Around the age of 3 parents begin to enroll their children into all kinds of lessons, dancing, music, karate, gymnastics and swimming. Of all of these, swimming is the only one that can save a child’s life.

However, sometimes children drop out of swimming lessons before they are really capable of taking care of themselves in the water. As a parent, you may think your child has been in lessons long enough to be safe in the water and pull your child out of swimming lessons when the child can swim one length of the pool.

You should ask your child’s instructor, “Is my child really safe to stop taking swimming lessons?”

An instructor has to have a lot of confidence to tell a parent, “no” your child is not ready. Your child still has a lot to learn.” The junior squad program meets this need for continued learning. Without this program there is a huge gap between swimming lessons and truly being safe in the water and/or moving onto a swim team.

Junior squad programs may offer some different techniques that keep the child’s interest a little longer than merely continuing to take swimming lessons. The child will learn competitive strokes and skills. As the swimmers starts using different muscle groups in learning other strokes, they become stronger. Their muscles and cardiovascular systems are being challenged and, in turn, the swimmers become safer in the water.

This is of course the most important benefit, but additionally, the swimmers learn skills that prepare them to join an Australian Swim Team.

Australian Swimming realizes not every child wants to be competitive or join a swim team. However, participating in a junior squad program can greatly benefit your child’s health and wellness. As your child grows in confidence he or she might even decide to move into competitive swimming.

A junior squad program should also offer a bridge to you, the parent. Moving on to a swim team can be overwhelming for the swimmer and the parent. This is the first step to making that transition.

Remember, just because the teenager swim six days a week, doesn’t mean that this is the schedule for a novice nine year old! Junior squad programs also offer a great option to the parent whose child wants to swim for health and wellness but without a competitive involvement.

Remember to talk to your child’s instructor before deciding that your child is “good to go” and safe in the water. Just swimming a length of the pool is not enough. The health and safety benefits your child gets from continuing to swim in a bridge program are definitely worth your time and effort. And who know? Your child may go on to a lifelong interest in swimming!

Water familiarization, where small children explore and become comfortable in water environments, developing a respect for the water.
Gaining confidence through various water activities which include and lead into “safe entries and exits *breath control *submersion’s *floating *propulsion with arms and legs *turning * and back floating
Developing the ‘strokes’ so that your child can efficiently cover much greater distances. The whole ‘learn to swim’ experience should be positive; free from fear of force, with a focus of skill acquisition and safety around aquatic environments.
As your child gets older, the chances are that they will be exposed to potentially hazardous water situations that will require them to be ‘stronger’ swimmers. Swim Australia recommends that children are able to reasonably comfortably complete a 400m swim before they are deemed to be able to swim well. As this ability is developed, they should also be learning a variety of rescue skills.
Combined with learning the physical skills, the child is developing parallel water safety knowledge. This ranges from knowing not to go near the pool unless with an adult through to swimming between the flags when at the beach.

Please note: no matter how well your child can swim, they are never safe around water. There is no such thing as ‘drown-proof’ or ‘water-safe’.

Water temperature – a sudden immersion in cold water can result in ‘cold shock’ which may lead to deep gasping, panic and inhalation of water. Even a child who can swim, can drown in the first 2-3 minutes due to cold shock.

Turbulent water – children who are used to swimming in still water can panic if the water is choppy or swirling. Panic can easily cause a child to forget all of their swimming skills and go under.

Clothing – wet clothes are extremely heavy and can add an extra 20-25% of a child’s body weight. Clothed swimming practice in lessons is supported.

No Goggles – even the simplest thing like falling in without goggles can lead to drowning – it is very easy for children to panic, and once this happens their survival rates of an accidental fall in decrease.

Tiring – children who are swimming well one minute, can also get tired, panic and go under quite fast, son constant supervision of children who are swimming is essential.

While swimming lessons do not substitute for proper supervision, learning to swim can make a huge difference if your child accidentally falls in.

