Strollerderby : swim lessons

Five-Year Old Saves Toddler from Drowning

Shannon LC Cate — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:00:00 GMT

Five-year old Riley Braden has been swimming since she was two. A few weeks ago, her skills paid off in a big way. When Riley was swimming with some friends in a hotel pool, she noticed an 18-month old child in distress. As Riley describes it:

"She didn't have her floaties on and her parents weren't watching. I saved her. I dashed and I pushed off the wall with my feet and went down and got her."

A witness said Riley appeared on the surface with the child in her arms, declaring "I've got the baby!" She returned the child to her parents who were visiting from out of town.

Riley, who will be six next week, isn't sure what she wants for her birthday. But if I was that toddler's mother, I'd buy her a pony. Or two!

They Say: Early Swim Lessons Help Prevent Drowning

Kate Tuttle — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 14:57:00 GMT

And we say, duh. But it's not quite as obvious as it sounds, it turns out. Apparently, the accepted wisdom regarding swimming lessons had been to hold of until a child is five or older -- that's according to the old advice from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Their fear was that younger kids who had had lessons (and their parents) would be endangered by a false sense of confidence around bodies of water. And after all, you can drown even if you've had swimming lessons.

But a new study suggests that swimming lessons for kids of all ages can help prevent drowning. Researchers looked at child deaths by drowning over a two-year period, comparing the victims' experience with swimming against other children the same age in their locations. According to lead author Dr. Ruth A. Brenner, the data indicated that swimming lessons did decrease the risk of drowning among young children (though the study adds the standard caution that even good swimmers can drown).

Does this mean you should ever let your young kids run around near an ungated pool, or leave them to swim unsupervised? Hell no. But does it mean that early exposure to water and swimming are not just a fun warm-weather activity but can also provide valuable skills that may help them in the future? Yes. Now if only I could find a mom-friendly swimsuit...

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When Your Kid Wants To Quit

Amy S.F. Lutz — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:34:00 GMT

After about 800 intoxicating hours of Olympic coverage, I'm sure I'm not the only parent imagining myself in the stands cheering my kids on as they pursue Olympic gold in swimming, or tennis, or track, or gymnastics, or beach volleyball (although I'm not a huge fan of beach volleball - if the swimmers don't have to compete in bikinis, is it really that necessary for the volleyball players???)

But what do you do when your kid says to you - as my seven-year-old said to me last month - "I don't want to do swim team anymore"?

There's an interesting article in The New York Times by Alina Tugend about quitting, one that acknowledges how difficult it is to respond to this kind of statement from our children. After all, the first instinct is to "tell him to stick with it because he’ll appreciate it when he’s older, or he made a commitment (and we spent the money), or because we fear that letting him give up this time means he will give up on anything when it gets a little tough. And in this age of instant gratification, we don’t want to teach our children that just because something is difficult means it’s not worth pursuing. We want them know the joy of mastery, of accomplishing an arduous task."

But, as important as these lessons are, it's equally important to recognize the reason why your child wants to give up the activity. Is there a problem with the coach, instructor, or other kids? Maybe it's just not the right activity for your child. After all, I don't like to swim very much, and even after months of training for a triathlon, the swim was still by far my worst event. Why should I require my daughter to embrace this sport?

Still, I'm not giving up. Pretty much for all the reasons Tugend lists above, I'm resorting to bribery to keep Erika from quitting swimming. Namely, if she joins the swim team again next summer, she can also do horseback riding camp (something I've been resisting for reasons too numerous and irrelevant to go into here).

What do you do, or what do you plan to do, when your kid says no to piano, to soccer, to ballet?