The Water park!

I happened to be in a holiday resort, where one part is dedicated for entertaining guests with play in the water with different experiences for children and adults. 

The way this park is developed is most innovative to give a fulfilling experience. One can float in water, splash, be in water spraying pool, slide along slopes propelled by water, watch wheels move when jet of water is turned towards them, experience artificially created waves, etc. All of these appeared amusing and thrilling!

At the end of the day, watching these experiences hundreds of people enjoy in the theme park, I realised how little water pools, such as lakes and rivers are used for people to experience a relaxing time. It is because most of the water resources are contaminated with environmental waste, pesticides draining into the water, waterbodies having algae overgrowth, pollutants such as solid waste in the water bed, etc.

My parents built a water pool for the grand children and it was one holiday experience thy looked forward to, while visiting them. Since then we rebuilt it, and is well used now by our grandchildren. Although it is not large enough to swim, it is of good size to have a bath experience in a tub. 

I sense from our experience and watching children being in the pool, that water has a soothing and enveloping experience!

A foetus begins life immersed in the water bag of mother's uterus. From then on, an interest for water experience is instilled in every person. But later in life some are fearful of water. It is this which inhibits some to learn swimming. 

Is the fear of water related to occasional stories we hear about drowning and near death experience of people!

The fear is perhaps more fundamental than that. 

After having  been immersed in the amniotic fluid for nine months, during the first breath, a baby inhales air into the lungs. On those few occasions, when the amniotic fluid was inhaled because the birth process was delayed, a baby would choke and feel breathless. Sometimes the fluid has to be sucked out from the pharyngeal and laryngeal spaces to allow air to enter into the lungs to convert the foetal circulation to normal circulation with heart oxygenating the blood and circulating it in the body. 

There are behavioural psychologists who attribute this 'birthing struggle to breathe' to be a possible reason for some to have fear of water, later in life. In my enquiry with adults who have fear of water, I have come across the history of difficult birthing experience in some of them. 

Yesterday in the water theme park, I noticed children, adolescents and adults who when forced to enter water pool screamed and avoided being in the water!

It is this sight yesterday which made me reflect on this issue of 'aqua phobia' of adults and reason it out in my own mind. 

I need more exploration to see if there is any reliable link between neonatal birthing difficulty and adult behaviour of aqua phobia. 

I wish water play will be a usual play pattern, we would introduce to infants from around six months of age, when they are ready to sit and use hands to splash water. They need a large enough water tub to sit and move their hands and legs. If a child can be introduced to play with toys while being in the water tub, they are more likely to grow up being water friendly!

Parents need to move away from a traditional belief that children will 'catch cold', which deny children of playing in the water even during the bath time. Such parents make the bath time ultrashort that children grow up unfamiliar with the many advantages of play in the water. 

Water, the nature's gift to us, covers a good portion of earth! To be voyager in life, it is good to be water friendly as that gives us an opportunity to learn about  many species of animals, whose habitat is water!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)