Of course, we think that it is important for everyone to know how to swim.
It is especially important for parents to make sure that their children are afforded the opportunity to learn to swim. They have no hope to safely enjoy being around the water if they don’t.
Swimming is an important life skill and it is probably the single most important reason for anyone to learn. However, there is something else that swimming can help with that is a grave and growing concern for children: obesity. Obesity is, in fact, growing so fast among children that many have initiatives that attempt to address it through nutrition and exercise.
We believe swimming may be one of the best ways to help children battle obesity because it gives exercise that is fun.
Boys and girls are equally skilled when it comes to swimming and it doesn’t take a tremendous investment to participate. Thanks to the pretty widespread availability to indoor facilities, children in all climates have access to swimming as a means of entertaining exercise.
The Obesity Action Coalition notes that 1 in 3 children is obese. This is directly relative to the number of children who don’t eat right and don’t exercise enough.
Enter exercise. Enter swimming.
Swimming is probably the most fun, low impact and healthy way to exercise. Regardless of size and experience, children and adults alike can use water aerobics as cardiovascular exercise. Combined with a healthy diet, swimming is an ideal exercise for individuals who have excess body weight and cannot do weight-bearing exercise such as walking, jogging or running.
There is a plethora or information about childhood obesity. For example, Parenting.com has a Childhood Obesity section in its Family Health Guide. The Community Health Network has an area on Obesity that includes information about what obesity is and what health issues are related to it and an area on Children’s Health.
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