Baby Swimming
Baby Swimming
From the moment of their birth, babies maintain some instinctual aquatic capabilities they have developed as a fetus in the womb. Those abilities are classified as fetal reflexes and exist for survival reasons. From the moment of birth those reflexes begin to gradually fade up until the 4th month of the baby's life. Baby swimming offers the baby the opportunity to maintain her/his contact with the aqueous environment, to convert the reflexes to conscious responses and to develop these in the depth of time to swimming skills.
Some of the pionneering teachers of Baby Swimming were Virginia Hunt Newman in the US and Claire Timmermans and Ben Douglaw in Australia. Those two inspired their own babies and hundreds of other babies and pre-school children to swim, and teachers to learn and apply baby swimming during the 60's and 70's. In the UK, Dr Francoise Freedman is well known for her anthropological research in the Amazon and her aquaintance with local families. By observing the interaction of women and babies with the water she was able to transfer the “natural” learning process and teach them through her foundation (Birthlight). The last decade Baby Swimming progressed rapidly in order to increase aquatic awareness, safeguard children and reduce drownings, and there are now many aknowledged aquatic schools worldwide offering certifications to aquatic professionals.
Section Administrators:
Danae Zelioti, M.A., Email: danaezelioti13@hotmail.com
Maria Sklavounou, Μ.Α. Email:m.sklavounou7@gmail.com
Pre-School Swimming
Pre-School swimming can be considered the most important period of swimming education as these are the years the children basically aquire all the swimming and aquatic skills that will teach them life long safety in and around the water. During these important years children learn all the different ways their bodies can move in the water and learn how to trust their aquatic abilities.
Courses are taught through game activities that aim for aquatic adjustment and create the base for eventually learning the swimming strokes. AHF in this section will attempt to address the specific aquatic needs of pre-school swimmers.
Paediatric Aquatic Health
Section Administrator:
Irene Papakonstandopoulos, B.A., M.D., Email: irenepapakon@hotmail.com
In this section you can be informed on how to safeguard children's health when swimming or spending time around the water. We will deal with health related issues ranging from exposure to the sun and the dangerous impact of solar radiation, to water quality and infections and viruses that a child can be exposed to.
In this section AHF will be presenting and addressing the effective use of preventive measures in order to avoid threats deriving from the marine and water environments.