Keeping Your Family Healthy And Happy

Reasons to Schedule a Visit to the Pediatrician After Your Child Completes Swimming Lessons

Enrolling your child in swimming lessons is vitally important for a number of reasons. Children who learn how to swim at a young age will be much less at risk of a water-related injury in the years ahead, and swimming can be an effective way to not only have fun but to also build self-esteem. One issue with swimming lessons, however, is that it can expose your child to a handful of unwanted health issues. This won't always be the case, but after your child finishes his or her first year of swimming lessons, you may want to schedule a checkup with the child's pediatric doctors. Here are some things that the pediatricians can look for.

Plantar Warts

Wart viruses thrive in damp environments, which means that the pool deck of the aquatic center at which your child is getting his or her lessons could potentially cause exposure to a wart. The number of people who walk across the pool deck with bare feet on a daily basis means that a wart virus can often be present, and this is the case in the pool's changing rooms, too. It's ideal to catch a wart early before it possibly grows, or before someone else in your home catches it. The pediatrician will be able to carefully inspect your child's feet to ensure that there aren't any plantar warts.

Respiratory Issues

Although chlorine in the water at your local aquatic center is critical for keeping the water clean, some children have trouble breathing the air in such locations. Perhaps your child suffers from asthma or another respiratory issue, and the presence of chlorine in the air has caused him or her to cough more since beginning swimming lessons, or perhaps even have a raspy sound while breathing. Your child's pediatrician can assess the child's breathing to determine if there's an issue. In some cases, the physician may advocate continuing the swimming lessons in a saltwater pool.

Emotional Well-Being

Learning how to swim can definitely boost a child's emotional health, but this may not always be the case. In some environments, your child could struggle with bullying from some of the other swimming lesson participants, which could be an issue if the instructor doesn't intervene. Or, if your child doesn't graduate to the next level of swimming lessons, he or she may feel embarrassed. The pediatrician can talk to your child about his or her experience in swimming lessons and ensure that the child's emotional well-being is good.


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