Three of the best gifts you could ever give your children, is teaching them to swim, drive, and learn a foreign language.
The benefits are tremendous, and your children will develop a keen sense of awareness and responsibility as they develop.
These skills will help them to become more rounded adults and also help enhance their confidence. These skills will assist with the process of making better career choices and even allow them to have better employment opportunities.
Learning to swim is a life saving technique. Learning to drive increases independence. And learning to speak a foreign language instills an awareness for other cultures.
HealthyChildren.org states that “learning to swim should be a priority for every family. It’s an important life skill that can play a key role in helping to prevent drowning, a top cause of death among children. Children and their parents need to learn how to swim to help keep time in the water safe and fun.”
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), “Children can begin learning to swim from as early as one year old. However, when making your decision, keep your child’s emotional maturity, physical and development abilities and limitations, and comfort level in water in mind”.
Swimming.org also has this to say, “It’s fun, children love water and enjoying themselves. Swimming helps to keep their heart and lungs healthy, improves strength and flexibility, increases stamina and improves balance and posture”.
Most importantly, swimming is a lifesaving skill.
Children of any age or ability can participate and accessible for children with additional needs than almost any other sport.
Swimming provides challenges and rewards accomplishments, which helps children to become self-confident and believe in their abilities.
Swimming is also another way to expose children to opportunities to make new friends and grow in confidence. Learning to swim also opens the door to a range of other activities. You rarely forget how to swim after you have learned.
Your child will have plenty of opportunities to make friends and grow in confidence. Learning to swim also opens the door to a range of other activities. You rarely forget how to swim after you have learnt.
Other benefits to learning how to swim says, Swimsure:
- Low impact sport
- No pounding the pavement and damaging your knees.
- No twisting ancles from the quick turns required in football, netball and other similar sports.
- No shoulder injuries from constant throwing.
- The low impact nature of swimming, means you can continue swimming well into older age and can also help your recovery from injury obtained from injuries obtained in the sports.
Better Health Channel – (Swimming Health Benefits):
- Keeps heart rate up.
- Takes some of the impact stress off your body.
- Builds endurance, muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness
- Helps maintain a healthy heart and lungs.
- Tones muscles and builds strength.
- Provides an all-over body workout as nearly all of your muscles are used during swimming.
- Relaxing and peaceful form of exercise.
- Alleviating stress.
- Improves coordination, balance and posture.
- Improving flexibility.
- Providing a pleasant way to cool down on a hot day.
- Being available in many places. You can swim in pools, beaches, rivers and lakes.
All these benefits can be derived from swimming as early as your children learn to swim.
In addition, the ability to speak another language has become very essential in today’s changing global economy, not only does it improve communication skills, it enables the speaker to communicate with foreign language speakers.
The earlier your child learns to speak a foreign language the better.
It is very easy for a child to learn other languages once they are exposed to both their native language and the foreign language early in life.
Language and Practical Benefits:
Here are a few benefits according to Ji Wook Kim in advice on, Bilingualism: Start Early and Earn Your Benefits:
- Internationally you can communicate with a diverse group of people.
- Advantages in the job market.
- We learn faster younger.
Language an Auditory Benefits
Auditory benefits have been highlighted by Vanessa Simpson, linking the benefits of learning a foreign language:
- Children develop an “ear” for languages
- Exposing children to a foreign or second language at an early age, helps them develop an “ear” for the language and achieve better pronunciation and fluency later on in life. This is due to the fact that, when learning a foreign language children must distinguish meaning from very discrete sounds.
- Gives students a head start in language requirements for college.
- Children that learn a language at an early age, have a huge head start both cognitively and linguistically, and it will help them “breeze” through foreign language classes in high school and college, giving them a chance of truly becoming bilingual.
- Increase children’s understanding of his or her native language.
- Many studies suggest that second language studies helps enhance English language skills.
- Learning another language helps students learn about how language works in general and become more aware of their own language (grammar, conjunctions, sentences structures, etc.) Studies have shown that bilingual children understand better than monolingual the visual representation of print materials.
