National Baby Swimming Week highlights joy of being active in water from early age

National Baby Swimming Week, spearheaded by Swim England partner Water Babies, is back with the aim of raising awareness of the benefits of early years swimming.

Now in its eighth year, the initiative runs until Sunday 8 September and pools across the country will be opening their doors to parents and carers and giving them the opportunity to introduce their little ones to the joy of water.

There are many benefits for little ones to start swimming from an early age and continuing throughout their early years – not least the emotional, physical and psychological benefits of baby swimming that supports their development and helps them to learn a skill for life.

Aine Halton-Hanley, group associate director of aquatics at Water Babies, said: “National Baby Swimming Week is a chance to raise awareness you can take your baby swimming, whether that’s going to your local leisure centre for social swims or lessons.

“There are a wide variety of benefits of introducing little ones to swimming at an early age – not least because they learn valuable water safety skills.

“It also helps to grow their confidence, offers great bonding time with their parent or carer and hopefully gives them a lifelong love of water.

“We do things a little differently during National Baby Swimming Week. We put on fun activities in the pool with our current customers, so they have a special lesson that particular week.

Important message

“However, the main messaging focuses on new parents, new carers, just new customers to really talk about how the earlier you get your little one into the pool, the more it’s going to support their development as they grow essentially.

“It’s not just about us talking about how amazing swimming is – it’s actually giving parents and carers the support to introduce their child to the water.”

Water Babies work alongside a host of their partners – including Swim England and the Royal Life Saving Society UK – to spread the important message about the benefits of swimming to babies and toddlers.

Aine continued: “When we first introduced National Baby Swimming it was, as the title suggests, primarily focused on babies, but we have expanded it to include toddlers as well.

“Sometimes people feel like they may have missed the boat by not introducing their child to swimming when they were a baby, but it’s never too late to join in and learn a skill for life – and it’s not only great for the babies and toddlers, it’s also a fantastic way for parents and carers to socialise.”

Formed more than 20 years ago by Paul Thompson, Water Babies is a nationwide swim school franchise operation – with schools also in the Netherlands, US, Ireland and Canada – and also a Swim England Approved Training Centre.

More than 40,000 babies enjoy the benefits of water on a weekly basis with Water Babies, who also worked in partnership with Swim England and other organisations to help develop the British Standards Institute Code of Practice for the safe delivery of baby swimming.

Wonderful opportunity

Aine added: “We have 56 franchises across the UK and around the globe and we’re always looking to expand so we can bring the joy of a life in water to as many people as possible. 

“We’re proud of the partnerships we have forged across the sector, particularly with the likes of Swim England.”

Alex Barrett, Swim England’s senior technical aquatics manager, said: “At Swim England, we believe that starting the swimming journey early can have a profound impact on a child’s development and instil a lifelong love for the water.

“National Baby Swimming Week is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the benefits of learning to swim early, from building water confidence to creating special bonding moments between parents and their babies.

“Swim England proudly support our partners in delivering pre-school swimming lessons across the nation and the impact they have on nurturing the next generation of confident swimmers.”

To get involved in swimming lessons, visit swimming.org/poolfinder.

To learn more about National Baby Swimming Week, visit https://waterbabies.co.uk/national-baby-swimming-week