Why do we teach different strokes?

You may think freestyle is the only stroke that your child needs to learn. You may
wonder if learning other strokes is valuable or just a waste of time.  We will describe the benefits of learning other strokes besides freestyle.

Firstly, freestyle is the most efficient stroke to get you somewhere quicker and faster.
However, it can be tiring. If your child was out in a boat and needed to swim
back to shore, they would firstly begin freestyle. At some stage they may get
tired and need a longer breath of air so by knowing breaststroke they can keep
moving at a slower pace but still swimming forward. Swimming breaststroke also
gives them a better chance to orient themselves to find the direction of the
shore. Again, if in more distress they can turn on their back to swim
backstroke. This is also useful if later in life they decide to do triathlons or open water swimming.

When the child is quite a developed swimmer, swimming several strokes gives the body a better workout using a larger variety of muscles.  Swimming is more fun because you can vary your strokes.  The skills that are learnt in one stroke can then be useful when learning other strokes, using similar principles.

What are the benefits of continuing swimming lessons through winter?

 

Unfortunately some parents feel that when winter comes along that they are doing the right thing by stopping swimming lessons so their child doesn’t catch a cold.

Apart from the fact that there’s no medical evidence connecting swimming in heated pools and illness, your child is greatly disadvantaged because they will readily lose their swimming skills if they’re not practiced.

By staying in lessons, your child will benefit because:

• Children who swim all year round maintain their level of skill and fitness. Swimming is taught by repetition therefore pulling your children in and out of classes throughout the year hinders the learning process.
• Swimming is exercise. During winter children are limited to outdoor activities due to the weather.
• Healthy lifestyle. Weekly exercise sets good habits for later in life.
• Did you know if your child is booked into swim lessons all year round they swim for only 20.5 hours per year instructed?

 

How Long before my child can swim?

Learn to swim programs are expected to meet many needs, not the least of which is teaching children to swim.  Parents want to see tangible results from lessons to assure progress is being made and that they are receiving value for their money.  Sometimes lessons can feel like a treadmill with no clear end in sight.  This uncertainty about a definite timeline can leave parents wondering when their child will ever “complete” the task of  learning to swim. 

Following are some considerations if you have ever found yourself asking “how long will it take” or “haven’t they learnt to swim yet?”

With Swimming lessons there can sometimes be a belief – that a child will take some lessons, learn to swim and be finished. Such an “event based” mentality can be a dangerous assertion to make.

A realistic way to approach swimming lessons is as a long-term process. Attending lessons as a regular part of a child’s weekly routine through their infant, preschool and early school years is a great plan to ensure proper development of their aquatic skills.  Along the way, a child should be allowed to learn at their own pace, practising skills appropriate to their developmental level.

So the question then often arises, how often should I attend lessons each week? While progress will be accelerated in the short-term by attending lessons more often, a regular and consistent approach will often yield the best results.  We recommend children to attend their lessons at least once a week, then to also do our intensive programs to boost their skills.  This is in line with the way children learn and how well they retain skills.  There won’t always be leaps of progress every lesson or every week.  It is normal for learning to plateau for periods, even regress at times and surge ahead at others.  The once per week class allows skills to be maintained and for progress to be made over time.

Some periods of twice per week classes or holiday incentives can boost achievement.  The important thing to consider is that more intensive lesson attendance can become exclusive of the other activities and can’t often be kept up long-term.  This may result in lessons being stopped.  Again, it is better to keep the lessons up, even if only once per week, than stop them entirely.  Swimming lessons for children 6 or 7 years should be a consistent, year round activity building toward a lifelong skill of proficient swimming.

So, when do lessons stop? While every program will have their own goals, a general idea for parents to consider is for their child to be capable of swimming 400 metres (with good technique, without stopping and without becoming exhausted). That level of skill may take years to reach, but establishes a strong foundation and children over 7 years should retain those skills.  However, reaching this goal doesn’t mean a swimmer should leave the pool.  It is still important to keep up the skill, continue to improve and consider the wide range of aquatic sports that will be fun, challenging and beneficial into the future.

Swimming lessons are not just another option on the list of activities for children, along with soccer, dance, gymnastics, etc.  They are invaluable life saving activity offering many benefits for the learner and for the more accomplished swimmer.

Enjoy your swimming, every stroke of the way!!!

Leopold Swim School looks at How Parental Influences in Baby or Toddler classes with Julie Ham

You are asking who is Julie Ham?  Julie is a former Australian Swimming representative who wrote the following interesting article;

Parents seeking ways to improve their young child’s confidence, independence and relaxation in water need look no further than their role as the caregiver ahead of and doing a swimming lesson.  The caregiver plays an invaluable role in assisting and enhancing the child’s aquatic development.

