Swimming Against the Current

I recently heard a discussion about swimming lessons for infants and toddlers.  It seems that after many years of belief in the value of swimming lessons for infants, pediatricians came out with a statement saying that this practice, especially for children under the age of four, would give a false sense of confidence to mothers as well as to the children.  Talk about putting a damper on things!  (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Well, it turns out that pediatricians have now reversed their advice.  It seems that they've come to the conclusion that swimming lessons for children as young as 12-months could actually be beneficial.  They even have statistics to back this up, which is something they, obviously, didn't have to back up their initial declaration. 

This caused me to think about the amount of advice that's out their and question what's worthy of belief.   It also made me wonder if people are losing their ability to follow their instincts and trust their feelings.  Or have we come to believe that it's more important to find and listen to experts, especially experts with a lot of letters after their names.

Visiting with dad everyday in the Memory Care Unit where he now lives and getting to know the other residents as individuals, rather than as people in various stages of dementia,  has changed my view about this condition.  Also, whenever I attend meetings with those who work in the field of dementia it's rather easy to pick out those experts who probably don't spend a lot of time in such settings, but rather learn through meetings and continued study.

Let's hear it for continued study, but let's also go swimming with the toddlers every once in a while.