can also apply breathing techniques to help them relax out of the pool.
5. Increase focus
One of the things that go unnoticed when children are very young is their ability to focus.
Most parents might just brush it off, but in fact, getting them to focus as early as possible can give them a headstart in their learning journey.
Swimming is an activity that needs a lot of focus on coordination, especially with arm strokes, leg-kicks and breathing.
Although for every child the time it takes to learn this coordination may vary, the earlier we get to train their brain to focus, the better.
Researchers have conducted many studies to see how swimming has helped children with ADHD, especially of improving focus.
People with ADHD are lacking in a chemical called Dopamine, which is necessary for the brain to concentrate, memorize and motivate. When we exercise, our brain releases dopamine.
However, to get kids to focus in the pool can be a near to impossible task.
This is why you have to choose swimming instructors that are passionate and patient.
At EC Swim we are very aware of different learning abilities especially among children and we will go according to your child’s pace.
This is one of the common feedback we get from parents, and when their child improves on their ability to focus, it translates to other learning activities in school.
Conclusion
There are many benefits from sending your child for swimming lessons at an early age.
We have listed just 5 in this article which could shape your child’s future. Firstly, it’s a lifesaving skill that will come in handy at the most unexpected time.
It also promotes a healthy brain, increases focus and reduces stress. What you will also notice is how confident your child will grow up to be and how to build up their social skills.
If you’re looking for a swimming center that will teach swimming according to your child’s pace, contact us at EC Swim.