Swimming

I did a post over on my blog about swimming and how to prevent drowning. Long story short, my nephew was swimming with his dad (yes, his dad was in the water right next to him) when he went under and didn't come back up. My brother-in-law noticed what was going on and pulled him from the bottom of the pool. He was taken to Children's, and after a few hours of observation, he was sent home.

He will be fine, but it was scary. And I'm already afraid of large, open bodies of water. Oh, I can swim. I just don't like to. I scares me.

But the more I thought about it, the more I thought about how much my kids LOVE the water. Being in it. Swimming. Putting their heads under. And I KNOW it is good exercise. So, instead of continuing to dwell in the "what ifs" of what happened on Sunday, I started looking for some positive stories about swimming--specifically the benefits of swimming for someone with Spina Bifida.

Like this: spinabifidaassociation.org/site/c.liKWL7PLLrF/b.2644739/k.A07C/Richards_Story.htm

And this: blog.al.com/living-news/2008/08/clay_teenager_josh_berenotto_w.html

Like this: post-gazette.com/pg/07002/750609-114.stm

And this:  childrensmemorial.org/depts/motionanalysis/conditions/feature.aspx?sID=300&pID=302

Note: All links will open in a new window.

There are TONS more. Stories of children and adults swimming for exercise. Swimming for fun. Swimming to win. Stories of triumph. Stories of sacrifice. And I remembered that there is danger everywhere--yes, especially in the swimming pool. But there is also great benefit to learning to swim.

And I can't wait to get Esther-Faith into lessons later this month.