Did you know that the over use of floatation devices (e.g. inflatable arm bands) can give children a dangerous false sense of ability, taking away their respect for deep water and their respect for deep water and their self preservation. When the devices are removed, children often forget they are not wearing them, and leap into the water only to sink straight to the bottom.

Although they may have a limited place in teaching and recreational settings, they must not be relied upon and are NOT a substitute for supervision. Swim Australia recommends periods of ‘floatie-free’ time while swimming if you choose to use floatation devices.

The difficulty with the back crawl is that the swimmer cannot see where he/she is going. It is very easy to bump into other swimmers or with the end of the pool, while learning this stroke. You could start by counting how many strokes it takes you to swim a length, so you will know when you are getting close to the end of the pool.

The initial position for the back crawl is lying on your back with your arms and legs stretched straight out. While swimming all of your body should stay close to the surface of the water.
Backstroke Technique Swimming Tips:

Step 1 – Leg Movement: Your legs constantly kick while doing the backstroke. This allows the swimmer to travel in a straight line. You should use long fast kicks and make sure your legs are moving up and down. Your knees are kept slightly bent and underwater, and your toes should make a small splash when you kick. You can practice the leg movement by using the safety rail at the side of the pool. When you have built up enough confidence you can then let go of the rail as kicking your legs will keep you afloat.
Step 2 – Arm Movement: The arms are used similar to the front crawl, but in reverse. The swimmer makes a circular motion as they move their arms in and out of the water at alternate intervals. You can start by putting one arm in the water in a straight line above your shoulder. Your palm should be facing away and once your hand is in the water it should push down and towards your feet. Keep pushing your hand towards your feet until your elbow is straight. Then lift your arm out of the water, back to its original position and repeat the motion again. The arm should be kept straight all of the time it is out of the water.

“It looks like my child has too much fun, shouldn’t she be working harder?”

Well you would be happy to know that at AQUASTARS Swim School being happy, means they are learning better and developing great associations in the long term.

Be happy that your child is having fun! According to a recent study conducted in Australia, children who experience fun while participating stay in sports longer. At this stage of the game, the most important aspect of development is the mastery of skills, which means learning to swim the strokes with proper technique. Fundamentals must be established prior to true “training” taking place. And, if she is having fun in the process of learning, she is more likely to continue to swim.

The best thing you can do is to encourage your children to “have fun, be safe, and play smart”. After practice ask them if they had fun and learned anything new or did anything they had never done before and offer your praise. Sometimes children will express feelings to their parents that may help the coach provide a more suitable environment for the individual. You are encouraged to talk to the coach about your child’s responses to the practice sessions.

If you decide to watch practice the most important thing you can do is allow your child to focus on the coach and on the tasks at hand. We know it is common in many youth sports for parents to stand at the sidelines and shout instructions or encouragements and sometimes admonishments to their children. Please try not to signal them, or to try a certain technique, or to offer to fix an equipment problem or even to remind them to listen to the coach. In fact, just as you would never interrupt a school classroom to talk your child, you should not interrupt a practice by attempting to communicate directly with your child.

WHAT’S WRONG WITH ENCOURAGING YOUR CHILD DURING PRACTICE?
There are two issues. First we want the child to focus on the coach and to learn the skill for their personal satisfaction rather than learning it to please their parents. Secondly, parental encouragement often gets translated into a command to swim faster or run faster and going faster may be the exact opposite of what the coach is trying to accomplish. In most skill development we first slow the athletes down so that they can think through the motions. Save encouragements and praise for after the practice session.

WHAT’S WRONG WITH SHOUTING OR SIGNALING INSTRUCTIONS TO YOUR CHILDREN?
Those instructions might be different from the coach’s instructions and then you have a confused child. Sometimes you might think the child did not hear the coach’s instruction and you want to help. The fact is that children miss instructions all the time. Part of the learning process is learning how to listen to instructions. When children learn to rely on a backup they will have more difficulty learning how to listen better the first time.

