THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 11, 1996 TAG: 9608090026
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 47 lines
Regarding ``Dreading Water'' (Daily Break, July 2) and the subsequent ``Terror is the wrong lesson to teach'' (letter, July 12):
The article's title ``Dreading Water'' did not refer to the child's perception of the water. It referred to parents like myself who are terrified of having their child experience an aquatic accident.
The author of the letter did a wonderful job of portraying her awful experience with swimming lessons. However, the words ``this method of teaching swimming'' made me furious. The letter implies that her terrifying experience is related to the program described in the article. Unless she took the Infant Aquatic Survival Instruction by Infant Swimming Research, her early swimming experiences are unrelated to this specific form of water instruction.
The Infant Aquatic Survival program is not remotely similar to typical swimming lessons. The main goal is not even swimming. By working at the child's pace, using positive reinforcement, operant conditioning and applying the behavioral sciences, the children are taught various skills, of which swimming is only one.
The skills the children learn will help them survive various aquatic accidents: falling in the water feet first; flipping through the air prior to falling in; falling in between two objects; falling in with clothes on; what to do when immediate safety is unobtainable.
I agree that swimming lessons do not replace good parental judgment and watchfulness. The survival program continuously stresses that proper adult supervision is absolutely necessary when a child is near the water. Yet the program also realizes that accidents happen. In an aquatic accident, a child who has had the program is less likely to panic, will revert to the survival behaviors learned and will greatly increase his/her chances of survival.
The mind-set that ``it couldn't happen to my child'' is utterly ridiculous. I would take any precaution necessary to ensure the safety of my child, both physically and mentally. And I would not purposely put my child in a traumatizing situation.
My 3-year-old son is wary of strangers and apprehensive of new situations. After interacting with the survival instructor, my son was not hesitant to get in the water with her. My son's day-care provider and others close to him noticed an increase in his self-confidence during and after the aquatic instructions. Could a class that was traumatizing increase self-confidence and competence?
JEANINE LaLONDE
Virginia Beach, July 17, 1996 by CNB