Scout camp plans excluding weak swimmers

[LostMySocks]

DS scout group have announced a summer camp....surf camp. They have also linked the camps to getting the Gold award.
DD is a weak swimmer. No way should he be in the sea as there is a real risk that he will get into trouble. There doesn't seem to be an alternative plan even though there are younger children joining before summer. I'm assuming they won't all be super swimmers. I know they are all volunteers but this seems short sighted as a supposedly inclusive organisation. DS is very upset at the idea of not going but I don't want to pay for him to sit on a beach.

Life jacket????

If he's 10 now he should have been taught to swim well before COVID. It doesn't sound like you care whether he can swim.

Swimming lessons are in the shallow end until the children can actually swim anyway..so that's no different to staying in the shallow end on a public swim. It's still an area of ten by ten metres - plenty of space to learn

Get him some lessons before next summer - there may well be intensive holiday lessons available.

If he is already 10 (or older) and still a weak swimmer, when are you going to sort it if not now?

Its an essential life skill. If local lessons have waiting lists get him on them. Pay for private lessons etc instead of sending him on a camp. I'd place a higher value on being a decent swimmer.

Oh and my son can't and won't climb due to a crippling fear of heights so he gets excluded from things. He helps hold the ropes and helps out with equipment etc. Covid is long gone and a poor excuse for why your son can't swim. Does he not go with the school?

Remember this is the cohort who have missed 2 years of swimming lessons due to Covid

Which was years ago? My 6 year old has had 2 years of lessons already. Your DC has had time to learn. You haven't prioritised it. That's your choice, but as your DC gets older, living on an island like the UK the default assumption will be that people can swim.

If as someone else has said, the activity is for children aged 10 and up, I think there will be an assumption that they have a basic ability to swim, and I doubt they will be in deep water. You say that your local pool has a long wait list for lessons, 10 is quite Kate to be staring swimming lessons- is there a pool further out you could try to get some?

"They keep the weak swimmers in a small area"
Who is they?
Typically pool rules might say no armbands beyond a point rather than individually class people as strong or weak swimmers, so your son is using armbands?

I’ve taken scouts in the sea, the rules are strict with ratios and lifeguards. Add in instructors, being strapped to a board and a life jacket I can’t see an issue.
My weak swimmer sails with scouts with a life jacket and a safety boat out.

It’s not really covid related to be fair as he would have been old enough to already be swimming to a decent level pre covid. Mine are 9 & 7 (5 1/2 & 3 1/2 at start of covid). Eldest was already a decent swimmer before the first lockdown & even youngest had been to various lessons. Your DS has to be older if in scouts so no reason the leaders would expect people to be unable to swim. I’d look for an intensive course in the school holidays & see if you can get him booked in or just go and swim with him at your local pool regularly for practice. Our local beavers do surfing and various other water sports regularly. Kids love it and lots of parents volunteer and go in with them so always have high ratios. They’ll most likely have life jackets as well as wet suits. How far can he swim/us he ok going underwater?

We have hiking camps that those who can't walk long distances can't attend. We also have cycling camps that everyone can't attend. But we aim to have something for everyone through out the year.

Ask the leaders what the minimum swimming level is.

You then have a year to get him to the minimum requirement.

We did a scout canoeing expedition and the minimum requirement was 25 metres.

We could not have a a separate non canoeing program at the same.

Next year we will do a hiking one.

Sorry I meant 50m.

Book him some lessons then. Scouts is 10+ it’s not like they’re taking a bunch of four year olds.

I was a non-swimmer at 10 and into my teen years and it was a bloody nuisence. DM didn't prioritise swimming lessons and she certainly didn't bother taking me swimming because it's cold 🙄
Things like school camp always ended up with the tedious left overs like pony trekking because I couldn't tick the "swim 50m" box. I'd have loved to have done the gorge walk, but wasn't allowed knee-deep in the stream because of it.

I took matters into my own hands, learned at 16 as part of my DoE award and went to adult lessons filled with anxious pensioners who frequently moaned about the whippersnapper daring to learn to swim and heaven forbid splashing around a bit.
Fortunately a year later I could swim a mile, had a collection of water skills awards, and had a fantastic time at the sixth-form/ Gold DoE watersports residential trip.

