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.

 

[WinniWoman]

Fantastic! You must be very proud!

 

[rickandcindy23]

I know how to swim, and I am terrified of the ocean. I cannot explain it.

 

[artringwald]

I was reminded of my childhood swimming lessons last Tuesday by this article about boys being required to take their swimming lessons naked.

Yuen: Why were boys required to swim naked in Minnesota schools?

OK, Boomers, you win for having the most awkward childhood.

www.startribune.com

When I was 8 and took swimming lessons at the YMCA in Delaware, we were also required to swim naked. Seems very strange now, but I learned to love swimming. I still enjoy it in a pool, lake, or ocean. I did witness a drowning when I was about 12. It was at the local swim club. A teenage girl was spotted underwater in the deep end. Some people pulled her out. The lifeguard on the other side of the pool WALKED around the pool, used the back pressure method on her, and couldn't revive her. I was upset that 1) he didn't run, and 2) he must have been too shy to use mouth to mouth on a teenage girl. She might not have survived anyway, but the lifeguard still should have been fired, possibly sued.

 

[rapmarks]

I was reminded of my childhood swimming lessons last Tuesday by this article about boys being required to take their swimming lessons naked.

Yuen: Why were boys required to swim naked in Minnesota schools?

OK, Boomers, you win for having the most awkward childhood.

www.startribune.com

When I was 8 and took swimming lessons at the YMCA in Delaware, we were also required to swim naked. Seems very strange now, but I learned to love swimming. I still enjoy it in a pool, lake, or ocean. I did witness a drowning when I was about 12. It was at the local swim club. A teenage girl was spotted underwater in the deep end. Some people pulled her out. The lifeguard on the other side of the pool WALKED around the pool, used the back pressure method on her, and couldn't revive her. I was upset that 1) he didn't run, and 2) he must have been too shy to use mouth to mouth on a teenage girl. She might not have survived anyway, but the lifeguard still should have been fired, possibly sued.

I taught at a high school with a pool, boys classes were naked,girls were tank suits. Another teacher and I took the adult beginner class. Looked awful in the tank suits and bathing caps. the men teachers were just happening to be looking in the pool during our class. We were setting a record for holding our breath under water.

 

[Jodyv]

Teaching small children to swim is the best water insurance available.

 

[moonstone]

I know how to swim, and I am terrified of the ocean. I cannot explain it.

Yup, I understand and I'm with you. I grew up (from age 2) spending summers at our family cottage and would spend the whole day, almost every day, in the lake, right into my teens. I would, and still do, swim in other lakes at other family and friends' cottages with no apprehension. When DH took me to FL for my first time for our honeymoon, I did not want to go in the ocean and I hadn't even seen the movie Jaws! I will go in the ocean up to my knees but that is all. I prefer to swim in the pool at a timeshare or our condo, where I know where the bottom is and can see what's in the water.


~Diane

 

[VacationForever]

I know how to swim, and I am terrified of the ocean. I cannot explain it.

Me too! I used to swim 20 laps in Olympic size pool 4 to 5 days a week and I can still swim well in swimming pools as long as one end is shallow. I get nervous swimming towards the deep end for laps and I have always been this way. I cannot swim in the ocean. Even with the lagoon at Ko Olina, I cannot swim in there and I would panic once I don't touch the ground. I only enter the ocean when I have a life vest, even for snokling.

 

[rapmarks]

I know how to swim, and I am terrified of the ocean. I cannot explain it.

You would be shocked at the number of people in aerobics classes who are terrified of the deeper water even though they have the flotation barbells in their hands and are within a yard of the side of the pool.

 

[pedro47]

Kudos to your son and to a proud Dad, who understood the importance of teaching of their children to swim at an early age.

 

[pedro47]

I taught at a high school with a pool, boys classes were naked,girls were tank suits. Another teacher and I took the adult beginner class. Looked awful in the tank suits and bathing caps. the men teachers were just happening to be looking in the pool during our class. We were setting a record for holding our breath under water.

In today’s school environment this would be a Big NO NO. IMHO.

 

[Dori]

My husband went to a Toronto high school and all the boys were required to swim naked. I thought this was bizarre!

Dori

 

[rapmarks]

My husband went to a Toronto high school and all the boys were required to swim naked. I thought this was bizarre!

Dori

Off the subject, but not only did they do the naked swimming thing, but if sent to the dean for a disciplinary reason , two hard whacks with the board of education. Left that school in 1970. Can honestly say I never had a disciplinary problem.

 

[stmartinfan]

What a brave and heroic act by your son!

I feel lucky to have lived as a kid in a small Minnesota town that built an outdoor pool and offered cheap summer passes and swim lessons. Loved to swim and would spend hours at the pool with my friends.

We loved to vacation at beaches and resorts with pools, so took our kids to swim lessons as soon as they were eligible. They both love to swim and now our grandkids, ages 1 and 3, are in lessons and loving the water, too.

Unfortunately we have way too many drowning deaths in our area, because of the many lakes and rivers. They too often involve black kids and immigrant families who grew up in neighborhoods without pools and cheap lessons and schools that didn’t include swimming as part of their PE curriculum, like our district did. There's focus now on trying to fix that issue, because it's tragic. We also have had several deaths of young kids with autism, who apparently are attracted to water and will slip away from the home and end up falling into a small pond nearby.

 

[DrQ]

As an Eagle Scout who was required to earn swimming and lifesaving merit badges as well as earning the scout lifeguard certification, my observation is that your son is very lucky not to be another drowning statistic.

Trying to rescue a swimmer in trouble without a flotation device is an extremely risky proposition. A person in trouble instinct is to grab on to the rescuer with a "death grip" and will crawl up them to keep their head above water. The one on one rescue is the last approach to be used IF there is NO equipment available.

The resort staff did get the life ring but the tourist was too far out for my son to grab it.

Even if the victim is beyond the throw of the life ring, the rescuer should swim out with it to:

• Provide distance between the victim and the rescuer
• Provide a flotation device for the victim

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.

This is against ALL the training from the Scouting program and I assume the Red Cross too. Drowning people are not reasonable.

It's great to learn to swim, but you should also at least understand the BASICS of lifesaving too. That goes with spotting and understanding rip currents too.

 

[WaikikiFirst]

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

I guess blame the chair hogs by the pool. He wanted to use the pool but couldn't find a place to put his stuff.

My son pulled off his clothing and went in after this guy

I have this vision in my head probably 1x per wk when on a beach vacation. I refuse to go to any "beach" resort where you can't swim in the ocean either right there or a very short walk away. I swim 200 - 400 yds in the ocean almost every day while I am on my beach vacations. There has to be some awesome all-day touristing to make me miss that. And I spend a lot of time on the beach. So, when I see someone in the ocean who obviously doesn't swim well or at all I wonder "Would I run in there and try to pull him/her out?" I know I'm a decent swimmer, but at my age and weight a panicked person who weighs much more than I do could easily take me down with them." Hasn't become more than a "??" so far. Huge applause for your son.

You know, Banderas Bay was the "can't miss" attraction the TS sales guy in Cabo told us we had to see with the car rental he would deliver to our door if we did his sales mtng. To give me some scope of it, how many yds off shore did your son have to go?