Should Your Kids Continue Swimming Lessons Over Winter?

Recently Amy Peden an NHMRC Research Fellow at the School of Population Health & Co-founder UNSW Beach Safety Research Group at UNSW Sydney wrote an article in The Conversation about Winter Swimming Lessons.  The article was titled  “Thinking of quitting your child’s swimming lessons over winter? Read this first.”

In the article, Amy Peden noted

“The first thing to note is that a pause can easily turn into stopping lessons altogether. Or, it can make restarting lessons in summer tricky, as children try to remember skills they haven’t practised in months.

And it’s important to remember drowning risk, particularly for young children, is present 365 days a year.”

Hannah Hartup is a final-year Journalism student at UNSW and has recently started an internship with In the Cove.  Hannah has also been a swimming instructor and below is her list of why you should continue swimming lessons during the winter months.

Tips from a Swimming Instructor – Just Keep Swimming

For the past five years, I have worked as a swimming instructor, teaching children the rewarding skill that is learning how to swim. I have watched parents gain confidence in the water and toddlers face their fears and learn to swim independently.

Working in the industry, you also notice the drop off every winter; the pool becomes quieter, with more and more parents pulling their kids out of lessons over the colder months.

Don’t get me wrong, I get it. We all want to stay rugged up and inside as the weather cools down.

But not going to swimming lessons this winter might do more harm than good for your children.

Here’s why lessons over winter are a good idea from a swimming teacher.

Helps to Maintain their Swimming Skills

Swimming, like anything, is a skill; the more consistent and repeated effort put into it, the better you will become at it.

Attending lessons and supporting your child’s skill development outside of lessons consistently is crucial in developing their skills both psychically and psychologically.

Taking 3-6 months off each year halts development, effectively stopping, and undoing any progress made in the summer months.

As a teacher, I have found that my most competent and enthusiastic students were the ones who came to lessons consistently year-round. Royal Life Saving found that 34% of drownings in Australia happen during the Autumn and Winter seasons. Living on the coast of Australia, our children are constantly surrounded by water, Summer or not.

Post-pandemic we are seeing the effects of missed swimming lessons, with the 2022 Royal Life Saving National Drowning Report finding a 7% increase from the year before in drowning deaths for children aged 5-14 years.

Keeping Healthy

Swimming lessons provide your children with low-impact exercise and fun, keeping them fit and healthy year-round.

It promotes healthy living and an active lifestyle as well as developing their gross motor skills which will benefit them in every aspect of their life, in and out of the pool.

Swimming during the winter has also been found to increase and strengthen their immune systems, making children more resilient to catching a cold and the flu.

Keeping Social

This is important not just for your children but also yourself.

In the first year since the pandemic, the World Health Organisation estimated that the prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by 25% worldwide.

In the cooler months, when we tend to go into hibernation, something as simple as swimming lessons can help you to feel connected and gain a sense of social community and interaction.

As for your children, it allows them to also build a sense of community and build friendships and communication skills outside of the home whilst keeping active.

I know we would all prefer to probably stay home and avoid those early Saturday morning lessons, but those 30 minutes in the pool for your child over winter might just be the difference between life or death.

You never know. You might even have the next Michael Phelps in your hands.

So think twice, before cancelling those swimming lessons or waiting for summer.