Better understanding of cultures and connecting with people that speak other languages,
Bilingualism allows for cross-cultural communication. Children who speak more than one language, have the opportunity to become more culturally aware and have the ability to better understand and appreciate cultural differences, which helps them be more open to different ways of thinking and allows them to experience the world with “new eyes”.
Bilingual children have the opportunity to connect with people that speak other languages and have access to more resources from other countries, “In our increasing diverse society, people from different countries and cultures must develop tools to communicate effectively with each other. As put by Kathleen Marcus, “society as a whole also profits economically, politically and socially when its citizens can communicate with and appreciate people from other countries and cultures.” A world in which different cultures and languages are valued and appreciated, with open, aware and empathic people. Is a better world for our children” continues Simpson M.Ed.
Swimming and Cognitive Functions:
According to Jeggan Tiego, et al research on swimming identifies cognitive benefits in inhibitory control – the ability to ignore irrelevant information during a task. As well as being better at managing complex tasks and switching attention to goal relevant information.
Tiego also maintains that recent discovery shows that swimming may delay the onset of Alzheimer.
Tiego also found that swimming boosts problem solving, critical thinking and listening skills. As well as improves memory concentration and the ability to multitask and enhances creativity and mental flexibility.
Teaching Teens To Drive.
Teaching teens to drive is an excellent way for teenagers to learn how to cope, and appropriately handle the potential risks and dangers that they will face as adults especially on our roads.
Four Benefits of Teaching Your Teenager to Drive. August 20, 2019. Education Planning.
- 1 in 5 sixteen-year-old drivers has an accident within their first year of driving.
- Teens have higher crash rates than drivers of any other age.
- 56% will talk on the phone while driving.
- Driver death rate increase with each additional passenger.
- Talking on the phone can double the risk of an accident.
Given these statistics it is tempting to avoid teaching our teenagers to drive altogether, and just have them learn to drive when they are adults. That will keep them safe but it will rob us of an opportunity to teach them important life skills, and also to have their undivided attention for at least an hour a few days per week.
Here are some of the positives to teaching your children to drive:
Teaches them responsible behavior, concentration, and discipline.
Improves communication.
Learns to be independent.
Is able to control distractions.
Learns defensive driving.
Maturity.
Driving is a skill that takes a lot of concentration and multitasking. Observing traffic lights and signs. Always having to be alert especially with so many crazy drivers on the roads these days etc. The earlier your child learns to maneuver and adopt to what driving entails the more mentally equipped and flexible they will be as they mature.
This can also help you to plan and be better able to manage your time as your age appropriate child can assist with situations that requires driving. Example, picking up the younger ones after school or even going grocery shopping.
Consider the benefits that can be derived from teaching your child to swim, drive and learn a foreign language. These are just some of the healthy choices we can make for our children in the process of grooming them to becoming well-rounded adults.
Works Cited
American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). Swim Lessons: When To Start and What Parents Should Know. (2019 Updated). https://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety- prevention/at-play/Pages/Swim-Lessons.aspx
Kim Ji Wook. Bilingualism: Start Early and earn Your benefits. Harvard University. December 13, 2019, https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2019/bilingualism-start-early-and-earn-all- your-benefits/
Parker, Wayne. Four Benefits of Teaching Your Teenager to Drive. Ages & Stage. August 20, 2019. Updated July 202. Education Planning. Fack Checked by Daniella Amato. https://www.verywellfamily.com/teaching-your-teen-to-drive-1270091
Simpson, Vanessa, M.Ed. 10 reasons why your child should learn a second or foreign language December 31, 2017 Benefits of learning a foreign language. Language Kids World. https://languagekids.com/10-reasons-why-your-child-should-learn-a-second-or-foreign- language/
Swim England. Why Your Child Should Learn to Swim. Swimming.org. (2021). https://www.swimming.org/learntoswim/why-your-child-should-learn-to-swim/
