Parents and their children´s involvement in swimming practice

Introduction: Swimming promotes children’s holistic development, also ensuring safety and independence in the aquatic environment. However, there is a discrepancy between parents’ expectations and the pre-established curricular objectives. Objective: To analyze the contrast between the objectives associated with teaching and learning in children's swimming and those established by their parents. Methods: An adapted version of Prada's (2022) questionnaire was used to capture and compare the perceptions of 128 participants from a swimming school in Viseu, and SPSS software was used to perform descriptive and inferential analyses. Results: Main results reveal that the reasons for enrolling children in swimming are related to the dimensions of “protection against drowning,” “knowing how to swim”, “need for physical activity,” and “independence in the pool.” “Teacher change” and “combination with other sports” were the least valued dimensions. Teachers' didactics are an influencing factor in sessions’ effectiveness, being rated as “excellent.” The most valued aspects are the stimulus balance presented in practice, learning, and safety, while the least valued aspect is the different age practitioners’ grouping in the same session. Conclusion: Learning through playful exercises that ensure and increase children's safety in the aquatic environment is crucial, grounded in a structured and pedagogically suitable process for their needs.