If not, why haven’t you learned how?

  • Fizz@lemmy.nz
    2·
    2 days ago

    Yes swimming is a core part of the nz childhood. We had swimming lessons throughout school and my parents enrolled me in swim classes very early.

    I’m terrible at formal swimming but I can survive and get around comfortably in the water

  • agent_nycto@lemmy.world
    91·
    3 days ago

    Nope. Couldn’t afford lessons, no one had a pool and I lived in a predominantly black city. I’d like to one day just for safely but I usually just sink like a rock.

      • agent_nycto@lemmy.world
        3·
        2 days ago

        There is a relatively unknown (outside of the black community) bias against swimming. Slaves were traumatized to be hydrophobic to prevent escape from slave ships and then there was segregation of pools until relatively recently. This is fortunately fading now, last I checked.

      • irreticent@lemmy.zipEnglish
        3·
        2 days ago

        According to statistics they’re less likely to know how to swim. Less swimmers means they’d have less places to swim.

        But according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the fatal drowning rate of African-American children aged five-14 is three times that of white children.

        A recent study sponsored by USA Swimming uncovered equally stark statistics.

        Just under 70% of African-American children surveyed said they had no or low ability to swim. Low ability merely meant they were able to splash around in the shallow end. A further 12% said they could swim but had “taught themselves”.

  • veroxii@aussie.zone
    12·
    3 days ago

    Yeah. Because in Australia they take swimming and water safety very seriously. I don’t think I know a single person who can’t swim at least a little.

    • gazter@aussie.zone
      5·
      3 days ago

      As an Aussie I remember meeting foreigners when I was a youngster, and just being totally bewildered that they couldn’t swim. To me, it was as if they had said they never learnt to run, or how to open a door.

      My next lesson came when I took a foreign friend who could swim to the beach. I swam out past the breakers and bobbed around wondering where they were… Turns out that not everyone grew up around waves, and they didn’t know you could dive under them. So they were still back by the beach, waist deep, just getting smashed around constantly.

    • kevincox@lemmy.ml
      5·
      3 days ago

      Yeah, this is basically how it goes. It depends what country you grew up in. Canada is the same way, almost everyone who grew up in Canada can swim (not necessarily well, but able to manage). This is partly due to the number of lakes that exist near populated areas so swimming is a common passtime and boating accidents are a fairly high cause of accidental death. There are some countries where it is much more rare.

  • davidgro@lemmy.world
    6·
    3 days ago

    I started taking lessons about a year ago. I’m glad I have. At least I feel like I might have a chance if something happens and I end up in deeper water than I can just stand in.

  • RBWells@lemmy.world
    6·
    3 days ago

    Yes, my mom made us take swim lessons up through lifeguard lessons, and some of my brothers were competitive (like very competitive) swimmers. I got my kids lessons through the drownproofing, not more.

    Kids drown here every year, it’s not important to have paid lessons but very very important to know how to swim.

  • sylver_dragon@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    3 days ago

    Yup, learned as a child and was absolutely bewildered as a teenager when I met people who couldn’t. Made sure my kids knew how as well. Child drowning injury and deaths are sadly high in the US.

  • 0ops@lemm.ee
    4·
    3 days ago

    Yeah but not that well. I can yeet my body off the divingboard something goofy, plunge into the water, and make it back to the edge of the pool, and tbh that’s all the swimming ability that I’ve ever needed. At least I know that I can backstroke fairly effortlessly

  • C A B B A G E@feddit.ukEnglish
    6·
    3 days ago

    I couldn’t swim until I was maybe 10 or 11 and it was awful. Thankfully my parents moved and my school mandated lessons - but I wasn’t confident until maybe my late teens/early twenties?

    I think kids should learn as early as possible and it makes me a bit sad that my niece and nephew haven’t learned yet (and are unlikely to as their schools don’t teach them and my sibling doesn’t seem interested in getting them lessons or teaching them). We live on an island with a lot of water inland - it’s more important than other stuff like riding a bike!

    • ClassifiedPancake@discuss.tchncs.de
      4·
      3 days ago

      For some reason I don’t remember ever doing such a course. I never got a “Seepferdchen”. I learned to swim on my own at some point or with help from my parents.

    • ValiantDust@feddit.org
      3·
      3 days ago

      … unless there are not enough teachers, or not enough public pools, or…

      The indoor pool I learned swimming closed a decade ago and since then there is no public indoor pool in the city anymore.

  • ZeroHora@lemmy.mlEnglish
    4·
    3 days ago

    No, it’s not common for schools to have pools in my city, never travel to a beach, no paying for a club(I don’t think that’s the right english word for it but I can’t think of another one) to go to a pool. The only few times I got to a pool in friends/parent houses was not enough to learn how to swim.