“I
was amazed last week when I had girls over to swim from my daughter’s girl
scout troop. Many of these girls had to wear water wings because they couldn’t
swim. Their mother’s didn’t even get in the water because they couldn’t swim. I
tried to work with the girls and help them and eventually we took off the
wings, but some of them need lessons. I really need to find a way to
incorporate this into a scout lesson in the fall and get these mother’s in the
water as well. I will look for a service that can help us.”
This
is a concerned mother’s comment on an article in the Sun Sentinel about the
signs of drowning. We have all probably noticed this phenomenon of children not
knowing how to swim. The next logical question that should come to mind is:
Why? Why don’t they know how to swim yet? Why aren’t these parents enrolling
their children in swim lessons?
But,
before we go into the why of the matter, let’s look at a different why. Why
does it matter that kids get swim lessons? “According to a 2009 study conducted by the
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Heath and Human Development,
children who participate in formal swimming lessons are less likely to drown.
The study found that among 61 children ages 1—4 who had died from drowning,
only three percent had ever taken formal swimming lessons. By contrast, 26
percent of the children in the general population had received some type of
formal lessons. In addition, parent interviews reflected that only five percent
of the swimmers who drowned could float on their back for 10 seconds, while 18
percent of those who didn’t drown could float for at least 10 seconds.”
And
there are several possible answers to the question of why parents aren’t
signing their kids up for swim lessons. But, none of them justify the decision
to postpone swim lessons for your child. For some parents, it is just a matter
of laziness. They just haven’t gotten around to it, like anything else on their
long lists of things to do as a parent. But, this one needs to be moved to the
top of the list. We are talking about our children’s lives here.
Cost
may be another issue that is keeping parents from getting their children in
swim lessons. I’m not going to go into much detail on that reason here, because
I have already written a whole piece on it. You can read it here.
Some
parents may also be worried for health reasons. They may be wary of the
chlorine in the pool affecting their child’s skin, breathing, or allergies. But,
it would take an extreme amount of exposure to become a health risk. Parents might also think children could ingest
too much water and that this could also lead to health issues. But, today’s
instruction methods are much gentler; children are no longer being plunged into
the water at most pools.
Others
may also have had bad experiences and may have been scared off of lessons all
together. I know that this is the case for me. I am ashamed to say, especially
as someone who works for a swim school, that my children have yet to have
ongoing swim lessons. And this is mostly due to a bad experience a few years
back with an old-school instructor.
But,
I am proud to say, my kids are starting swim lessons tomorrow! Better late than
never. But, I wish I had started years ago and not given up. My children would
be much safer around water and I wouldn’t have to worry as much as I do when
they are near water. Summer hasn’t even officially begun and we have already
had two days at a pool and one at the beach. These kids need to know how to
swim!
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