Swimming Lessons: When Should Kids Start To Learn To Swim?

To help decrease risks of drowning, in its latest water safety guidelines, the AAP recommends that children should start swimming lessons while under two-years-old, as the Washington Post reports.

“Research has found that swim lessons are beneficial for children starting around age 1,” Linda Quan, a co-author of the policy statement, said in an AAP news release.

“Formal lessons can reduce the risk of drowning by 88 percent,” says Debbie Hesse, executive director of the USA Swimming Foundation, the philanthropic arm of USA Swimming, whose goal is to have every child learn to swim.

“We have found a child can start at 6 months or when they are able to hold their head upright,” says Lindsay Mondick, senior manager of aquatics for the YMCA of the USA.

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