It starts out early, as most things do, the awareness and love that is sometimes passed on not necessarily because of genes but perhaps because our parents or those we have around loved the same things. The passion is shared, enthusiasm catching. There are also times when our physical environment becomes a contributing factor to what we like, which is why hiking can be become a favoured activity for children with hiker parents, or cooking becomes almost second nature for kids of chefs or restaurateurs. Children nearer to bodies of water with overly eager parents usually have another hobby tendency. These parents can sometimes be instrumental in developing a love for aquatic activities in children – theirs and their kids friends.
Aquatic activities can either be indoors like diving, swimming or outdoor motor activities in water for a number of purposes – usually for recreation, some as competitive sports, and therapeutic purposes and may include but not limited to sailing, rowing, scuba diving to name a few. Health benefits of water activities cannot be denied especially when swimming, the most basic of all water exercise, is touted as the best form of exercise.
According to a better health article some of swimming’s health benefits :
“Swimming is a good all-round activity because it:
- keeps your heart rate up but takes some of the impact stress off your body
- builds endurance, muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness
- helps maintain a healthy weight, healthy heart and lungs
- tones muscles and builds strength
- provides an all-over body workout, as nearly all of your muscles are used during swimming.”
Other water sports like water skiing, wake boarding, windsurfing, rowing and sailing are offshoots of this love for aquatic activities. One learns the discipline after they fall in love with being in the water, playing with it, befriending it. De-stressing is also a good enough reason to be developing a love for aquatic activities in children. There are aquatic sports that are not as competitive nor laborious that can be used in team building activities. One example is to sail on a tall ship for pleasure. Sailing can be therapeutic. The tranquility of the vast open sea with no other structures for miles, the gentle rocking of the waves and a chance to just relax with no demands of your time and everything is just perfectly calm.
For the time being, gone are the day to day stresses, the bills, the boss. Just the sun, fresh air, some solace as your hands work to steady and steer and bask in all this gentle solar therapy. If it is running on solar energy, then the better it is for everybody and mother earth.