Get your child swimming. There are often intensive courses in school holidays and older children tend to learn quicker than younger ones as they have more stamina, bodily awareness and follow instructions better.
If that's not a viable option, go to the pool regularly and watch youtube videos on technique. Swim England have videos thar go through the stages and the skills needed and there's lots of videos about improving technique.

Sounds like you've massively dropped the ball and you're now looking to pass blame that belongs to you.

You're going to add him to the waiting list? So you never actually did it after Covid rules were lifted? Which was a long time ago.
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He's 10. More than old enough to have practiced and caught up for this type of event had you been more proactive.

You need to put the work in now to stop him being excluded and to learn a valuable lesson! He can't not learn to swim!

Presume you are on the waiting lists? Spaces become available as kids move up. Lessons have been back and running for ages now, if you put him on the waitong list as sokn as they opened back up he would be in a class by now

Rock climbing is hardly inclusive

Sounds like inclusive to you means "things my children can do" not "things all children can do"

If your child was a good swimmer would you still be complaining it wasn't inclusive?

He’ll be attached to a very big float!!…and stick a life jacket/life preserver on and he’s sorted🤷🏼‍♀️. If swimming lessons are full take him for a fun session yourself and help him build confidence and stamina. They will be with surf school staff who will be used to catering for all abilities. You’re overthinking this I reckon.

@Blinkingbonkers several posters have already pointed out that Scouts need to be able to swim 50m to be allowed to take part in water activities. No-one doing a water based activity with scouts "is sorted" by putting a life jacket on if they are a non-swimmer.

There will be other camps he can go on that will be linked to awards. However at his age he should be able to swim. Scouts do a huge range of activities surf camp is just one of many. They hike, cycle, learn archery, abseil, build rafts, canoe, every camp they build a bivouac, they learn to cook outdoors. The volunteers who run these groups are a great group of people who give up a lot of their time so your kids can learn skills and enjoy different things. The last thing they need is berating because they are offering and activity that a child cant do because its parents haven't been arsed to do the basics necessary to take part in the activity.

I would book one to one lessons (or two to one if he has a friend of similar ability)

Group lessons they spend 80% of the time watching others - really slow progress and very poor value. Ds spent 2 years getting not v far, then switched to two on one lessons and completed 4 stages in 6 months!

I would still send him. Check with leaders what the activities will be, they won't all be swimming

Have the scout group excluded him, because he is not a proficient swimmer, or are you excluding him due to your worries?

You have plenty of time to help him improve his swimming and water confidence before then, it's a great target for him. Some one to one lessons to improve technique then weekly swimming lengths together and some visits to the beach in the run up if possible and he'll have a great time and be set up as a stronger swimmer for life.

At 10 he doesn’t need lessons to improve he just needs to swim-get him to the pool!

This.

The leaders will do events based on the permits they have too. If they have a swimming permit they will lean to activities like that because that's the adventure stuff they have the skills in. Learning a new skill and getting permitted in it is a huge commitment which goes way beyond simply being a leader which is a big enough commitment in its own right.

Why should other kids lose out on that activity because of yours? It shouldn't be a race to the bottom either.

Being inclusive can just mean it will be giving the opportunity for kids to do that activity who would not normally get that chance - because they wouldn't have thought of it and don't have adults to enable it.

YOU have made the decision he can't take part, not the leaders though. You've assessed it's too risky. That's a lack of trust in the leaders - who will have to do a bunch of risk assessments to do anything with the kids.

With the correct supervision and equipment even weak swimmers should be fine. If they are surfing they will not be allowed in the sea without buoyancy aids and sufficient supervision.

As for doing rock climbing. They either would probably have to pay for several instructors (which gets very expensive very quickly and thus is much more excluding than surfing) or have a rock climbing permit.

DH has spent about three years jumping through ridiculous district hoops to get his, even though he is a very experienced and competent climber. More so than others who had permits. It's not an easy process.