New Guidelines for Toddlers Swimming Lessons
Before last week, swimming lessons were only recommended for children ages three and up. But after careful consideration of pool safety concerns, The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has lowered the recommended age of swimming lessons to toddlers as early as age one.
The AAP has found that with some swimming instruction, young children can avoid drowning, especially among the increasing number of backyard and community pools. Drowning is the second leading cause of death for children ages one to 19 years, and about 1,100 children died of drowning in the United States each year.
Children on average are just beginning to take their first steps around their first birthday. As the amount of toddlers increase around the pool for swimming lessons, so will the risk for toddlers slipping and falling.
To help decrease slipping around pool areas, PEM Surface Creations provides aquatic matting as a unique solution to aquatic facilities to reduce slippage and provide padding and comfort for bare feet. PEM’s aquatic matting provides a textured surface that is excellent for wet and high traffic areas to help protect parents and toddlers who are not sure footed.
Recently Nickelodeon Family Suites in Orlando, Florida installed PEM aquatic matting and reported all time lows in slips and falls in their water park. The aquatic application is used extensively around the water park including high traffic areas, like the stairs and platforms leading to the slide.
