Are baby swim lessons just a new-age parenting trend?

A baby has arrived. She/he is getting to know us, we are getting to know her/him. No sleeping, a bunch of dirty diapers, getting it changed all day around… We haven’t had enough sleep, adjusted our daily and nightly routines, and some mums have already started talking about baby swim lessons! Is this really happening?

Is it real that someone is seriously considering the idea of “jumping” into a swimming pool with a baby? Is baby swimming a new-age parenting trend or a need which brings benefits to the mum, dad and baby? Are we becoming “snobbish” parents if we want to provide a healthy upbringing to our children starting from the very birth? I might seem to some people as a “snob”, as my children have been in the water since they were four months old.

Let’s take a look at this from a slightly different perspective, and only then “label” parents, make conclusions and judgements if baby swimming is a new-age parenting trend or a benefit of the modern age parents can afford to their child!

Put yourself in the shoes of a baby lying all day. We turn him/her a bit to the right, a bit to the left. Okay, then we take him/her and sway and swing him/her softly before placing it back to lie in the pram again, and we do so over and over again… Now, you would say there’s nothing bad about it. It’s a baby life, just to eat, sleep and grow. Okay, I agree. But what about bringing some daily magic into those 24 hours of the baby life, being like moving him/her from the bed to holding him/her, from the bed to the pram, from the bed to a baby play cot, from the bed to a baby carrier, both for you and for your baby. How does it sound? Is it a new-age parenting trend?

Now, put yourself in the shoes of a baby enjoying the water. Yes, we don’t turn him/her from one side of the bed to the other, we don’t limit him/her with anything. Babies in the water move much more easily, they are free. You have no reason to worry about your baby getting hurt or hitting himself/herself. Their muscles contract and relax, their limbs and joints move freely, without big resistance, the only resistance being the water which can only help their tiny bodies. It’s true that you need to leave your parent’s “comfort zone” twice a week and go to the

swimming pool, but trust me, after the first swimming with your baby, I’m sure you’ll come back next time. Because you won’t be sure who enjoyed it more, you or your baby!

Which situation would you go for now: your baby lying or your baby lying and also enjoying swimming?

I went for the second one for both of my children. I wouldn’t have any second thoughts if I were

to choose again with a new baby. Why? Because there is no better activity for the baby than the

time well spent in the pool. Both the baby and I as a parent benefited from it, it’s a “win-win situation”, spending time together in a healthy and useful manner.

Now when we take a look at the baby swimming from a different perspective, there are always those who would say: How did parents live in the past without baby swimming and all these new trends? They lived the same way as they lived without mobile phones and video games… They lived!

You’re not a trend slave if you take your baby to a swimming pool. You’re not “trapped” by the modern parenting if you want to give your child a healthy upbringing. It’s up to you to filter all the things modern parenting is giving to you.

If you go for baby swimming, enjoy those moments, because you can’t bring them back!