Should a child go swimming when he has a chest cold?

Exercise a cold?: There is a very simple rule. If your symptoms are above the neck, do anything you want. If your symptoms are also below the neck -- fever, muscle aches, fatigue, for example -- you should avoid exertion. Sitting in warm water is not a problem with a cold, but anything that makes you shiver will just make it harder to fight off your illness. A chest cold is just a cold with post nasal drip.