Swimming Is An Essential Skill

By Connie Goldin, MA, MFT

Get your kids enrolled in swim lessons. Once they start swimming, they can keep advancing until they are safe swimmers and can even join a swim team. Not only is swimming a great athletic activity that builds strong, healthy bodies, it is a safety essential in San Diego. We are blessed to be on the ocean. Our bay and beaches are beautiful and free. One of the great pleasures we all can partake in is going to the beach. Kids, and parents too, need to be strong swimmers.

Once swimming is mastered, children can explore surfing, canoeing, paddle boarding, sailing and, eventually, scuba diving. We have it all! Until kids are good swimmers, parents need to be vigilant while children are around water. It is not the time for a snooze in a beach chair. Teaching children about the “buddy system” and the importance to swim around other people is important, too. Swim near a lifeguard tower at the beach and observe the warning flags and notices. Little inflatable “Floaties” and inner tubes are not safety items. They can deflate or fall off. Kids can slip through inner tubes. A “personal flotation device” or “life jacket” is essential for boating, and other aquatic activities. When my kids were six and four, we spent the summer in the South Pacific. My husband and I put our sons in life jackets, gave them child-sized face masks, and pulled them both with us as we snorkeled. It was a fabulous experience for everyone.

There are many programs that offer swim lessons with sliding payment schedules. Of all the gifts that you can give a child, swimming is one of the most important. It provides the ability to participate in wonderful adventures and experiences, and to be able to be safe around water. Here are some websites to investigate to get your kids swimming.

Swim Lessons in San Diego

SD Parks & Recreation Learn to Swim Program

SD Parks & Recreation Pool Locations

Aquatic Center at Kroc Corps Community Center

Kroc Center Aquatics Location

Mission Valley & Toby Wells YMCA Swim Program

YMCA Summer Camp Info. Including Financial Aid Info