08/18/2022
Say NO!! to Puddle jumpers and arm floaties are notorious for helping children develop ineffective swimming posture. These devices hold children in a vertical position — head up, feet down, arms out — causing them to use more of a bicycling motion in the water.
*Incorrect and Ineffective Posture*
Puddle jumpers and arm floaties are notorious for helping children develop ineffective swimming posture. These devices hold children in a vertical position — head up, feet down, arms out — causing them to use more of a bicycling motion in the water. What many don’t understand is the vertical position is the drowning position.
Being able to maintain your own buoyancy, the ability to float on your back, is the number one rule when an issue arises in the water. It’s imperative a child knows how to successfully get to and hold this position should they fall into the water unexpectedly
*There is No Alternative to Knowing How to Swim*
Respecting the water and fearing the water are two very different things. Teaching our children from a young age, even infants, the proper skills necessary, as well as them understanding their limitations, not only creates strong swimmers, but respectful ones, as well. Enrolling your child in swimming lessons provides them with confidence, a life-saving skill set, and a lifelong love of water.
Relying on the use of puddle jumpers and arm floaties is not a replacement for swimming lessons, and using them as such only hinders a child’s growth and development in and around the water.
Child drownings don’t discriminate. They can affect any one of us at any time. Providing our children with the proper skill set by trained professionals beginning at a young age will give them the tools necessary to survive, and thrive, in the water.
Taken from Texas Swim Academy
