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Parents’ Perception of Kindergarteners’ Swimming Lessons in Taiwan

Received: 29 March 2019     Accepted: 5 May 2019     Published: 5 June 2019
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Abstract

In Taiwan, the government interestingly requires primary school students to be able to swim 15 meters. By analyzing the drowning statics between Y2014 and Y2017, the program seems to be working. Understanding American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendation that most children age 4 and older should learn to swim, the purpose of this paper was to understand Taiwanese parents’ views and opinions on kindergarteners’ swimming lessons. By looking into parents’ background and experiences, it is possible to construct a picture on the status of children’s swimming before entering primary school and identify opportunities to do better. The target subjects were parents of kindergarteners whom were between 4 and 6 years old. Returned questionnaires were analyzed statistically, and from this the conclusions were drawn. Recommendations were made through literature reviews, online researches and findings. The summary provided below was based on the statistical analysis: (1) Fathers ranked themselves higher on swimming ability than mothers did. (2) More than half of the parents went to swimming once every few months. They liked to go swimming with other family members. (3) Nearly 1/3 of parents thought the best time to learn swimming was between ages of 4 and 5. (4) However, less than 1/4 of parents had helped their child/children signed up for the swimming lessons. Learning to swim before primary school was not popular in Taiwan. (5) Being afraid of water, not interested in swimming, too troublesome were the constraints which affected parents’ willingness to sign up swimming lessons for their child/children. (6) Easy to register, cleanliness of the pool, close proximity to home, and kid-friendly pools were the key factors leading to satisfaction. (7) Parents across all income level believed the cost of the swimming lessons were reasonable. (8) Both fathers and mothers shared similar views on how the classes should be conducted. More mothers preferred having certified professionals and having water safety included in the lesson.

Published in American Journal of Sports Science (Volume 7, Issue 2)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajss.20190702.13
Page(s) 60-71
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Preschool Swimming Lessons, Kindergarten Swimming Lesson, Taiwan Drowning Statistics, Constraints and Satisfaction

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Chyong-Huoy Huang. (2019). Parents’ Perception of Kindergarteners’ Swimming Lessons in Taiwan. American Journal of Sports Science, 7(2), 60-71. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajss.20190702.13

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    ACS Style

    Chyong-Huoy Huang. Parents’ Perception of Kindergarteners’ Swimming Lessons in Taiwan. Am. J. Sports Sci. 2019, 7(2), 60-71. doi: 10.11648/j.ajss.20190702.13

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    AMA Style

    Chyong-Huoy Huang. Parents’ Perception of Kindergarteners’ Swimming Lessons in Taiwan. Am J Sports Sci. 2019;7(2):60-71. doi: 10.11648/j.ajss.20190702.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajss.20190702.13,
      author = {Chyong-Huoy Huang},
      title = {Parents’ Perception of Kindergarteners’ Swimming Lessons in Taiwan},
      journal = {American Journal of Sports Science},
      volume = {7},
      number = {2},
      pages = {60-71},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajss.20190702.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajss.20190702.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajss.20190702.13},
      abstract = {In Taiwan, the government interestingly requires primary school students to be able to swim 15 meters. By analyzing the drowning statics between Y2014 and Y2017, the program seems to be working. Understanding American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendation that most children age 4 and older should learn to swim, the purpose of this paper was to understand Taiwanese parents’ views and opinions on kindergarteners’ swimming lessons. By looking into parents’ background and experiences, it is possible to construct a picture on the status of children’s swimming before entering primary school and identify opportunities to do better. The target subjects were parents of kindergarteners whom were between 4 and 6 years old. Returned questionnaires were analyzed statistically, and from this the conclusions were drawn. Recommendations were made through literature reviews, online researches and findings. The summary provided below was based on the statistical analysis: (1) Fathers ranked themselves higher on swimming ability than mothers did. (2) More than half of the parents went to swimming once every few months. They liked to go swimming with other family members. (3) Nearly 1/3 of parents thought the best time to learn swimming was between ages of 4 and 5. (4) However, less than 1/4 of parents had helped their child/children signed up for the swimming lessons. Learning to swim before primary school was not popular in Taiwan. (5) Being afraid of water, not interested in swimming, too troublesome were the constraints which affected parents’ willingness to sign up swimming lessons for their child/children. (6) Easy to register, cleanliness of the pool, close proximity to home, and kid-friendly pools were the key factors leading to satisfaction. (7) Parents across all income level believed the cost of the swimming lessons were reasonable. (8) Both fathers and mothers shared similar views on how the classes should be conducted. More mothers preferred having certified professionals and having water safety included in the lesson.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Parents’ Perception of Kindergarteners’ Swimming Lessons in Taiwan
    AU  - Chyong-Huoy Huang
    Y1  - 2019/06/05
    PY  - 2019
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    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajss.20190702.13
    AB  - In Taiwan, the government interestingly requires primary school students to be able to swim 15 meters. By analyzing the drowning statics between Y2014 and Y2017, the program seems to be working. Understanding American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommendation that most children age 4 and older should learn to swim, the purpose of this paper was to understand Taiwanese parents’ views and opinions on kindergarteners’ swimming lessons. By looking into parents’ background and experiences, it is possible to construct a picture on the status of children’s swimming before entering primary school and identify opportunities to do better. The target subjects were parents of kindergarteners whom were between 4 and 6 years old. Returned questionnaires were analyzed statistically, and from this the conclusions were drawn. Recommendations were made through literature reviews, online researches and findings. The summary provided below was based on the statistical analysis: (1) Fathers ranked themselves higher on swimming ability than mothers did. (2) More than half of the parents went to swimming once every few months. They liked to go swimming with other family members. (3) Nearly 1/3 of parents thought the best time to learn swimming was between ages of 4 and 5. (4) However, less than 1/4 of parents had helped their child/children signed up for the swimming lessons. Learning to swim before primary school was not popular in Taiwan. (5) Being afraid of water, not interested in swimming, too troublesome were the constraints which affected parents’ willingness to sign up swimming lessons for their child/children. (6) Easy to register, cleanliness of the pool, close proximity to home, and kid-friendly pools were the key factors leading to satisfaction. (7) Parents across all income level believed the cost of the swimming lessons were reasonable. (8) Both fathers and mothers shared similar views on how the classes should be conducted. More mothers preferred having certified professionals and having water safety included in the lesson.
    VL  - 7
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Author Information
  • Physical Education Office, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

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