The figure of a baby is quite often spread among families as with features like weakness and neediness, a vision which keeps hiding the necessity for it to be exposed to the surrounding world, building social interactions and sharpening physical skills. A good way to do that, but which is often avoided as a result of such pattern of thinking, is through swimming, a sport which enables a baby’s physical, emotional, social and cognitive development to be improved.

1. Goodbye, Fear of Water

When teaching a baby to swim, parents are not only helping it to overcome its natural and primary fear of water, but also are they combining a mixture of fun and exercise for their baby, a great and rare association.

2. Advancing Motor Skills

By letting their baby swim, parents get to build a stronger and enhanced sense of coordination and balance within their children, a result of strengthened motor skills. This has been recently confirmed by researches from Norway and Britain, who analised that children who had taken swimming classes back in babyhood did better on tests concerning reaching and gripping as well as balance in comparison to those who didn’t.

3. Building Self-Awareness

For a baby who is used to being stationary, being inside a pool means moving about independently as they learn balance and coordination. Once experiencing the motion and sensation that the water provides, babies get to develop an awareness of self that otherwise would not be gained at such a young age, and which prepares them for life.

In addition, having this early experience with the water develops babies’ psychomotor skills, for when in a pool they are able to move freely and start to understand concepts related to distance and movement.

Hearts and lungs are also worked out, what strengthens babies’ cardio-respiratory system, and increase their resistance.

4. Nurturing Self-Esteem and Social Skills

When parents put their little ones to attend swimming classes at a young age, their kids get to interact with other children, what leads them to develop social skills and, along with positive encouragement from family by, for example, watching them at swimming time, self-esteem can also be nurtured, apart from your child developing a trusting relationship with you at the same time.

5. A Bond Bound to Strengthen

By spending time face-to-face, skin-to-skin with their babies in the water, both parents and babies are benefiting from the growing relationship. While their bond with their children increases through the swimming lessons, parents can also exercise their patience, encouragement and kindness toward their baby, in addition to a greater learning of their kids’ growing personality as they approach new situations and are challenged more and more.

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