Influences on a baby’s swimming ability are exerted well before a baby enters a swimming pool, and in fact these influences begin at birth with the bathing process.  Parents need to be aware of the verbal and physical influences they impart to their child about water.  If  the parent themself exhibits nervousness or fear around water, these emotions may in turn be passed on to the baby or young child, regardless of whether they have been verbalised.

Phrases such as “don’t go near the water, it’s dangerous!”, or actions including hastily dragging a child away from an aquatic environment such as the edge of the pool are likely to cultivate within a young child a negative attitude toward water, and in turn will magnify the difficulties associated with introducing the child to the water or swim lessons.

During initial swim lessons in particular, it is important for parents to be positive and to display their enthusiasm for the experience.  Young children, and especially babies, are extremely in tune with their mum and dad’s reactions and responses, and an infant’s reaction to a new environment, sight sounds and people will to a large extent be determined by the response of the carer.  For this reason, parents need to remain relaxed throughout the duration of a swim lesson.

A parent’s body language is an important component of ensuring early swim lessons go smoothly, and is integral to the success of the water familiarization and learn-to-swim processes.  A parent who is nervous and clings to their child or holds them out of the water sends a message to the child is in an unsafe environment.  Instead, the parent in the swim lesson should remain relaxed with your shoulders at the water’s surface or just below, and gently support the child in the water, or alternatively, if the child is old enough, they should encourage the independence of the baby in the water and allow the baby to hold on to them.

Parental involvement in the child’s lesson is fundamentally important.  The education provided by the instructor in correcting submersion techniques and providing guidelines for activities is paramount to a child’s progression, and allows the parent themselves to become a teacher outside of the structured lesson environment.

The full benefits of a swim lesson are acquired through active participation in lessons and listening to instructor’s guidelines for activities.  An enthusiasm for all the swim lesson activities is essential… and in most cases requires the parent getting wet! While most classes don’t require you to be able to swim, young children learn from what their parents do, so demonstration is wonderful tool and hastens the learning process.  When submerging or getting wet, facial expressions and tone of voice can provide the child with much-needed confidence.  Being positive about going under the water lets the child know that it is ok to submerge, and a parent’s resistance to such activities along with behaviour such as wiping eyes after surfacing should be avoided.

Instructors will facilitate activities through the parents and as such, positive reinforcement of the child through praise given at all stages is an important role of the parent.  Children love attention from their parents, and their confidence in the water will flourish naturally with praise.  It is important to remember that every child learns at their own pace.  Learning to swim is not a race in itself, so comparisons made with others in a class or efforts made to rush the learn-to swim process often hinder the child’s swim development. 

The role of a parent in swim lessons for a child of the under 3 age group is much more than just getting in the water with the child.  It involves the parent playing an active part in their child’s aquatic learning and education, as well as a respect for an understanding of the water.

 This article was taken from swim-files 2011 written by Julie Ham

Babies having a great day at Leopold Swim School

When is it safe to say my child can swim they don’t need swim lessons anymore?

When is it safe to say my child can swim they don’t need swim lessons anymore?
We recommend all parents ask themselves these questions:
1. Can my child doggy paddle/tread water in the Leopold Swim School Pool? Most answers would probably be yes.

2. Can my child doggy paddle/tread water in another pool that is not familiar to them (eg. Kardinia pool)? Most answers would be I think so but not entirely sure.

3. Can my child doggy paddle/tread water in a river or in the ocean with any unknown conditions such as a drift or current or much worse a rip? Unless your child has completed our level 4 most answers would be no.
This is very important to the water safety of your child. You may say we don’t visit rivers and when we go to the beach we stay in the shallows. But as we know children are very adventurous and sometimes they push their own boundaries. For example, at the beach they may venture out further than their capabilities. If this was to happen we would want them to have the best possible chance to swim in the deeper water and bring themselves back to shore.
We must think now for our children’s futures. We would want them to feel safe and confident in the water if they ever wanted to go surfing later in life.
We believe a child must be able to swim 400m to say they may be confident and competent to save themselves, if they ever had to.
Learning to swim is a very long and sometimes slow process which requires children and parents to be persistent in achieving their swimming goals.

Parents often ask us, how long will it take my child to learn to swim?
The answer is from approx. 6 months of age to the age of 10 or 12, if they have had continual swim lessons. As we know all children learn at different rates. This approximation could be quicker or longer, depending on each child’s learning abilities.