How swimming lessons help children transition to daycare and school
When your child starts daycare, preschool or school, it can be a challenging time of change for them. And let’s face it—for us parents too!
In times of change and uncertainty, kids thrive on some stability and familiarity. So, if your child is already in swimming lessons, we’d recommend keeping them in these classes as they transition to a new learning environment.
We’ve seen first-hand how swimming lessons help children transition to daycare and school.
Why a familiar activity and environment are important
By continuing your child’s swimming lessons as they transition to daycare, preschool or school, you’ll help them settle in. Swimming lessons provide your child with a familiar activity in a familiar environment with familiar people. This is very valuable while they adjust to so much change in their life.
At Hampton Swim School, we find that kids really benefit from the continued familiarity of our swimming classes.
How continuing swimming lessons builds confidence
Swimming lessons will help build your child’s confidence as they face new and difficult tasks in their learning environments. How? Swimming is an activity that they know they can do and are ‘good at’.
For young children, learning is a constant process. Every day they are learning new things about the world and their abilities. And this only increases when they go to school.
When children are learning a whole lot of new skills at once, they’re bound to have frustrations, setbacks and failures. So having an activity like swimming lessons can help balance out any perceived failures by providing them with ‘comfort zones’ where they feel capable.
How continued swimming helps with social skills
If your child attends swimming lessons, they may already have some friends in the class? Swimming lessons are a relaxed way for children to meet each other and interact socially.
So when your child transitions to daycare, preschool or school, it can be very comforting for them to know that they already have a group of friends outside of school. It can take the pressure off of them to make new friends, and also means they are likely have more social skills to interact with new people.
Why swimming is even more important when school starts
When your child enters a new learning environment, particularly school, they are expected to ‘be still’ so they can focus on intellectual learning. This is when swimming becomes even more important.
Why? Because when your child’s level of physical activity decreases, it’s vital to include movement in their routine. Movement stimulates the connection of brain neurons and helps them learn more. The less movement, the less their brain will be able to learn. Put another way: an active child means an active mind!
So swimming lessons help provide that vital balance between physical and cognitive development at times of transition and learning.
Contact us
Find out more about swimming lessons at Hampton Swim School. Contact us today.