Why Floaties Are Not the Best Option for Children
If you have young children in South Florida, you may be tempted to buy an array of floaties for them to use in the pool. They come in a variety of forms, from water wings to puddle jumpers and tubes and rafts that provide children with buoyancy in the water.
However, experts advise against the use of floaties for any child who can’t swim and instead urge parents to sign their children up for
swimming lessons. Ocaquatics Swim School's experience in teaching children water safety and how to swim spans 30 years in South Florida. It is a reputable swimming program that provides classes taught by certified swim instructors with expertise in working with children.
If you’re wondering why relying on floaties is not the best option for children, this article will explain the drawbacks of using floatation aids for kids and offer an alternative to floaties for children’s safety in water.
The Dangers of Letting Your Children Use Floaties
You may feel like it’s safer to use floatation aids when you and your family are in the water together. However, there are many drawbacks to using floatation aids for kids.
Floaties Create a False Sense of Safety and Security
If you’re wondering why relying on floaties is not the best option for children, it is because kids need to learn how to stay in the water without something that keeps them afloat. Many parents don’t realize that floatation aids only keep children’s bodies in a vertical position. Parents may also not realize that even when they use these aids, they must be constantly supervising them while in the water. It is never safe to leave children in the pool unattended, with or without floaties, even for just a few seconds.
Your Child Won’t Learn How to Float with Floaties
Despite the name, one of the biggest drawbacks of using floatation aids for kids is that they don’t help kids get into a natural position for swimming. When kids always use floaties, they become accustomed to the vertical position. Once they stop using these aids, they may sink faster or struggle to get back to the surface. Floatation devices like rafts, tubes, and others should only be used after a child has learned how to properly swim.
Floaties Tend to Pop Easily
You’ll understand why relying on floaties is not the best option for children if you ever experience one of them popping or breaking. Water wings, in particular, are always made with thin plastic that can easily be punctured. Even in the absence of a tear, over-inflating them can cause them to pop.
The plastic material is also prone to deflating, which can be dangerous when your child is wearing them in the water. As the plastic gets wet, it becomes slippery, and your child won’t have any grip should an issue arise. Your kids will become too dependent on the floatation provided by these aids and may panic if they pop, break, or slip away.
The best alternative to floaties for children’s safety in the water is to give them swimming lessons from a reputable swimming school that works with children.
The Benefits of Professional Swimming Instruction for Children
Swimming lessons are important for children to develop the swimming skills they need to avoid drowning. These lessons teach your kids the knowledge and skills they need, along with how to stay calm and confident in the water.
Now that you know the drawbacks of using floatation aids for kids, here’s why swimming lessons are the best alternative to floaties for children’s safety in the water.
Learning Water Safety
The biggest benefit of swimming lessons is that they will teach your children crucial lessons about being safer in and around water. Children will learn what to do in an emergency, how to stay afloat, and how to safely get out of water if they ever fall in by accident.
Great for Physical and Mental Health
Many kids today don’t get outside as often as they should. In Miami and the South Florida area, sometimes the heat may make them inclined to choose sedentary indoor activities. With swimming, they will get exercise that helps their heart health, build muscles, develop endurance, boost lung capacity, and reduce stress all while having fun and keeping cool.
Development of Motor Skills
When children start swimming lessons at an early age, they can develop and improve their motor skills. It will contribute to better balance on land and in the water too.
Gain Greater Confidence
There are many children who become nervous about getting into the water, either because they fear the water or because they don’t have confidence when facing new experiences. Swimming can seem intimidating to new learners, which is why relying on floaties is not the best option for children. Floaties give them a false sense of confidence, and once those aids are removed they can become agitated, upset, and afraid.
Swimming lessons are the best alternative to floaties for children’s safety in water because they teach your child how to feel confident when they get into the water, even if they accidentally fall in.
Why Expert Swim Instruction Matters for Your Kids
If you’ve been using floatation aids with your children in the pool but haven’t signed them up for swimming lessons, now is the best time to get started with expert instruction. You will want to choose a reputable swim school that focuses on teaching children how to swim from an early age.
The classes should begin with the basics of water safety education and progress to learning different strokes. Your child may love swimming lessons so much in their early years that they may want to become competitive swimmers. Before that happens, sign them up for children’s swimming lessons at Ocaquatics Swim School. We have been teaching children to swim since 1994 through our certified and experienced instructors devoted to keeping kids safer in the water while making the lessons fun.
