I taught my kids how to swim

[easyrider]

When our kids were young, I taught them how to swim. The lessons were in the lakes or rivers mostly then as teens the lessons included in ocean. My oldest son and his family are the surfers of our family. Today, a tourist was waist deep in Banderas Bay on a very gentle sloping sandy incline and ended up being slowly sucked into the bay over his head. He was bobbing trying to get air. This was calm water, almost flat.

My son pulled off his clothing and went in after this guy. The resort staff did get the life ring but the tourist was too far out for my son to grab it. He had to give the guy his arm and told him to stay calm or he couldn't help. The guy realized this and my son was able to have him lay on his back while he swam them both to the human chain and safety. The tourist was ok but was checked over by the resort medical staff.

My son went to the beach to take a break from watching his grandkids, lol. It was a day we will remember.

One reason I like the Villa Resorts is the resort medical staff. A couple of days ago I watched them take the defiberator to help a guest. The ambulance was here within 5 minutes . I don't know if they used the paddles but the ambulance did take the person to the hospitial.

Bill

 

[Cornell]

Wow. You son did a great thing.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Your son is a hero. Thank you for teaching a life skill to your kids that saved a life.

 

[moonstone]

Good for your son and lucky he was in the right place at the right time.

I think every child needs to learn how to swim. It's something you don't forget how to do. Our kids started lessons at 2 years old. Our boys continued on to get their lifeguard certificates. When our oldest DS was in his late teens he rescued a girl about his age from a rip current in front of our timeshare at St. Augustine Beach. DH & I were a little reluctant in letting him go out but we knew he was a very strong swimmer. There were no lifeguards and very few people around. He took the small body surfing board out with him and approached the girl from the side of the rip current. They were both pretty out of breath by the time they got to shore and the girl was trembling. The lifeguard ATV arrived a few minutes later & thanked our DS, as did the parents of the girl who had been summoned to the beach by the girl's friend who had remained in knee deep water.


~Diane

 

[PigsDad]

I think every child needs to learn how to swim. It's something you don't forget how to do.

Couldn't agree more; it is a fantastic life skill to have. In the school district in the next town over from us in Colorado, it is a requirement for graduation that all students are proficient in swimming. I wish more school districts would have that requirement.

Kurt

 

[Passepartout]

Good job, Bill, and congratulations to your son. Kudos!

 

[rapmarks]

What a wonderful story

About eight years ago, a wealthy man offered three and a half million to build an indoor pool if the building referendum for a new high school passed. He did this because as a child, his best friend drowned.
However the building referendum failed
It did pass a couple years later but he did not offer the money again. He passed away in 22 and the high school does not have a pool.

 

[Cornell]

Couldn't agree more; it is a fantastic life skill to have. In the school district in the next town over from us in Colorado, it is a requirement for graduation that all students are proficient in swimming. I wish more school districts would have that requirement.

Kurt

My local YMCA has a program where they bring the kids in for half a day. Obviously you can't teach them to swim but it's about general water safety. I wish more people took water safety seriously.

 

[Dori]

We made sure that both of our kids learned to swim at an early age. There were several pools in our neighborhood, and I taught them in my sister-in-law’s pool. We also took them to swimming lessons in the winter.

Now we enjoy treating our grandchildren to swimming lessons, so they can learn this wonderful life skill.

Dori

 

[rapmarks]

I started my son at lessons while I was pregnant with my daughter
I took seven sets of classes at that time to learn to swim. Never got very good at it
My daughter took to it like a fish. By age six she was in the class you take before lifeguard training. She was in with high school kids and had to do 45 laps before the class started and she hated it. She did become a lifeguard at 16.

I took oldest two grandsons for swimming lessons for years but my littlest one was too short. The summer he was ready was 2020. No classes due to Covid. He never got to go to any swim classes due to Covid, his father passing away, and then thinking he knew how to swim.