The debate over swimming lessons for small children has been heated for a long time. There are those that maintain children should be in the water as soon as possible, learning self-rescue techniques. Critics of early swimming lessons feel that allowing young children to feel comfortable in the water actually increases the danger of drowning. Now there is finally a study that tackles this very debate.
The study was conducted by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. “Association between Swimming Lessons and Drowning in Childhood” was published by the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine in March of 2009. This is the first definitive study to show that taking your child to formal swimming lessons can reduce their risk of drowning. The study focused on case studies of 88 children who drowned between 2003 and 2005, and the families of 213 control children of the same age, gender, and location. The study revealed that among the 61 children between the ages of 1-4 who had drowned, only 3% of children had had formal swimming lessons, versus 26% of the control group. The risk of drowning in that age group was determined to be decreased by almost 88%.
I applaud this study as an excellent starting point for exploring the benefits of swimming lessons. But critics of the study, myself included, would like to see more. Swimming lessons programs vary greatly in the skills they prioritize. Some programs, such as Red Cross, focus on water adjustment, while others consider safety skills to be the main objective. In a response to the LA Times article reporting the results of the study, Dr. Harvey Barnett, Ph. D, founder of Infant Swimming Resource LLC outlines six approaches to swimming lessons; water adjustment, structured play, swimming readiness, swimming with devices, survival swimming, and modified adult strokes. He would like to see studies that break these categories up to discover which approaches are more beneficial to drowning reduction in small children. These studies would be incredibly complicated to undertake, as the samples sizes may not be large enough to give any conclusive data.
It is my personal belief that the main benefit of formal swimming lessons for children ages 1-4 is parental awareness. No swimming lesson can drown-proof a child, and only a select few concentrate on infant survival skills in which the child can “rescue” themselves. But the vast majority of swimming lessons for this age group rely heavily on safety information for parents. The Red Cross Parent/Infant classes involve safety tips in every lessons, from allowing children to enter the pool to the benefits of taking a CPR class. It is, of course, up to the parents to follow through with the safety techniques, but it is my personal opinion that the simple awareness of drowning dangers and prevention play a significant role in the drowning-risk reduction seen in the study. Dr. Barnett also credits parental awareness to reduced drowning risk. In the same letter:
“Regardless of whichever particular approach further research shows contributes most to the reduction of the risk of drowning, care giver and parent education must be a primary effort. Lessons for infants in the water whether formal or not must include comprehensive and effective adult education. The programs should aim to make the baby safer in the water and the family safer around it.”
So if the information given in a swimming class is the significant factor in drowning prevention, does it stand to reason that reading a book or doing an internet search would be just as effective? I believe the answer is no. Active instruction lets parents and children practice safety skills. Parents are able to receive answers to questions and get feedback from experienced instructors. And experiences in swimming lessons allow the parent and the child to remain much more calm in an emergency, making good decisions that can save lives.
Sources
Ruth A. Brenner, Associations Between Swimming Lessons and Drowning in Childhood, Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, March 2009, Vol. 163 No. 3
Shari Roan, Swimming Lessons Lower Drowning Risk In Toddlers, Los Angeles Times, March 2 2009
