Swimming from the Experts

Experts debate validity of swim classes for tots

Comment: just getting kids close to the water over and over and over again will teach most of them what they need to know. A child's natural ability to explore water and find fun in it will do more for a child than hovering with expensive lessons. True that an adult needs to watch children every single second. Swimming is a natural delight but should never be done alone.

Most children will learn to do a respectable dog paddle about age 4. Somewhere before five a child will begin to explore deeper water. By five, most kids can keep themselves up most of the time. And kids know when it's too deep or not safe - If you allow them to know!!! When do you stop worrying? Never.

Rebecca D. Williams, features@knoxnews.com
Monday, July 21, 2008

Chloe Smith, 3, and Tristan Cody, 18 months, use a foam mat to practice kicking in the Parent/Tot II class at Adventure Swim School in West Knoxville. Swim teacher/owner Ed Pemberton is at right, and Tristan’s mom Angie is in the foreground.

Tristan Cody, 18 months, claps his hands after swimming underwater to his mother, Angie Cody.

Infant aquatics

A number of Knoxville-area pools offer infant or toddler aquatics classes. All require that an adult get in the water with the child. Costs range from $5 to $26 per lesson.

• City of Knoxville: The city offers Mom-N-Me classes, which follow American Red Cross aquatic guidelines for infants 6 months and older. Classes are usually offered fall and spring at the city's two indoor pools, the South Knoxville Community Center and the Adaptive Recreation Center, although the schedule hasn't been set yet for this fall. Check www.cityofknoxville.org for dates and times, or call Kristin Manuel, 865-215-1406.
• YMCA: Westside YMCA, 865-690-9622; the Cansler YMCA in East Knoxville, 865-637-9622; and the Northside YMCA, 865-922-9622, offer lessons for infants 6 months and older at various times during the year, using national YMCA curriculum. Call for information, or visit www.ymcaknoxville.org.
• Private Swim Schools: Adventure Swim School in West Knoxville offers parent-tot lessons for babies 3 months and older. See www.adventureswim.com, or call 865-691-2525. Various private health clubs with indoor pools offer infant and toddler classes for members and their children.

Did you know?

• Drowning is the second leading cause of accidental injury-related death among children 1-14 and the leading cause of accidental injury-related death for children 1-4.
• Most child drownings and near-drownings happen in residential swimming pools or lakes.
• Children 5 and younger, and adolescents 15-24 are at the highest risk for drowning death: toddlers, because they wander and accidentally fall into water, and teens because they are more likely to be engaging in risky behavior.
• More than 40 percent of drownings occur on a Saturday or Sunday.
• Most children who drown in pools were out of sight for less than five minutes.
• Each year, 5,000 children 14 and younger are hospitalized from unintentional drowning-related incidents; 15 percent die in the hospital; as many as 20 percent suffer severe, permanent neurological disability.
• Each year, 300 children 4 and younger drown in residential swimming pools.
• Most drownings of infants younger than a year old occur in bathtubs; some occur in toilets and buckets.
• U.S. drowning fatality rates are highest in the southern United States.

Wearing tiny flippers, 3-year-old Chloe Smith holds her breath and bobs under the water. Her teacher, Ed Pemberton, holds Chloe's head down while she kicks and moves forward.

"One-two-three-four-five," counts Pemberton, before letting Chloe up for air. She spits out some water, but doesn't choke.

"Wow, you can really hold your breath under there," says Chloe's grandmother, Kathy Shilling. She and her husband, John, bring Chloe to Adventure Swim School in West Knoxville twice a week, just as they have every summer since Chloe was barely able to walk.

"We're big proponents of this and have been since the beginning," says John Shilling. "We've seen a big improvement this year from last. She can fall in and be OK, come to the surface, and take a breath."

Water safety for young children is a hotly debated topic each summer among early childhood experts.

Drowning was the leading cause of accidental death among children 1 to 4 years old in 2005, the latest statistics available, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 30 percent of 1,664 accidental deaths of young children were from drowning. And yet experts disagree about whether swim lessons are appropriate for infants and toddlers.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says that aquatic programs for infants and toddlers have not been shown to decrease the risk of drowning and does not recommend them for children under the age of 4.

Dr. Marilyn J. Bull, who led the committee that wrote the academy's position, said research shows children are not capable of understanding the dangers of swimming, and that parents should not believe their child is safe from drowning after participating in such programs.

A neurodevelopmental pediatrician and professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine, Bull said parents often overestimate their child's ability for judgment, reasoning and processing. She stressed that swimming lessons are not a substitute for supervising a child in water.

It's possible that swimming lessons at a young age reduce fear of water, Bull said, but no research shows that a child taught to swim at 2 or 3 years old is less likely to drown than a child who learned at an older age.

The academy also warns that infants and toddlers may swallow harmful quantities of water, and that they aren't able to do traditional swimming strokes.

Despite these warnings, private swim schools, the American Red Cross, and the YMCA of the USA all offer infant and toddler aquatic programs, including many in the Knoxville area.

"We're not really teaching them to swim," says Pemberton. It's more about pre-swimming activities like holding breath, kicking and blowing bubbles, he says.

Like Pemberton, other local infant aquatics teachers say they use gentle techniques to minimize the amount of water children swallow. And they also say they stress water safety with parents.

"Truthfully, that's why I teach this," says Teresa DeLoach, aquatics director and teacher at Westside YMCA, which offers infant and toddler classes. "There's no such thing as drown-proofing a child."

"You're not even drown-proof at 25 and an Olympic swimmer," agrees Kristin Manuel, aquatics coordinator for Knoxville Parks and Recreation, which offers infant and toddler lessons at the city's two indoor pools. "It's about being more comfortable in the water. What it's going to do is help the parent learn things to do with the child, to get the child ready for swim lessons."

As for Chloe Smith, she'll be ready for traditional swimming lessons next summer, this time without her grandparents.

"Every time, she's doing a little more in the water," says John Shilling.

Sean Nealon of the Riverside (Calif.) Press Enterprise contributed to this report.