Baby Exercise - Suggestion 2: Swimming Lesson 2

Swimming is a great way to get your child familiar with water.

Swim Attire: Remember to have your child wear swim diapers as opposed to regular diapers. Although there may not be much difference in preventing your child from relieving themselves in the diaper, there is a significant difference in comfort as the swim diapers do not soak up the water. So, they remain their normal size.

Early Exposure: If you can walk with them and play some games (as mentioned below), you will see them laugh and smile. The younger the better. As my son is 8 months old, he had a smile on his face and enjoyed splashing around. I hope he continues this excitement as he moves on to the toddler class next year. Otherwise, it seems as though if you wait too long, you may have some children that are afraid of the water and  will scream and shout until they get out. I'm sure these kids will love swimming eventually...in my case, I am hoping the early exposure will prevent a future episode of a child running out of the water :)

Lessons v. Pool Time: Although I love seeing my son enjoy the swimming lessons, I am also aware that at 8 months, he doesn't really follow along. With the other kids in the same group being about 18 months - 2 years old, they were able to follow general directions...for instance, if the teacher said to "hang on" to the railing and move from right to left, they would follow along. However, in the case of my son, obviously directions are ignored as they have no idea what you are saying at 8 months old.

Although the actual lessons were not of any benefit, the pool time was great and the smile on his face was worth going back. My suggestion for other parents is to take the young one's to the pool and play with them there, but forgo the cost of the lessons until they are a bit older.

I'll follow up next year when we figure out the best age for a child to follow along...