The Great Goggle Debate
To wear or not to wear goggles that is the question. So many people have so many opinions on whether or not children should wear goggles during their lessons, so I am going to give my opinion based on person experience.
Once upon a time there were no goggles. Things are different now and goggles are manufactured in sizes and shapes to suit everyone. If you open your eyes underwater without them it is a bit like looking through opaque glass. You can make our shadows and outlines but you can’t see clearly. You can’t see the floor so you don’t know how deep you are swimming; you can’t see the wall or other swimmers very clearly and could collide with them. When questioned, some children will say they don’t ‘need’ goggles but then continue to swim with their eyes closed. This is quite a dangerous practice as they could crash into another swimmer causing a possible double casualty situation, or they might just crash into the wall causing double black eyes. I have personally witnessed both scenarios.
A few teachers believe that children should be taught without goggles as they wouldn’t have them on if they fell into the water by accident. Equally one could argue that they wouldn’t have arm bands/woggles and water heated to 30 degrees so do we withdraw those aids too and teach in the Kennet and Avon canal!
I believe children should be given every opportunity to become happy and confident in the water and given the opportunity to use any aids that are proven to be useful for this purpose. Yes children will fiddle with goggles but probably because no-one has shown them how to fit and adjust them properly. Five minutes spent at the onset of use is usually enough time for the child to be able to adjust the goggles for themselves in the future. To experience being able to ‘see’ underwater is probably the most amazing part of learning to swim. So good in fact that once we have taught them how to submerge and open their eyes we spend the next four years telling them off as all they want to do is disappear under the surface.
Once upon a time there were no goggles. Things are different now and goggles are manufactured in sizes and shapes to suit everyone. If you open your eyes underwater without them it is a bit like looking through opaque glass. You can make our shadows and outlines but you can’t see clearly. You can’t see the floor so you don’t know how deep you are swimming; you can’t see the wall or other swimmers very clearly and could collide with them. When questioned, some children will say they don’t ‘need’ goggles but then continue to swim with their eyes closed. This is quite a dangerous practice as they could crash into another swimmer causing a possible double casualty situation, or they might just crash into the wall causing double black eyes. I have personally witnessed both scenarios.
A few teachers believe that children should be taught without goggles as they wouldn’t have them on if they fell into the water by accident. Equally one could argue that they wouldn’t have arm bands/woggles and water heated to 30 degrees so do we withdraw those aids too and teach in the Kennet and Avon canal!
I believe children should be given every opportunity to become happy and confident in the water and given the opportunity to use any aids that are proven to be useful for this purpose. Yes children will fiddle with goggles but probably because no-one has shown them how to fit and adjust them properly. Five minutes spent at the onset of use is usually enough time for the child to be able to adjust the goggles for themselves in the future. To experience being able to ‘see’ underwater is probably the most amazing part of learning to swim. So good in fact that once we have taught them how to submerge and open their eyes we spend the next four years telling them off as all they want to do is disappear under the surface.
