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Subscribe to RSSGiven that cute babies swimming are normally a summer phenomena, why should we care about them right now, in winter?
Because these aren’t just run-of-the-mill swimming babies. Just check out this little sweetie with the Santa hat:
Phil Shaw / Barcroft Media via Landov
They are also not ordinary because these water babies are part of London Baby Swim, a program specifically designed for infants as young as six weeks old.
London Baby Swim director Phil Shaw has seen such a demand from new parents that in January he’s opening a new center with a pool specifically built for babies in Wandsworth, South London. The 10,000 gallon pool will be heated to a pleasant 91.4 degrees Farenheit and features special UV lights that keep water clean and reduces the amount of chlorine, so it’s better for babies’ sensitive skin. The four foot deep water will take classes of up to eight babies at a time – all performing turns, submersions and floating techniques.
Like these star students here:
Phil Shaw / Barcroft Media via Landov
Phil Shaw / Barcroft Media /Landov
Shaw believes babies are ready to swim as soon as they exit the womb. “After nine months in a water environment means babies are perfectly prepared to swim from birth,” he says. “Healthy babies are born with extremely sophisticated natural reflexes that protect them from any harm and are very important, as they promote their survival.”
What age did your kids learn to swim?
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Both my babies swam before they walked. I could not keep them out of the pool when they were up to about a year old. Funny thing is; when they were a little older and saw/heard the ocean waves for the first time, they were fearful of the water for several months! Now they surf :)
cool... should be more swim's like this everywhere..
I took my eight week old son into the pool and gave him some "controlled immersion" experiences, which is what I think these photos represent. His mother blew a fuse and divorced me. Twenty six years later he is happy, healthy and might I add, a confident swimmer. Times and teachings may change but beware the hysterical mother!
The wife divorced you over the swim? Surely not. If so, man did you get lucky!
She divorced you for other reasons. Buddy
Exactly!
Right Bill, and beware of hysterical onlookers. When I was stationed at Ft. Bragg I went to the dependents pool often and I remember a woman who came with her "Toddler." Lol, she would pick the baby up and fling her in the pool. Man, people at the pool went nuts. The mother would swim out to the baby and they both had a good time. Some kind of bonding I guess.
You need to come to terms with the real reason your wife ended the marriage. While she may have been angry with you over your so called swimming lesson, it was not grounds for divorce and I will bet it is not even mentioned in your divorce decree.
Your further deflection of the blame will do you more damage than the divorce itself. Why not take a moment to reflect into the realities if the past. Be honest with yourself about the situation. Own it for what is yours in it and move on.
Hey Ohhhh whatever. What's it to you if there were other reasons for the divorce, c'mon, stay with the topic. It's a cool human interest story.
This isn't correct...the images are, but these babies will lose this reflex after a few months. I read an article way back describing how excited parents, willing to show off their baby's swimming skills, dunked them in the water and watched them nearly drown. It's like the rooting reflex and others that a baby is born with; they disappear over time. Yes, you might be able to teach a baby how to swim as long as you keep the regimen very regular, but don't expect your child to 'remember' how to swim after a few dunks.
Did this with my son when he was an infant in the indoor pool of our apartment complex. We were amazed at how he could hold his breath naturally after blowing on his face. Did it twice in a row and we marveled at it. Third dunk he came up and screamed so loud it echoed off the walls! Never did it again!
Where's the dollar bill on the fishing hook?
Nevermind.
I think this is a great idea!! Now they should have the mothers joint them and that would make for one wonderful time to watch. I would only hope that the mothers would have the good sense to diet and work out a few months before joining their tots so they don't end up look like a bunch of distressed Shar Peis due to their flabby stomachs, thighs and pontoon looking boobs. This is important because they could cause trauma to these young impressionable minds, not to mention the fathers that could end up with a bad case of post traumatic syndrome. But then again as some moron used to say, to know them is to love them; then you woke up!!!
My DD didn't swim until she was 24 months old, but she spent the summer swimming from one end of our pool to the other, usually underwater. She would jump off the edge of our hot tub into the "deep end" with no fear at all. When she fell into the pool the following February, I was grateful that she could just swim out with nothing worse than a little chill. She's now 11 and still very confident in the water.
My son was six when he learned to swim. I had an industrious boyfriend who made him dive in the pool for quarters. To this day, he knows the value of money.
I began swimming at 4 months as part of an Infant Swimming Research program and because of it I have never been afraid of the water. I swam competitively from age 6 to 18. I'm 21 now, but when i have kids I want them to experience what I was able to.
