Parents know that swimming is a vital, life-saving skill and understand the importance of children learning how to swim at a young age. However, many parents may not realize that swimming is a great activity for their child’s development and mental health. Aside from teaching water safety and being a good form of exercise, swimming offers many school-related and mental health benefits. This can be incredibly helpful as kids head back to the classroom and readjust to the demands of the school year. Let’s jump into how children can gain mental and social health benefits from swimming.
I’m the founder of Big Blue Swim School. Swimming has always played a big role in my personal life. I grew up on the shores of Lake Michigan, where I needed to learn to swim at an early age. I went on to swim competitively, competing with the U.S. National Swim team and opened the first Big Blue Swim School in 2009. After 15 years working with kids in swim school, I’ve witnessed the incredible lifelong benefits it can have on swimmers of all ages.
An international study by Griffith University tells us just how beneficial swimming can be for children. It found that kids who swim have better memory, literacy, motor, math, and other sensory and cognitive skills than kids who don’t swim in early childhood. The four-year study surveyed parents of 7,000 children who were five years old and under from the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand. The findings revealed that the kids who swam were about 10 months ahead in their cognition development and 15 months ahead in their social and emotional development.
Mental health benefits of swimming
The school year can be a busy time for children, as they balance the pressures of the school day, homework, relationships, and other commitments. Finding an active hobby for them can help alleviate some of this stress and create an opportunity to improve their mental health.
Swimming naturally provides physical benefits, but the mental health benefits come into play here, too. Swimming releases endorphins, improves sleep patterns and enhances appetite and coordination.
How does this activity affect the brain? Regular swimming engages the left and right hemispheres of the brain and all four lobes simultaneously. This boosts cognition and increases the ease of learning. Swimming also promotes new neurons in the hippocampus, enhancing memory, learning, and other brain functions. This can result in improved mood, lowered depression, and boosted self-esteem.
Developing social skills
Social skills are essential for all children as they learn to communicate and form positive relationships. They play a key part in helping children learn how to act in social situations and make new friends, which can set them up for success in the new school year. There are a few ways that children can enhance their social skills with swimming:
Interacting with other swimmers
Kids can gain social development skills, friendship skills and team-building skills by swimming with other children in a safe and structured environment. This can help them feel part of a like-minded group where they can form relationships built on trust and safety.
Learning about teamwork
Games and social skills require children to work together to reach a common goal, enabling them to learn the importance of teamwork. Sharing and taking turns, as well as communicating achievements, helps kids learn sportsmanship, patience, fair play and self-discipline.
Welcoming differences
During swimming class, children are likely to interact with other swimmers from various cultural backgrounds. This can help kids learn how to be confident around all walks of life and the importance of inclusivity.
Physical benefits of swimming
The physical benefits of swimming are not difficult to understand, but these benefits have a domino effect of positive impact on young children. Swimming keeps a child’s heart and lungs healthy since it works the entire body. Moreover, it enhances balance and posture, improves strength and boosts stamina. It also helps children safely develop muscle and as a low-impact sport, kids have a lower chance of injuring joints or bones than when playing other sports.
Swim lessons can often fall by the wayside as the temperatures cool and kids become busy with their school year schedules. However, year-round swim lessons set a child up for a fun and safe summer ahead, while also providing numerous mental health benefits to keep them calm and at ease during the school year.
This story is a part of The Motherly Collective contributor network where we showcase the stories, experiences and advice from brands, writers and experts who want to share their perspective with our community. We believe that there is no single story of motherhood, and that every mother’s journey is unique. By amplifying each mother’s experience and offering expert-driven content, we can support, inform and inspire each other on this incredible journey. If you’re interested in contributing to The Motherly Collective please click here.
