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New Delhi, June 22, 2018 : Summer vacations are here and it’s that time of the year when parents devise newer ways to keep their children engaged in productive activities and make them learn new skills. There is a growing desire to enrol children in such sporting activities, which not only keep them physically fit, but aids their mental abilities as well. Swimming often pops up as the perfect answer to these queries. Swimming, in fact, is more than just a sporting activity. While it is considered a good exercise for many ailments, it is also a life skill.
But the activity, which offers numerous health benefits, can also end up hurting the kids if not pursued in right manner. Howsoever trendy and “in-thing” swimming may appear these days, it is not an activity which should be pursued without following some basic guidelines. Especially, when you are planning to enroll your little ones for a regular lesson, you must follow some basic tips for health and safety, both inside the pool and outside.
Below are some basic tips parents must adhere to while enrolling their kids for swimming lessons:
– Health check-up: It is a must. Before enrolling for swimming lessons, get your child checked by a good doctor. Kids having skin infections, issues related with their ears, nose, throat (basically ENT) and eyes, must undergo required medication before their first dip in the highly chlorinated water. Doctors often suggest some precautions for children who are underweight as well as obese.
– Cleanliness of the pool – It is an important parameter to check, when the same pool is used by many people with different health conditions. Parents must enquire about the water-replacement and cleaning schedule of the pools. Most of the pools are open areas – without shades over them –, which exposes them to dust, rain and all kind of natural vagaries. It is not advisable to catch an infection while swimming in dirty or unclean pools.
– Availability of life guard – It is mandatory for all the pools to have trained lifeguards in required numbers. Most often the situation is that the guy posing as lifeguard is just a fairly trained swimmer with no additional skills for saving or reviving a person during any emergency. Also, it is important to note the ratio of lifeguard against the number of swimmers during peak times (morning and evenings).
– First aid facility – Government rules clearly say that all the swimming pools must have first aid facility and a first aid room. It should be located close to the pool area and easily accessible. In case of any emergency, the person must be taken into the first aid area and administered the required procedure. The first aid room also must have details of nearest hospital, health center or the required contact numbers to call an ambulance.
– Overcrowding – A general problem these days in all the swimming pools. Most of the people visiting the swimming pools come looking for a leisurely activity and to beat the heat. Instead of taking laps in the pools, they may just stay in the water to chill out. It ends up overcrowding the pool and kids are at the receiving end only. The best thing is to avoid a pool, which is overcrowded.
– Training and trainer – Make sure that your kid undergoes the mandatory swimming training before jumping into the water on his own. From outside swimming looks like a tempting activity, but it requires sufficient learning and the kid should be properly accustomed to the pool and the depth of the water.
– A big no to following others – Make sure that your kid is not following others and trying to copy their activities. The other kid could be more trained and well accustomed to the pool. Tell him/her to go slow and spend required number of days before going ahead.
– Safety equipment – For kids it is important to have all the safety gears – floaters, eye glasses, ear plugs, cap, towel etc handy. All the grown up people who are good swimmers know that kids often develop a fear of water, if their first few encounters with the pool is not happy. Also make sure that floaters are not damaged and two kids don’t end up treating floaters as toys inside the pool. A small prick in the floater/s will disturb the child’s balance in the water or cause him injuries.
– Hydration – Most people don’t know this, but even though it is an aquatic exercise, swimming is very dehydrating in nature. It actually makes people sweat a lot. Therefore taking enough fluid or plain water is important. Give the child a good sipper to ensure that he is taking enough water and does not end up staying thirsty.
– Diet – Swimming could be extremely tiring as well. Good thing is that it is easy to learn and is a very healthy activity. But make sure that the child is taking all his meals properly, with balanced nutrition. Hydration and diet are required to avoid muscular cramps and fatigue.
– Every water body is not a pool – A very important lesson for all the kids, who after a fortnight start believing that they are trained swimmers. A swimming pool has a very controlled environment and it does not teach them the ways to handle sudden depth in water and strong waves. Kids should never treat other water bodies such as ponds, lakes, rivers etc. as swimming pools as they require much more talent and training.
– A sporting activity, but not a playground – Last but not the least. Kids should not treat swimming pools as their regular playgrounds. It’s good to swim hard and swim well, but stay away from pulling or pushing each other as one would do on a regular playground.
Dr Rakesh Gupta,
Senior Consultant,
Department of Internal Medicine,
Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals
