Your Turn By KERIN A. MORGAN

Bathtub Babies Prepare Your Little Fishies for a Summer of Water Fun

With spring and summer’s approach we often turn our thoughts toward swimming. Access to a pool is not necessary to get a baby comfortable in water. Parents can encourage a jump-start on swimming for their toddlers and babies by some purposed bath time! The earlier you can expose your baby to the water, the earlier the baby can learn to swim! Swimming is accomplished by mastering four basic skills: submersion, buoyancy, balance and breath-control. Here are some tips to achieve these goals:

The most intimidating is submersion, which is going underwater without sputtering and choking. Babies can begin learning this skill soon after birth if given gentle and consistent exposure to water. Natural adaptation occurs as you make bath time a fun, safe place for baby to learn sensations he will feel in a big pool. This will help avoid a lot of the “scariness” in learning to swim.
First, shower your baby so that he will become used to the feel of water over his face. This will also help him learn to hold his breath as water hits his head.
Our 11 children were showered as soon as the umbilical cord fell off! Beginning with water on the back, we let the water fall gently over the back of the head and then finally, over the face.
When your baby is able to sit, let the shower run over him. You may also use a toy watering can or cup to pour water over his head. (Give a three-count cue to remind him that “three” means under the water!) With a gentle and fun voice, warn him that he will get wet.
Our first granddaughter whimpered at first and then settled in and enjoyed having the water go over her head. We told her, “just three times” and by the third she was fine with it. Allowing the baby to get used to this wonderful and necessary skill will eliminate some of the phobias associated with wet eyes or hair-washing as well!

Buoyancy can be taught by a parent either in the tub with the baby or holding her from the side. She can float and enjoy the feel of weightlessness that water offers, a freedom of movement not possible on land.
Beginning with the back float, cup your hands behind the baby’s head so she cannot turn her mouth in the water. This allows her ears to enter into the water. Some babies lie peacefully, others may seem startled, but all will adapt to it and enjoy the freedom and peacefulness of water. I often sang songs or spoke to my babies while they were on their backs.
When your baby is on her tummy, cup your hands under her chin so the mouth stays above the surface.
To add submersion, count to three and pour water over her face while she is floating on her stomach. After a few tries, dip her face in the water as you pour water over it. If at first the baby does not seem happy, keep it up—she will learn to enjoy it.
My 11 children did this skill between one and three months old. It is worth the effort when eventually you have a baby happy and enjoying the water both under and up!

You can begin to work on breath control when your baby is old enough to sit in the tub. Most of the fears associated with swimming stem from feeling out of breath. Breathing while swimming involves getting a breath, holding it and blowing it back out (eventually as bubbles).
Begin breath holds by making “funny faces” or “fat cheeks” together. Next, encourage your baby to make faces in the water and then come up and blow like a whale out of the water.
After he understands the process, you can start silent bubbles (rather than bubbles that make noise from the vocal cords). Using the three-count cue, have him go under and either come up and “blow” or do it under the water and create bubbles. Once the art of bubble-blowing is understood, you can make games of making big or little bubbles, quiet or loud bubbles, nose or mouth bubbles!
You may also want to use toys that sink to the bottom of the tub to encourage him to put his face down and open his eyes to get them.

As your baby gets older, fill the tub to just under the armpits. This allows baby to work on her balance against the waters’ desire to lift her up (buoyancy). If she begins to lose her balance, gently help her—never jerk. She will eventually learn to use her abdominal muscles or put her hands down for balance. Put toys that float at the surface and this will distract her as she balances in the tub.
Get plenty of towels on the floor, because before you know it you will have happy children who get on their tummies and spend bath-time blowing bubbles, holding their breath and enjoying the true joys of water! You will also find yourselves with children more than ready for the big pool when summer comes!

Kerin Morgan is founder of Morgan Swim School in Richmond. Kerin and the school have worked extensively with babies and children 0 to 14 years old in the 13 years since the school’s inception.

Your Turn By Rebecca Suder

Got a Minute? Forget the calling plan, she needs more time on her Mom plan.

When my husband asked me how it was possible that I could talk over a thousand minutes on the cell phone in a matter of 27 days, I was more than prepared to answer.
The way I figure it, I have about 960 minutes a day: less if I hit the snooze button or start a good book in which case I will be snoozing soon thereafter. Approximately 120 of those are taken up preparing and eating meals, 72 cleaning the kitchen, loading the dishwasher, doing laundry, and cleaning various other dust mites that pop up.
Forty-three minutes a day are spent reading; currently, it is “Thomas the Tank Engine” which is about as exciting as reading a pamphlet on reproductive health or the Korean instructions on how to set up your camcorder.
Sixteen minutes for the waking of my older son; 20 minutes for driving him back and forth like a taxi service for his blooming social life, of which I am infinitely jealous.

Four minutes brushing teeth, 29 minutes in the bath—close to 29 minutes cleaning up from the bath, 101 minutes running to the grocery store, bank, post office, library and gas station. At least 60 minutes are spent on my knees pretending to be a purple train called Culdee who is constantly getting derailed by the stronger, faster, sleeker blue engine Gordon that is my son.
Thirty-three minutes are spent in the backyard playing football with an opponent who thinks it’s funny to aim directly at the spot between my eyes that is now pounding from the excessive heat and the lack of sleep and a good cup of coffee.
Thirty minutes is spent watching Barney the big purple dinosaur because Donovan can’t watch the show alone. Barney is just a little bit scary—and I tend to agree, so I put it on because I’m thrilled to sit down enveloped in air conditioning with my feet up.

Nineteen minutes are to make sure my oldest does his 10 minutes of homework every night and 26 minutes to get him to do the chores I could have finished in three.
Then there are six minutes minimum every day wondering how I am permanently damaging my children or how they are doing the same to me.
Twelve minutes is spent wiping poopy bottoms. Six minutes trying to get the melted Dum Dum that the bank insists on giving me off my dashboard, as it has pooled into a sticky cherry mess the size of a small child. Fourteen minutes watering plants that despite my best efforts will in fact die shortly, I am sure. Twenty minutes explaining to my teenage son why it is important for him to make the best use of his free time which does not include on-line gaming, playing a black plastic guitar to a video game or talking non-stop to his 83 friends.

So I say, “If I want to spend approximately 58 minutes on the phone a day talking to my friends, I think we can understand that.”
My husband throws up his hands in sheer exhaustion and says, “Still, 1200 minutes a month is a heck of a lot of talking.”
At which point I leave the room because I’ve still got 33 minutes left of reading, two minutes of tooth brushing, at least six minutes of “Why do I have to go to bed right now?” and one precious minute left to bury my head under my pillow and seriously consider getting either a new cell phone plan or a new husband, whichever takes less time because I don’t have much to spare.

Rebecca Suder is chief bread baker, joke maker, nap taker and baby waker at the Suder, Crabtree, Banks residence and sometimes wonders how she ended up with sixty thousand dollars in student loans and no actual income as of yet.

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