In my experience as a child, mentor, and parent, swimming has consistently been an activity that supplies endless joy, wonder, challenge, and closeness. As a kid, I recall spending hours upon hours at community centers, pools of various sizes in Oregon, and the backyard pools of my family in Folsom, California. I attended summer camp in Molalla, where swimming in the fresh mountain runoff water trailed through the wooded property. The water was easily 35 – 40 degrees in the summer. We didn’t care. We were young, wild, and swimming. 

One could easily draw a parallel between learning to swim and the journey of life. Both life and bodies of water exist with ebbs and flow. Both require us to respect the power they wield. Life flows like the stream of a river. To swim, we must stay moving in a rhythmic motion in order to stay afloat. Life requires us to find our natural rhythm and relax in order to enjoy its wonders. 

Much like swimming, parenting requires us to maintain an inner rhythmic motion in order to weather the waves of emotion, expectation, and ever-growing responsibilities that come with raising children. We must learn to hold our breath and dive beneath the surface of what life presents us and explore what we don’t know about ourselves, our past, our identity, and our loved ones. We have to learn to open our eyes beneath the murky waters of bias, worldview, and normalcy so we can get a glimpse of what others don’t see from the surface. 

  1. Swimming is a source of endless fun. Our children get to meet others through splashing, bubble-blowing, underwater swim contests, and so much more. Give your kids the chance to make new friends in a new way where they are challenged to keep up with their friends in a healthy way. 
  2. The bonding that happens between parent and child during the teaching process is indescribable. My eldest daughter and I have been taking swims at LifeTime Fitness in Beaverton. Each day we pop in the car, drive to the gym, change into our swimsuits, shower, and hit the pool. We start out by walking around in the shallowest parts of the pool, acclimating to the environment. We then move to rides on Poppa’s back through the deeper parts. She slowly but surely gains confidence and comfort with the water. We then moved to jumping from the side of the pool into my arms and eventually advancing to jumping right into the deep end, floating to the surface, and reuniting with my arms. Within two weeks, she has made literal leaps and bounds as a swimmer, and she is only 16 months old. 
  3. There are, without a doubt, countless health benefits to swimming. Not only is it a full-body workout, but it is a low-impact exercise! This means our joints, cartilage, and the like are not taking a beating like traditional forms of exercise like weight lifting and running. As we teach, we also exercise! In the two weeks I’ve been teaching my daughter to swim, I’ve seen a noticeable difference in my energy levels, endurance, and even weight. 
  4. When thinking about life skills, my father always listed swimming as one of them. Now, as a father myself, I see more fully the truth of this. I’ve taught a number of kiddos to swim in my life, and it has led to relationships that exist to this day. Knowing how to swim instills a sense of independence, agency, and confidence in our kids. They will look at a pool or body of water as a place of fun, exercise, and wonder. We remove the fear that can paralyze many of our kids when they encounter water. As parents, we want to do what we can to remove barriers and empower our kids to DO and to BE!
  5. Lastly, there is nothing better than catching some sun by the pool while your kids are enjoying themselves, safely and confidently.