andrew@orca.UUCP (Andrew Klossner) (08/09/85)
This is in response to a note that teaching infants to swim must be
okay because it worked for the author's family and makes intuitive
sense.
It cannot be overemphasized that teaching children younger than three
years old to swim CAN LEAD TO THEIR DEATH. There have been many
documented cases, and the American Medical Association now recommends
that children not be allowed to swim until they reach this age. I am
not competent to report on the specific problems (any MDs want to help
out?), but one of them is that infants are too young not to swallow too
much water and chlorine, resulting in system failure and death.
This was all hashed over several months ago, but is of such gravity
that it bears repeating.
-=- Andrew Klossner (decvax!tektronix!orca!andrew) [UUCP]
(orca!andrew.tektronix@csnet-relay) [ARPA]