WHAT’S WRONG WITH HELPING YOUR CHILD FIX HIS EQUIPMENT?
Quite simply, we want to encourage the children to become self-reliant and learn to take care of their own equipment.

If you need to speak to your child regarding a family issue or a transportation issue or to take your child from practice early you are certainly welcome to do so but please approach the coach directly with your request and we will immediately get your child out of the practice. If you need to speak to the coach for other reasons please wait until the end of practice or call the coach at an appropriate time.

• The pool must be fully isolated from the house by a four-sides complying fence.
• Self-closing and self-latching gates are used.
• The fence and gate are checked regularly to ensure they are in good working order.
• Children, however, can climb fences.

Children as young as 2 years old, have drowned in backyard pools after using chairs, bins, pot plants, eskies etc, to boost themselves up to open the gate or climb over. Ensure that there are no items in the yard that children could drag over and use to climb the fence. Outdoor furniture must be secured or too heave for a child to move.
Props which hold open a gate as a parent works in the yard, have also lead to drowning. Never prop open gates – a child slipping through or forgetting to remove the prop can easily lead to tragedy.
Please note: all too often, when parents have bought a new house with a pool – or started renting one – they have mistakenly believed that the pool fence and gate are in good working order and/or compliant with government regulations. Sadly, such an assumption has contributed to tragic consequences. New owners or renters should demand a Certificate of Compliance … and inspect the fence and gate for possible non-compliance anyway.

Did you know that a simple way to test if a gate is self-closing and self-latching is to see if it swings freely to close and latch from any open position?

For happy swimming lessons try the following:

- be on time. aim to arrive 5-10mins before your lesson commences.
- be positive. both on the way to lessons on returning home.
- be supportive. no-one likes to be compared to those better than us. children are no different.
- be prepared. goggles-check. swim cap-check. towel-check. You’d be surprised to hear how many people turn up to lessons each week without towels/goggles and even swimwear!
- be consistent. make the most of your investment in time and finance by attending on a regular basis. 8 weeks of lessons with 8 weeks off lessons is a total waste of time and energy. the gains your child makes in the first 8 weeks is lost in the 8 weeks of not attending.
- be happy. swimming lessons is an experience that you and your child will remember for a long time. be happy and they’ll learn to enjoy swimming without feeling pressured to perform each and every week!

Hi Cameron, Absolutely you can use my words, no problem at all! This is what I said about it on Facebook on my wall when I posted the link in case you want to mix them around a bit or something… I just got this article sent to me by some friends and I thought it was such an eye-opener (and a big reminder why swimming classes are so important, even though it’s winter and cold) I thought I’d sent it to you as well, in case you haven’t seen it yet. I’ve been sending it to everybody pretty much, via email and Facebook!

It is getting to winter here in the southern hemisphere, which means cold water and no fun at swimming, but it’s no time to get complacent and forget about the swimming classes, especially for our kids. Check out this article! It is quite an eye-opener..

www.http://mariovittone.com/2010/05/154/ - Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning

That article was such a chilling read, I had never known about that before, although it brought back the memory of my little sister falling over in shallow water and not getting up, but just staring at me blankly through the water not kicking or splashing or even moving, and all she needed to do was to stand up to be safe again. I pulled her up, not thinking twice about it then, being only 5-6 years old, she was 2-3 years then. And it has been quite scary to read about other people’s similar responses of memories they have, after posting it on FB and other people having on theirs. How many stories like that there are! Some with happy endings but some not… One thing is for sure though, my kids will keep on doing their swimming lessons, hail or shine!

Thank you for AQUASTARS Swim School and its great contribution to the community! Paivi

PS: And go figure, I just had Rex read it, and he told me of how just this summer gone, both Sofia and Miika went under the same way, here in Wangi. He had turned his back just for a moment to help Juhana, and as he turned back, they were gone. Miika had fallen over in shallow water, grabbed Sofia standing next to him and they both went under. He saw her and dived and got them up, but he said what got him, especially after reading the article was how quick and silent it all was. Not a sound. Scary…