Infant Swimming
Drowning is the third most common death related accident among children younger than 4 in the United States and the leading cause of death in children younger than 5 in California, Arizona, and Florida. (Ellis & Trent, 1997) People have reacted to such statistics by coming up with programs to teach children to swim. The programs started with the pioneering work of Virginia Hunt Newman who brought the idea over to the United States from Australia. She was taught by an Australian by the name of Claire Zimmerman. (Johnson & Odent, 1995) Researchers have found that the best programs understand that knowledge of infant behavior and development would be the safest technique to prevent future drownings. Through years of research with constant colleague review behavioral psychologists have developed programs to reduce the chances of drowning and free the child from the effects of fear when they near the water. Operant conditioning along with psychological development are the technologies used in teaching infants. These programs use child development principles to develop the program goals. Tens of thousands of children have learned the skills to save themselves in a panic situation. The drownproofing programs in the United States h
Many parents are afraid to teach their infants to swim, but there are good reasons why both the parent and the child can benefit from swimming lessons. Your child will love the water. Being with your child in the pool can be an exciting time of bonding for the parent and child. Your child looks to you for encouragement in the new activities that he is trying to accomplish. Physical contact, hugging and touching, expresses love to your child. Being in the water with him gives you a chance to have lots of physical contact. Researchers say that physical contact especially skin to skin is very important to the bonding process. (Johnson & Odent, 1995) Giving this freedom to learn new experiences helps a child reconcile the first stage in Erik Erikson's child development theory, trust versus mistrust. Furthermore, praising your child for even attempting a task even though the task was not perfectly performed is a good way to build a child's self confidence. Children who receive praise only when they do something right conclude their parents love them for their accomplishments not just themselves. Remember genuine love is not contingent on success or failure. Parents often notice their child flourishing from the attention that must be given during a lesson. To have the parent be the instructor is the best, because then the bonding of love can happen between the baby and the mother. This bonding is especially important to the child's development. The mother should try to do the lesson one-on-one. In another study Lies Liselott Diem of Cologne, Germany conducted an experiment on children and swimming. There were six groups of children over a two year period. The groups were divided into the age range at which a child started swimming lessons (3 months, 24 months, or 2 years of no training at all). Each group was evaluated on several different dependent values such as motor development (balancing), social behaviors and personality diagnosis. Statistical data was processed using such things as videotapes and investigations. The results showed that swimming babies had high marks in all the tested areas. The babies that had started swimming at 3 months fa
Some common words found in the essay are:
Johnson Odent, Kochan McCabe, Whitehead Curtis, Cologne Germany, Erik Erikson's, Physical Education, , Ellis Trent, United Australia, johnson odent, johnson odent 1995, odent 1995, Hunt Newman, kochan mccabe 1986, kochan mccabe, mccabe 1986, physical contact, parent child, hold breath, curtis 1983, swimming lessons, whitehead curtis, whitehead curtis 1983, child ready submersion,
Approximate Word count = 1471
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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