Fear factor frightens children.

PositionSwimming

Do some people still teach kids to swim by throwing them in the water to see if they sink or stay afloat instinctively? "Many parents and even some traumatic swim programs continue to use that ancient and ridiculous method of introducing children to swimming--and all they are doing is teaching kids how to be terrified of the water," charges Rita Goldberg, a former national swimmer in Great Britain, owner of a swimming school, and author of I Love to Swim.

"These advocates claim they are teaching survival, but I believe teaching survival can be--and should be--gentle and fun."

Goldberg's lament is that too many youngsters drown needlessly every year and too many parents either are resistant to teaching their toddlers to swim or teach them the wrong way. "No child, and I mean no child, has to ever drown in a swimming pool again if [he or she is] taught how to survive in the water the right way and at the earliest possible age.

"Drowning is actually the second leading cause of accidental death in the country. It is leading in Florida and a few other states, and the real tragedy is that most every child who drowns could have been saved by simply being taught to swim correctly. Traumatizing them only teaches them to fear the water, and who among us makes the best choices, or can even process calm thought, when we are afraid? Children are no different. They need to be given the tools to survival and draw their...

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