Swimming For Babies

It's been some years since I have done it with my own kids but there is nothing more fun then taking a baby for a swim. I was watching some lessons the other with babies between six and twenty-four months and it was an absolute riot.

For those of you who are scared the baby will drown, don't be. They are buoyant and naturally enjoy it. Moms and Dads go into the pool with the infants. You always see pictures of mummies and babies but there is no reason why a Dad can't get right in there with the kid too. You can check at your local Y or community center to see what lessons are available.

The safest classes are the ones with the lower numbers. Be sure a qualified instructor teaches the class just in case there is an emergency. However mainly the lessons are designed to give your child confidence in the water. The best classes are the ones that are kept small. The smaller the class the better it probably is. Eight adults with one kid each in the water sounds right and there should be an instructor plus a lifeguard on duty as well.

If you child is uncomfortable then you can show him or her how easy it is by putting your face in the water. The hardest thing for any kid is to put the face in the water. It is natural for the child to be nervous at first. Be very encouraging and be prepared to be patient. This type of thing does not happen over night.

One way that worked for me was to blow bubbles in the water. Babies love this. It is similar to blowing on their tummy to make noises. You can also encourage the babies to jump into the pool by holding them on the edge. Get the baby used to leaping into your hands and then get then lower them more and more into the water with each leap.

The aim is not really swimming but more about confidence in the water. It would be a mistake to expect too much. You need to hold them up in the water and supervisee them at all times. It is a mistake to think that classes like this removes the risk of an accident.

You don't have to pay for classes either. You can also practice in a public pool or been in the bathtub. This is of course cheaper. The idea is to get your child to be as confident in the water as possible.

Whenever your child is near or in water simply be as cheery and fun as possible.
Lure your child in with toys and make sure the water is warm enough and your baby will soon lose any fear of water.

Parenting Tips
, , , , , ,

Bedtime Stories on iPods

There is now a trend to reading your kid's bedtime stories on iPods. The kingpin of this idea is a guy named Don Katz who has this vision that technology should meet the Brother's Grimm. In fact I am sure he is right about this theory that more kids would know a little more about culture if only it was a little more high tech in practice. I know this could be true because I have seen how much my own children absolutely adore gadgets – especially their iPods. Of course they are going to want to listen to bed time stories more than they are going to want to read them.

Nearly one third of children who are between six and ten years old regularly take advantage of digital audio plyers. Don Katz has a site called Audible Kids where your kid can easily download their books directly onto digital audio players. It does not seem that this will ever do much for reading. Maybe it will do something for making kids a little more culturally literate.

I have also heard my friends talk about this remarkable phenomenon where you just put headphones on kids, put on the bedtime story and they just fall asleep.

Last year in 2007 Katz says that kid and teen books made up for 13% of all audiobook downloads. He got this figure from the Audio Publishers Association. This is probably a trend that will explode, especially when they find out how easily it can put kids asleep.

On AudibleKids social skills are taught as well. Kids are encouraged to get online and talk about the audio book they just listened with them. There are also teachers and moderators on AudibleKids and sometimes even authors show up on the site.

AudibleKids has a lot of books from the Random House Listening Library. Fisher-Price and Disney are now getting into the game and even manufacture kid-friendly audio players that a kid as young as two years old can manage.

So will a reliance on audio books make a child more reluctant when it comes to learning how to read? Katz says no. He things that starting them off on digital media will encourage a life long love affair with books and prompt them to be more curious about the print form of the story that they listen to digitally.

Movie stars are getting into reading these things in a big way. Tony Shaloub and Gwyneth Paltrow are the voices reading audiobooks right now. Of course they were inspired to do this from reading bedtime stories to their own children.

One thing I am a little wary of is the way that Katz markets these books as being a replacement for the bedtime story that the busy parent would usually read to the child. I don't think I want to be replaced by an iPod.

Parenting Tips
, , , , , , , ,