Revelations while describing diving to others.

[freewillie]

And if you ask me, there's no excuse for raising a child and not teaching them how to swim.

Do you have kids? Ever tried to get a 4 year old to put their face in the water when they didn't want to? Ever hang out at the pool watching all the kids cry they didn't want to get in the water for their lesson?

It's not so much teaching them to swim. It's giving them the opportunity to learn how to swim. The kid will decide if they want to or not.

 

[fisheater]

You can't get a 4 year old to do ANYTHING that they don't want to.

 

[nolatom]

The "money excuse doesn't cut it"? Seriously? In this economy? You have got to be kidding me. Swimming lessons are an expense that a lot of families can't afford. If your parents don't know how to swim, then you need lessons. If your parents do know how to swim, then they need time and access to safe water. It's great that your area has plenty to go around, but, many other places do not.

Yes, it would be nice if more people learned to swim. I agree that it would be safer and better. But you can't just ignore the realities of life for people and make a proclamation that there's "no excuse." You don't know what other people's lives are like; you don't know what they can and can't afford, either in time or money.

How about volunteering your time to teach poor kids to swim?

I may just do that, in the spring when the outdoor pools at Lyons and elsewhere open. How about you there in Oakland? I'll take the Water Safety Instructor course at the Red Cross if you will.

Here's why I say the money excuse doesn't cut it, at least around here during the warmer weather:

Welcome to the Southeast Louisiana Red Cross

Let's not make excuses for parents, it sells them short, and keeps the same excuses alive when they shouldn't be. Even if you have to pay for lessons (why? they're free all summer here) it's only about 60 bucks at Tulane. Your kid can drown, either on his own or in an ill-advised attempt to rescue another nonswimmer, and you didn't "have" 60 bucks? Or zero bucks for the NORD pools in summer? Why should the parents to have to bear that kind of guilt (and they really do, like in the Shreveport tragedy).

Plus, maybe the kids can become divers some day, which does cost money. (there, back to 'topic').

 

[FuzzyNutz]

Throw the little whipper snaps into the deep end... they'll learn real quick!! That's basically how I learned. I forgot to put my 'swimmies' on and jumped into the deep end when I was like 3 years old. Luckily, my cousin saw me and jumped in after me, but to her surprise, I was already treading water at the surface!

Swimming is one of those things in life that doesn't really require the need of a professional. If you have access to shallow water and a few hours to spare, you can teach yourself.

 

[Guba]

This post isn't about "making excuses", but rather offering suggestions toward how parents or anyone else can find opportunties in finding assistance in learning to swim. Many Red Cross chapters host free-swim classes and camps, as do 4H groups, Boy and Girl Scout activities, Boys Club centers, the YMCA, and countless other volunteer and benevolent organizations. I taught swimming lessons for decades both at public pools and privately, and through day care centers and volunteer organizations. There are a LOT of opportunities to learn to swim, in addition to the one suggested by others...spending some time frolicking in safe, shallow water in order to grow comfortable and experiment. While it won't teach the smooth mechanics one might learn from an experienced trainer, most times the basics can be mastered and improve one's desire to know more. Obviously I feel swimming is an important skill, but I don't think anyone should start casting "blame" for someone not knowing how to swim or failing to teach their own child, regardless of the reason (financial, time, embarassment, etc...).

 

[DA Aquamaster]

A few thoughts.

1. Economics. I grew up dirt poor. The not knowing if there'd be a next meal kind of dirt poor. Still, I learned to swim primarily in summer Red Cross programs. I think the cost was like $6 way back in the day, a lot cheaper than the YMCA programs. The cost was not great even in early 1970's dollars but it was still a stretch for the family budget. However learning to swim was viewed as important for drown proofing if nothing else - especially after I nearly drowned. Consequently I don't really accept the poverty argument. It's not about economics but rather priorities.

2. Sinkers and floaters. I was a skinny kid who sank like a rock (possibly related to a meal challenged existence). Floating was a real challenge and could only be accomplished with full lung volume. A back float was possible only with a hard arch to leverage the buoyancy in the chest to get my nose above water. The fact that I went into my first swim class while still shorter than the height requirement didn't help as it meant I could not touch bottom and still breathe even at the shallow end of the pool. Can't touch + can't float = scary, especially when you are already deathly afraid of the water after a near drowning.

3. Fast forwarding several years (past jr and sr lifesaving and WSI) I was THE instructor of choice for working with the the kids who had major problems learning to swim. I understood the problems, I could relate and I could actually teach. I was also good at establishing trust and getting kids to overcome their fears.

4. Luck is involved. Swim instruction is like dive instruction. Having the skills as a swimmer/diver and even having a c-card that allows you to teach it, is different from actually being good at teaching it. In my case without a couple things falling into place, I would not have persisted, overcome my fears and learned to swim. In turn at least some of the kids I worked with would not have learned to swim either given a lack of the resources that were available to them.

Kids who have parents who swim have a real advantage. Kids who have access to swim programs have an advantage. Kids who have access to good instructors have an advantage. In that regard, kids who have parents who don't swim (and thus don't expose them to water related activities), kids who sink like rocks and kids who have a fear of the water all need every advantage they can get. And lacking one or more of the above they may indeed not learn to swim despite good intentions.

Some of the above factors may be related to cultural, economic or genetic issues but it's the big picture that matters and focusing on individual pieces of the picture is just not real productive.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Most non divers (and many divers) when they learn that I cave dive, seem to regard me as some sort of extreme sport risk taking fanatic/lunatic.

People who actually know me, understand me as a very strategic, planful and controlled person who, while not risk avoidant, is very risk managing. They'll inquire about the perceived contradiction between my personality and cave diving. When I explain what cave diving is and how it's really done, the training and equipment involved, etc, they usually see that there is in fact no contradiction at all.

 

[RonFrank]

Not knowing how to swim is not linked to race, but to class. The reason many African-American people can't swim is because they're poor, not because there's some cultural reason.

You can't learn to swim if you don't have access to a swimming pool, or time and money to take your kid to lessons.

Swimming can be a cheap activity depending on where you live. Even in Denver, not known for warm lakes, a disproportionate number of black families like to hang out at the swim parks at Chatfield/Aurora/etc reservoir. Swimming does not have to involve boats or man made pools. The Hispanics in New Mexico apparently love the Blue Hole maybe as its mostly free as they stink at collecting dues. Swimming maybe a class activity when it involves country clubs and Olympic pools, but not so much when it involves a natural body of water.

 

[Kourtjestr]

Idle comment in an attempt to re-rail this convo... Back to interesting things heard while describing diving - If someone tells you "I'm afraid of the sea. You can't see the sharks coming." tell them that, yes, you can see them coming a lot better on land, but the diving's just not as good....

 

[TSandM]

Yeah, the most common comment I get from people is, "I could never dive, I'm claustrophobic." This always makes me flash back to falling off the boat in Cozumel and seeing the ripples on the sand 100 feet below me. How can you be claustrophobic when you can see forever?