Yes, a baby naturally knows how to swim if given the chance to explore it, with supervision of course. My mom had us all swim, my sisters and I, starting at a few weeks to a few months old. My brother had to wait till he was five and by then it did not come natural for him. He had to learn to hold his breath under water, blow bubbles, how to float, etc. The pics are gorgeous and I still love being in and swimming in the water, snorkeling and or diving 64 years later.
Does anyone not see that these pictures are considered by US law child pornography? And yet, to most sane individuals they are not. They're cute. But at some point if these babies were age 2, 7, or certainly 15 it would be. When does a photograph of a naked child get labeled porn? I'm surprised to see these pictures posted at all. Certainly the photographer Phil Shaw should now be imprisoned and lose his career?
Having sat through a child pornography trial as a juror, I will state that these pictures are nothing like child pornography, and if the subjects were 2, 7 or 15, they still wouldn't be. The images the person on trial had WERE child pornography, and were NOTHING like these photos. I won't go into detail about what the photos contained, because this is not the article to do that on; but I will state unequivocally, that there was absolutely no mistaking the hideously sexually exploitative, blatant, and at times sadistic, nature of the child pornography.
slow down there, book burner! 'm pretty sure you have to show genitals or pubescent breasts , graphically, for it to be considered child pornography under US law. child nudity is not inherently sexual, unless you're a pervert, and these images would not be considered pornographic by anyone. the laws are interpreted that way. in short, simple nudity is not pornographic. there's even a book collection of photographs of young nudists on the shelf in every photography section of every major bookstore, except maybe in those states with stricter laws on such things. the images just aren't sexualized.
Mr. Child pornography is in the mind of the viewer, a Pedophile can get off on seeing a child bundled up for Winter. If we label as pornography according to what's in someone's mind we'd be calling birthday party, cake on the face, pornography. Or, child abuse.
This is news ? My daughter learned how to swim at the YMCA in Brooklyn NY 28 years ago when she was just 3 months old.
They are pretty boyant...must be because of all that gas, hope they don't spring a leak!
We had our little one in the pool around 3-4 months old - he LOVED (loves!) it. Too bad it's turned cold!
My parents put me in swim lessons when I was 18 months old, in 1967. Word has it my grandparents were horrified because it just wasn't done back then. I'm still an excellent swimmer today.
I guess Im was taught the crazy old school way when I was about 5 years old. My uncle threw me in the deep end of my grandmas pool and I had no choice but to swim. Heck ya it was scary but I swam like a fish after that. I have four kids now and I would NEVER have just threw them in. Either way, I didn't drown and my kids are happy I didn't follow in my uncles footstepa :)
This is the way I was taught also. Thrown in the deep end of the pool.
Oh, this is nothing, for crying out loud. My baby's been floating in the pool for 3 days and still hasn't come up for air. Gee whiz!
Living in Florida, it is very important that your kids learn to swim as early as possible. My son started taking lessons at 2 years of age and before the summer was out he was swimming about 20 feet without any assistance. The school my son went too does a mom & me class and the babies are 6 months of age. They instruct the kids if they should happen to fall in the water what are they suppose to do, and all of them will slap the side of the pool where they are sitting. I was very impress. My son is a fish in the summer. He LOVES to swim. I have that to thank to Seal Swim School. #!/pages/Seal-Swim-School-North-Pinellas/159288660788044
Every generation wants to re-invent the wheel...This is nothing new, we were introducing newborns to the water back in the 60's. I was a swimming instructor with the YMCA in 1961 and we had regular classes for 6 mos to a year....their mothers or fathers were always in the pool with them..darn I wish we had taken pictures...oops the I phone hadn't been invented yet..darn!!!
That third baby is ugly as sin! Sorry but not all babies are cute.
A face only a mother could love.
I respectfully disagree--that baby is beautiful, with the look of sheer joy on her/his face! You woke up crabby today, didn't you??
Aww what beautiful little squirts :) Too bad my local YMCA uses waaaaay too much chlorine, I'd love to take Giovanni for a dip. He will just have to watch big brother while he gets a bit bigger.
This isn't new. When my daughter was six weeks old, my husband and I took her to infant swim class at our local high school pool. We all had a great time, and she has never feared water. Today she is 31 years old.
My younger daughter learned to swim before she turned two.We had a friend whose child fell in their pool, and was revived. She never recovered and died of pneumonia at 5. I taught my daughter to swim for the side and how to get out on her own.
I grew up on a lake and don't remember not knowing how to swim. I swam competitively for 10 years. And my little girl (2) loves the water too. Every time we go swimming I make sure to dunk her at least once.
But, remember people, its important to teach kids to respect the water too. Strong winds, big waves or just unknown water can be very dangerous.