Changes over swim lessons in parents’ perceptions of children’s supervision needs in drowning risk situations: “His swimming has improved so now he can keep himself safe.”

Objective: The aim of this longitudinal study was to determine how children’s participation in swim lessons impacts parents’ appraisals of children’s drowning risk and need for supervision. Method: Parents with 2-5-year old children enrolled in community swim lessons completed the same survey measures up to 4 times over an 8-month period. Results: Multilevel regression analyses examining temporal relationships between parents’ perceptions of their child’s swim ability, supervision needs around water, and children’s ability to keep themselves safe in drowning risk situations revealed that as children progressed through swim lessons, parents’ perceptions of their child’s swim ability and their belief that children are capable of keeping themselves safe around water increased. Further, the relation between parents’ perceptions of swim ability and judgments of children’s supervision needs was mediated through parents’ judgment about their child’s ability to secure their own safety near water. Conclusions: As parents perceive their child to be accumulating swim skills, they increasingly believe that children are capable of keeping themselves from drowning, and as a result, that less active parent supervision of their child is necessary. Implications of these findings for intervention efforts to counter this unwelcome way of thinking that may arise through continued participation in swim lessons are discussed. Incorporating a parent-focused component into children’s learn-to-swim programs to promote more realistic appraisals of children’s supervision needs and drowning risks may further enhance the positive benefits that swim lessons have for children’s safety.