Summer is the time to swim and the therapeutic benefits are endless to playing and moving in the pool.  Many children who have difficulty controlling their bodies for sports and gross motor activities will have success moving in the water.  Hip hip hooray for creating positive movement experiences to build confidence! But seriously, there is nothing more powerful than a positive experience to build a foundation of possibilities.

Why is it so unique?

Water  provides 30x more deep pressure to the body than air and it is in full contact input to the body. Many children who become adept at swimming underwater will find it a very calming and organizing place to be.

Moving through water creates controlled vestibular stimulation in various planes. All of this enhanced sensory input helps with body awareness development and motor learning.

In addition to swimming, children can walk, somersault, or do angels in the water when supported on their backs.

The water is a natural environment for children to improve their oral-motor skills. Blowing bubbles in the water, blowing through a straw, or blowing ping pong balls across the pool are fun ways to introduce blowing skills.

The intense sensory input in the water will often increase language and lots of singing in the pool will further enhance those opportunities!

Gross Motor Skills

Water can either assist or provide resistance to active movement through all planes of motion, facilitating gains in strength for all major muscle groups. The gravity-lessened environment of water can help children explore and practice movements and skills they are not yet able to perform on land. Children with difficulty standing on one leg, jumping, or hopping on land can do so in the water.

Children who are learning to walk are assisted by the water because it slows down movements and gives the child more time to react.

A fun way to practice these skills is to pretend to be different animals for a length of the pool: jump like a frog, paddle like a seal, float like a fish, gallop like a horse. For children who benefit from visual cues, bring a collection of plastic animals that the child can choose from.

Motor Planning

Motor planning skills can be enhanced by experimenting with different ways to use a pool noodle, such as sitting on it like a swing, or a horse, or floating on back with the noodle under knees. Similarly, see how many ways a child can use a kickboard, from sitting to kneeling to standing to holding it and kicking legs.

Have Fun!

Even when looking at swimming and playing in the water as therapeutic, as long as the child is moving in the water, they are getting a benefit. Focus on fun and all of the other benefits will come!

Introducing our guest blogger, Amanda Henderson, who shares her expertise on  parenting and keeping children safe.  Check out her fantastic tips!

Image via Pexels

What you teach your children early on has a major impact on the person they become in the future. If you encourage them, show your support, and make sure they know they are loved, they will grow up to be confident and go after the things they really want in life. However, if you don’t put in the effort, your kids can fall into some pretty unhealthy habits that will sneak up on them later on in life. No parent is perfect — there are always things you won’t think of doing. But the following healthy choices are simple things that all parents can do to contribute to the overall well being of their children.

Be Active and Exercise

Modern societies are way more sedentary than we need to be and the proof is written all over the scale. Since the 1980s, obesity rates have doubled among adults and more than tripled among children. In the United States, more than two out of every three adults are considered either overweight or obese and one in six children are considered obese. All that excess weight has serious health implications. Those who are overweight or obese have a higher risk of developing illnesses and issues including:

• Hypertension
• Type 2 diabetes
• High cholesterol
• Gallbladder disease
• Stroke
• Heart disease
• Osteoarthritis
• Sleep apnea
• Gout
• Chronic pain
• Mental illness
• Certain cancers

Being active and exercising regularly can help prevent excessive weight gain and the health problems that accompany it. Fortunately, most kids really love being active. In fact, they can’t get enough of it. It’s only over time with overexposure to television, the Internet, and video games that kids stop going outside to play. Teach your kids to put away the screen and enjoy being active as much as possible. Get them involved in sports or other after school activities that encourage exercise such as dance classes. Go on family walks after dinner to help unwind and promote digestion. These little things can instill a love of exercise in your children that they take with them for years to come.

Eat Well

Children are notoriously picky eaters, but you may be surprised at what you can get your kid to eat if you simple involve him or her in the food preparation process. From buying your groceries to cooking the meals, bring your kids along and talk with them about what you buy and make. Demystifying vegetables and showing them how the sauce is prepared helps relieve their anxieties regarding an unknown food so they are more excited to try it. Eating a well-balanced diet full of variety helps encourage everything from brain development to skin health, so your child will have fewer health problems as they grow.

Another benefit of implementing healthy eating in your household is how budget friendly it can be.  

• Buy healthy staples such as dried grains and whole-wheat pasta in bulk.
• Eat a low cost breakfast everyday.
• Take advantage of supermarket deals on healthy choices.
• Buy fruits and veggies that are in season to get the best prices.
• Don’t forget about frozen — buying produce in the freezer aisle is cost-effective and contains about the same amount of nutrients as fresh.
• Cut out meat one day a week to save money and reduce your family’s saturated fat intake.

Keep a Regular Sleep Schedule

Having a set bedtime as well as a time to wake up helps create routine and structure in your child’s life. Beyond that, your child needs enough sleep for his or her healthy development. One in three people do not get enough sleep as adults. This can lead to poor work or school performance, moodiness, weight gain and a host of other health problems. Teaching your children the importance of rest and keeping a regular sleep schedule early on can help prevent them from becoming that one in three.

Amanda Henderson is a mom to two wonderful, active boys and a preschool teacher. She enjoys writing in her free time, and recently decided to create Safechildren so that she would have a place to share her thoughts and favorite resources on parenting and child safety. 

Sensory processing, emotional regulation and sensory regulation challenges have become so common.  One search on the internet and you’ll get a myriad of ideas to help your child calm with deep pressure or the movement they crave.

Did you know that you can impact a child’s sensory experience by simply changing their posture?

Sometimes small changes can make the largest impact.  Especially ones that you can reproduce throughout the day, like during mealtime.  Changing a child’s posture can change how they breath.  A deeper breath can activate a child’s calming system.  Plus, the body loves how it feels and will naturally repeat it over and over.

Many children with these challenges overuse postures that make it difficult to activate their core, coordinate their eyes together and can lead to toe-walking.  These children often become stuck in a fight-or-flight pattern.  Many will present with primitive reflexes still present because more mature movement patterns haven’t had the opportunity to develop.

Other children with these challenges will overuse other patterns and may be told to “sit up tall” all day.  These children often haven’t developed the core control needed to sit up while using their eyes, ears and minds all day long.  It can be exhausting for them!  These children are often w-sitters as well.

Lastly, some children have a combination of these two common postures.  The child will overuse one posture in standing and another posture in sitting, letting gravity win in each position.

By supporting a child in a neutral posture, often with someone as simple as a towel roll or yoga wedge, we can build a child’s basic foundations, from the core out.  Combine neutral posture with the breath and later with movement and a child’s sensory processing, emotional regulation and sensory regulation can improve.