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‘You have to pay close attention to the kids on the beach’ – Xénia Fülöp, teacher of Iron Swim Budapest School about danger of the summer

Summer is ramping, everyone spends their time at Lake Balaton, at the sea or in a bath. It’s the time when parents realize how important their kid’s water safety. Has he completed a swim course? Perfect, then let’s go on holiday. Is it really enough? Xénia, teacher of our swim school spoke in Family Week of Inforádió about the proper attitude and about what we should do to avoid accidents.

‘You have to pay close attention to the kids on the beach, because it is very different to swim in open water than in a training pool. But with a basic level knowledge parents could be braver with the kids. If they have swum in deep water for a year and can swim three strokes confidently, I let them go in by themselves, but certainly with someone watching. Deep water requires proper breaststroke technique, because that serves them best there. It is the basic swim knowledge I was talking about, if kids get used to deep water, it is no problem for them to jump in, because they know, they can come up on top without any fear.’

‘Everyone thinks that we need to rely on our arms when the water is deep, but it is not the case, legs are much more important in the water. Kicks are needed, arms and legs in breaststroke, since everyone uses this stroke in open water. If the kids have acquired it, we can let them swim farther in deep water. It is a certain water safety, but that doesn’t mean we avoided every danger. Accidents can happen unexpectedly, a deep hole, bad breath or a bad jump from a paddle boat, we cannot avoid these things completely, but we do our best to prepare the kids for this kind of danger.’

‘Furthermore, I propose for the parents to think ahead, because their kids cannot learn to swim within three months or a week before holiday, leave time and start the whole process in time.’