The holidays are in full swing and here at Watermelon Swim that means it’s Giving Season. As the hustle and bustle of the holidays set in, why not simplify your shopping list for the littles in your life?

When you give the gift of swimming, you’re not just setting a child up for a lifetime of safety and success in the water. You are giving the gift of confidence, the gift of independence, and the gift of development.

According to groundbreaking research led by Griffith University, children who swim demonstrate more advanced cognitive and physical abilities than children who do not. The findings of a four-year project by the Griffith Institute for Educational Research have surpassed expectations and indicate that swimming children have many advantages when starting school, regardless of socio-economic background.

According to the study, children who had participated in formal swim lessons were anywhere from six to 15 months ahead of the non-swimming population when it came to cognitive skills, problem solving in mathematics, counting, language and following instructions. The study found that children were seven months ahead in motor development and scored significantly better in visual-motor skills such as cutting paper, coloring in, and drawing lines and shapes.