How Swimming Lessons Help Your Infant to Grow

Many parents who seek swimming lessons for their infants and toddlers do so for one primary reason: they want to teach their children water safety. However, there are plenty of other less obvious reasons why it’s an awesome idea for your children to attend infant swimming classes in West Los Angeles!

Infant swim classes provide infants and toddlers with a cool way to develop a wide range of social, emotional, and physical skills. Swimming can be a development accelerator for many children, and the benefits that are gleaned from infant swimming classes go well beyond water safety. Keep reading to learn why you should enroll your child in classes at an infant swim school!

Advanced Developmental Milestones

Many studies have been done on the concrete advantages afforded to infants who take swimming classes. The consensus is that children who participate in swimming classes see an accelerated rate of development when it comes to motor skills, with some children advancing as much as seven months ahead of peers who don’t attend swimming activities.

The advanced motor skills provide infants and toddlers with many advantages such as writing and drawing clearly at an earlier age and exhibiting better balance and agility than children of similar age. The resistance the body encounters when moving in the water can also help infants develop strength and muscle coordination, which is important as children learn to walk, run, and ride a tricycle!

Enhanced Cognitive Skills

Though it’s a given that infants experience advanced physical development as a result of swimming lessons, many are taken aback by the rapid development of cognitive abilities among infants who participate in swimming lessons. In fact, some infants who participate in swimming lessons are as much as 10 months ahead of peers of similar age who don’t participate in swimming. That represents a dramatic increase in the pace of cognitive development and can result in enhanced problem-solving abilities, earlier language skills, and advanced reading and writing ability. Children who can get ahead of the cognitive curve early in life experience great academic success that can springboard them into fruitful, enriching careers decades later.

More Robust Language Skills

With improved cognition comes improved language skills. However, language development is not just a cognitive outcome. While components of language involve problem solving and memory, it is also a behavior that is learned in a social setting through repetition. Swimming classes provide infants with a language laboratory where they are engaged in language by a wide variety of speakers. Not only does the instruction from swim teachers help build language ability, but it also reinforces lessons learned through the enjoyment and excitement of swimming. Lessons involve concrete commands for action that are then reinforced with the appropriate action, allowing infants to take a hands-on approach to learning language in a practical sense.

Social and Emotional Development

Swimming lessons provide an excellent social outlet for infants and young children. First, they are engaged in a fun activity, and they are surrounded by other children who are likewise enjoying their time in the pool. By becoming immersed in the social setting, children learn valuable skills like conflict resolution and empathy as they navigate relationships with other children. They also learn how to observe boundaries, as they see their actions don’t occur in a vacuum but rather affect others in the class. Infants who take swim lessons in a group setting end up being more social and extroverted, as they learn to welcome social interaction with others. In fact, some infants who are involved in swim lessons can be 12-15 months more advanced socially than their peers who don’t take swimming lessons.

If you want to see your infant develop ahead of schedule, consider enrolling your child in swimming lessons. Your infant will advance rapidly in social, physical, and cognitive development, which can improve future quality of life and make for a happy child. To learn more about the benefits of swimming lessons for your infant, contact Swim Right Academy today!