Build the stage around the show...Little people 6 months through 4 years old, deserve special "handle with care" treatment. Nurturing the needs of each child, allowing them to unfold at their natural pace. To optimize your aquatic classroom for learning, combine an interactive curriculum with a well organized, yet spontaneous lesson plan. Together with mom and dad, through games, songs, laughter and engaging activities, you can create a warm, loving and safe environment.

Baby swimming has many positive benefits, like sunken treasures beckoning to be discovered.  In order to unveil these awaiting treasures, we need to build the stage around the show, to adapt the class to the level of experience and understanding of the children involved. Introduce skills when the children are relaxed and ready, and only skills that are age and developmentally appropriate, accommodating for individual differences. Patience, consistency, play, repetition, commitment and positive parenting are the pillars of a successful program.

However, these treasures of the water are just as easily denied if children are not treated with dignity, understanding or respect. The program needs to be taught from the child’s point of reference, teaching them the way that they would want to be taught. Placing adult values and compressed time frames on infants and toddlers creates an imbalance and undue stress on all parties concerned. If skill acquisition becomes the only goal, meaningful learning on many levels can be lost. The priority must be focused on the positive development of the whole child, with swimming skills mastered as the child's capabilities and "readiness" allows. Parents should never let panic (the fear of drowning) dictate an aggressive/intensive course of action in swimming lessons. "To avert an even graver outcome, great care must be taken." (Omega) We must distinguish between short - term quick fix remedies and long-term responsible positive cures.  A comprehensive strategy for water safety needs to be implemented, of which swimming is a part, however, the well being of the child should never be sacrificed in swim lessons to meet this end. Parents need to be well informed and implement all aspects of water safety. (i.e.. supervision, barriers, pool safety fencing, CPR and child centered swimming lessons).

Swim lessons were never meant to be grim. Infants and toddlers should never be exploited in swim lessons to fulfill the accelerated expectations of a teacher or parent. Whether created out of a fear of drowning, compressed time frames, financial short-cuts or impatience. Parents need to realize that they can not live vicariously through their child's accelerated achievements. Children should feel safe, be comfortable and experience trust. Pressuring children as a "necessary evil" to submit to rigid techniques and skills in swimming lessons that they are not ready for lacks compassion and understanding. This should not be a race for gold medals or a quest for imposed survival swimming. Often these "firm but gentle" techniques fueled by fear, place more emphasis on the firm than on the gentle. Society has learned that perpetrating violence or aggression toward children, perpetuates a cycle of violence and aggression. An adult simply would not tolerate such unrelenting acts of domination when used against them. Babies are not capable of  fighting back. The emotional well of an infant runs deep; they possess a keen awareness of what is happening to them. Often the only avenue available to communicate their distress is through crying or non-verbal symptoms. These protests are not manipulation as their fears are real. Too much stress to the innocent child can lead to a surrender and malnutrition of the spirit. Science has documented the fact that the seeds we sow in infancy, both negative and positive have a profound influence on the development of the mental and emotional blue print for the child's entire life. Dominating or forceful methodologies fail to see the whole picture or the whole child. Intended to give parents "peace of mind", they throw the child’s "peace of mind" right out the window. It is crucial to approach baby swimming more in human terms and less in clinical terms. The ripple of a pebble in the pond's smooth waters, radiates outward in multiple concentric circles. So to does our teaching influence, affecting our young students on multiple levels. Not only must we seek the beauty of aquatic motion, but also tap into to the beauty of the child. Those individuals committed to this endeavor must be devoted to the highest good of each child with whom they come in contact.

Children should enjoy the water experience from day one, providing a rich, supportive setting allowing them to develop into healthy and happy individuals, as well as competent swimmers. Parents (and teachers) need to be relaxed, in tune with their child and create a positive, proactive and happy atmosphere. It is important that they too enjoy class. Children need to be comfortable and confident above water before they can ever begin to swim with their face in. Celebrate each small step along the way. Create an environment that unlocks the sunken treasures, generating a life long love and respect of  the water, as well as, a life long hunger for learning and exploration. All serving as a catalyst, planting a seed, for the child to reach their full potential.