Teaching to swim

The characteristic features of children’s nervous system and physiology in learning new movements can be linked to 5-6 years of age. Swimnming is a cyclical movement and it does not require specific experience. Swimming actually resembles earlier patterns of movements, including crawling, climbing, walking and running. The attention span of a 5-6 year old child is long enough to learn swimming. The children’s nervous system plays an important role in the acquisition of swimming skills. The learning process is a coordinated activity of both the nervous and the muscular system.  During aquistion it may be necessary, too, to change some earlier reflexes. The reflex of moving the neck and the labyrinthine reflex are activated only when the head takes an unusual position. Swimming means taking an unusual posture, since the head is in a horizontal position. When being in water it is everybody’s reflex to close the eyes, but this reflex can be changed, too, through practice.