April 2023

Goggles: To Wear or Not to Wear?

By: Coach Gabi & MarciSwim, LLC

As experienced coaches, we at MarciSwim constantly get asked, “What gear does my child need for lessons,” or “How can I help my child become more comfortable and safe around water?” However, the most common question we get is should my child be wearing goggles? Today, we are here to answer that question for you!

Having worked with many parents over the years, we understand the importance of picking your battles when it comes to the little ones, and in terms of goggle-wearing, this can sometimes be difficult. Many kids falsely assume that goggles are a necessity for swimming and can sometimes be hesitant or scared to swim without them, but it is important to know that there is no evidence that short term eye exposure to pool water impacts eye health beyond occasional mild irritation (3). With this in mind, MarciSwim emphasizes the importance of introducing swimmers to the water without goggles using our methods, which seek to maximize the comfort and above all else, the safety of our swimmers. 

Many swim schools across the world including Blue Wave Swim School (1) in the UK and Hampton Swim School (2) in Australia recommend avoiding goggles for infant swimmers. In parallel with MarciSwim’s methods, we do not recommend goggles for children under the age of 2. As novice swimmers, it is incredibly important for infants to become accustomed to the sensation of having to open their eyes in the water without panicking. Through years of perfecting our methodology, MarciSwim recognizes that the benefits of leaving a child ungoggled during these beginning stages of water safety greatly outweigh the discomfort that they may feel the first couple of times they open their eyes underwater. We have found that when children become accustomed to wearing goggles, they panic in situations when they aren’t wearing them. This can have potentially disastrous effects if the child were to accidentally fall into water unprepared. For this reason, MarciSwim recommends spending the majority if not all of an infant’s swim lesson without goggles until they are able to safely swim independently. 

After infancy, MarciSwim continues to stress the importance of having our swimmers practice without goggles. However, as swimmers become more experienced and begin developing strokes, we recommend that our swimmers bring goggles or borrow ours if they begin to experience eye irritation during the lesson. Goggles should be considered as a commodity for comfort, but are not necessary for swimming. 

If your child is prepping with MarciSwim for swim team, they should come prepared for their session with a pair of goggles. While we may still ask your child to swim part of their session without goggles on, the goal of our swim team prep sessions is to prepare your child to excel in a more competitive swimming environment and focus on stroke development, at which point we expect our swimmers to be comfortable opening their eyes in the water. With this demographic of swimmers, we prepare them to swim without goggles in case their goggles fail during a swim meet race, in which case it is our goal to have the swimmer be able to finish their race much like Olympic swimmer Lydia Jacoby in the 2021 Summer Olympics (4). 

With years of experience developing a successful curriculum, MarciSwim is prepared to help your child from their early years, while working on water safety, until their entrance into a competitive swimming environment, and beyond. While goggles are a necessity for many young swimmers across the world, we at MarciSwim ensure that our swimmers have the highest quality lesson results in the area by preparing them to swim safely without needing goggles as a crutch. Through this journey, our swimmers will face challenges and mastery allowing them to become more confident in the water without the need for goggles, and ensuring their safety and success no matter the end goal. 

Learn More About Goggling Your Child:

1. https://www.bluewaveswim.co.uk/blog/why-and-when-to-wear-swimming-goggles-for-lessons/ 

2. https://www.hamptonswimschool.com.au/to-goggle-or-not-to-goggle

3. https://chasethewater.com/is-swimming-without-goggles-bad-heres-what-to-know/

4. https://www.si.com/olympics/2021/07/31/goggles-mishap-tokyo-games-mixed-medley-relay-swimming