Is Swimming a life skill (following on from driving thread)

[girlfriend44]

Alot of people here said that driving was a life skill.

If you drive can you also swim?
Do you consider Swimming to be a life skill too that everyone should learn?

Sorry, but taking your child sailing when she can't swim is foolhardy, risky, and irresponsible. Why would you do that? Also, why can she not swim?! Are you going to claim she has tried, but can't? Because I will find that very hard to believe.

When I was a kid learning to swim a group of more mature ladies - ok old ladies - were pointed out to me as women in their 60s and 70s had decided to learn to swim because they hadn't had the opportunity as children.

Ever since then going to leisure centers/gyms with pools I've noticed they have always some swimming classes which have more mature people - 99% women - learning to swim. So if you aren't dead yet you can learn to swim.

What's also crazy is creating a goady thread, plopping one post on, and then not returning to the thread.

And yes of COURSE swimming is a life skill, as is driving. Not everyone can do both, and I know some people struggle to learn to drive... but I don't 'get' why people cannot swim. Children should be taught at an early age.

IMO driving AND swimming are both quite important life skills yes... Everyone should learn to swim. Learning to drive is quite important, but IMO learning to swim is even MORE important. If people are taught as children, EVERYONE would be able to swim. It needs to be part of the curriculum tbh.

@WhileMyGuitarGentlyWeeps I read it in the national water safety strategy and I love a good statistical report!

it says

In every age group, men are the most at risk group, accounting for eight in ten of all the deaths. Fatalities rise markedly from mid to late teens and throughout the 20’s; there is a distinct peak in the number of men drowning in the 20-29 year old age group. Among women those aged 50-59 are the most frequent casualties.

It needs to be part of the curriculum tbh.

It IS part of the curriculum.

This is only useful if, by the magic of me standing on a chair, the sheet folds itself.

The randomness of this post gave me the giggles, presume it was for a housekeeping thread.

I can drive and swim. I don't think either are life skills. I think a lot of people who drown are able to swim.

Re the poster who took her non-swimming daughter sailing, I am guessing there are specific reasons there.

argh I didn't quote the post

I view swimming as an essential skill. My children will be having lessons, wether they like it or not until they can swim 100m. Its far more important than learning to drive as it could save your life.

Water safety/ survival could be taught separately to sport swimming. One of my DC never progressed out of the shallow end lesson because he just cannot put his face in the water. In the end we just had to stop lessons. But he could have been taught basic survival, maybe. He's quite avoidant of water though, so very unlikely to mess about in a lake or anything.

Its definitely a life skill

How come about 30% of children cannot swim then?

And what about stories like this...

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/third-of-uk-children-cannot-swim-because-parents-dont-have-the-time-or-money-for-them-to-learn_uk_59380d19e4b0aba888ba8665

Many children cannot swim because many parents don't have the time or money to teach them get them lessons.

Also, my DC never had swimming lessons (in the noughties) and neither has anyone else's kids I know. They had to PAY for the swimming lessons themselves.

Swimming is on the curriculum but it's not a guarantee that all children will successfully learn how in the time allocated. Compared to the years of weekly lessons others will have had .

My kids can't swim they're 6 and 3 and I'm not really able to pay for lessons for both of them which will be the case across the UK - it's a life skill and important but so are paying basic bills

In London, you don't need a car. I lived in zone 2 for 13 years. A car REALLY wasn't necessary.

Certainly not a life skill.

It will obviously depend on your definition of a life skill.

I personally think it is.
Not essential of course as there are people who can't swim who still manage to exist, but it is certainly very important that children learn, IMO.

It was non-negotiable for my dc to learn.
Potentially could save their lives one day.

But it has also opened up so many other opportunities to them

• all the sports they had to be able to swim to have a go at.....sailing, rowing, kayaking canoeing, rafting, stand up paddle boarding, surfing


• all the holiday fun in pools over the year


• one of the earliest things thy could go off and do with their friend, without parents present


• socialising when older and having fun by pools, lidos, inflatables, pioneering over water, water parks etc when older teens


• earning money as lifeguards


• exercise / staying fit as they have become adults

@WhileMyGuitarGentlyWeeps

Swimming and water safety
All schools must provide swimming instruction either in key stage 1 or key stage 2.
In particular, pupils should be taught to:
• swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres
• use a range of strokes effectively [for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke]
• perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations

Why it is not happening everywhere, what the standard is,how good and efficient the lessons are etc. are a different conversation.

There are a LOT of illiterate children as well, and that is definitely part of the curriculum.

Of course it’s important to be able to swim. Parents have no idea what their children will be doing as they get older, on holiday with friends etc. Being able to swim can mean the difference between life and death.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that anything which primarily affects males aged 20-29 is probably caused by either alcohol or dicking about.

Probably! I really hope it’s the same for the 50-59 year old women😂🍾🍾🍾

Yes definitely.

It's not a goody post, and I can't be glued to the Internet all the time.
Obviously quite a few people are interested in discussing it so there was a need.

I personally prefer this type of discussion to my mil is annoying me type thread.

You don't really need swimming lessons just keep practicing and ot will all fall into place.

One of my favourite facts is that back in Tudor times it was considered bad luck for a sailor to learn to swim.

There are very few things that are life essential, as in you will always be able to get by without them. If you can't drive you need public transport, if you can't cook you need ready meals, if you can't swim you don't go near water. They are life LIMITING in that they reduce your options, but I find the idea that if you can't swim you're going to drown through some mystery puddle that pops up at random a bit hysterical. I know many people, mostly black (as ability to swim has historically a racial division in the last hundred years or so) and they and their communities have all managed just fine.

And it's only recently that it's become expected to put your kids in swimming lessons from babyhood. When I was little noone swam until they were minimum 5, I didn't learn until I was 7 and I was normal.

Swimming and driving are both life skills.