<p>Horrible story…none could swim: [Six</a> teens drown in Louisiana river - U.S. news - Life - msnbc.com](<a href=“http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38533071/ns/us_news-life?GT1=43001]Six”>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38533071/ns/us_news-life?GT1=43001)</p>
<p>No one in the family could swim, so they had no way to help.</p>
<p>The best thing we ever did was after getting ds1 in swim classes at Y, which are kind of chaotic, was pay for just two private swim lessons at a woman’s house to reinforce what he’d learned (and because we wanted to make sure he could pass the Scout swim test before camp). He has excellent skills now.</p>
<p>One of the main reasons why we chose younger daughters K-12 school ( when she was entering 3rd gd), was because they had weekly swimming lessons at the pool across the street. Because we live in the Puget Sound area and are surrounded by lakes & rivers as well as Puget Sound, we knew how important it was to swim & it didn’t hurt that I knew kids studied better after they had physical activity.</p>
<p>It was a program that the whole school utilized, although as the teachers grew older ( many, had had their own children in the program who were now grown), they became less enamoured of getting in a bathing suit.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, when they were assigned a new principal, she decided that classroom time was better spent sitting in desks- ( and as a frequent volunteer, I saw the increased fidgets of the kids impact their concentration) & even that learning to swim was racist. 
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<p>Younger D was on swim team throughout high school & even was offered a job in Goa as a lifeguard ( which thankfully she did not accept- it didn’t thrill me to think of my 19 yr old daughter trying to save people in the Indian Ocean).</p>
<p>I agree everyone should learn to swim- & check out this website.
[Drowning</a> Doesnt Look Like Drowning](<a href=“http://mariovittone.com/2010/05/154/]Drowning”>Drowning Doesn’t Look Like Drowning – Mario Vittone)</p>
<p>ek, what a great program. DS1 had teachers in 34d/4th grades who 3xweek had them run first thing in the a.m. Got the willies out and reinforced a healthy lifestyle. Wish every school would do this.</p>
<p>It does seem to be a regional thing, anywhere we ever lived in CA, ‘most’ people knew how to swim and swim team was huge, yet in WA ‘most’ of my kids friends were barely able to swim, let alone do the strokes.</p>
<p>We found it shocking. There is still a swim team in HS, but not so many community pools & community little kid swim teams.</p>
<p>I guess I could understand that in colder climates where the summer season is very short and the water never really warms up there might be a fair percentage of people who don’t know how to swim. But in places which get really hot in the summer, where lakes, rivers, and warm coastlines are plentiful, it just seems bizarre that people would not learn how to swim. It was just part of growing up for me in Texas. I don’t think I knew anyone in my childhood and adolescence who didn’t know how to swim. We practically lived at the public pool in the summer in my hometown.</p>
<p>This event occurred in Louisiana, so I’m surprised that so many in this group didn’t know how to swim. If I didn’t swim, the last place I’d go would be a lake or river, even in shallow water. I’m sure the potential for trouble in wading level seemed pretty remote, however. Who would ever expect a sinkhole? </p>
<p>Very sad, especially given the fact that you had siblings dying together. A parent’s worst nightmare is to lose a child. I can’t conceive of losing multiple children.</p>
<p>ek…thanks for that link. While in the pool the other day, I mentioned to DH that I couldn’t even imagine not knowing how to swim - to be in a situation where you just couldn’t stay afloat…it’s just strange to think of. To me, it is like not knowing how to walk. </p>
<p>And, I agree with the OP. LEARN TO SWIM. Make sure your kids know how to swim. And if you don’t, don’t go in the water! That story is just tragic on all levels.</p>
<p>If you don’t know how to swim, you stay out of rivers. Rivers have currents, eddys, uneven bottoms. Even strong swimmers drown in rivers. I can’t imagine allowing kids who don’t know how to swim to go into a river.</p>
<p>This is somewhat cultural. Many black children do not learn to swim, and it appears from the article that the teens were black. The reasons are complex, but the proportion of black children who can’t swim is much higher than the proportion of white children.
[More</a> blacks learn to swim, but numbers are still lacking](<a href=“http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/health-med-fit/fitness/article_ad4ed0de-d03f-57f3-8258-700298524c76.html]More”>More blacks learn to swim, but numbers are still lacking)</p>
<p>The black swimmer who won an olympic gold medal in 2008 has a program that encourages swimming among black children (I can’t think of his name right now). He got started with swimming lessons after he almost drowned and his mother insisted he learn to swim.</p>
<p>I think that basic swimming skills are a life skill that parents should make sure their children
can perform</p>
<p>Cullen Jones is his name. Here’s an article about him.
[Riding</a> Olympic wave Bronx-born swimmer now champ in Beijing](<a href=“http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/2008olympics/2008/08/12/2008-08-12_riding_olympic_wave_bronxborn_swimmer_no.html]Riding”>http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/2008olympics/2008/08/12/2008-08-12_riding_olympic_wave_bronxborn_swimmer_no.html)</p>
<p>ALL people should have swimming skills, not just our children. What a horrible tragedy.</p>
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<p>I agree. In raising my own kids there were 3 safety must-dos: wear a helmet, buckle up, and swim 100m before the age of 7. It didn’t have to be Michael Phelps strokes; doggie paddle was fine. But they had to swim.</p>
<p>Very very sad story out of Louisiana. :(</p>
<p>This is so sad. It’s horrible on so many levels. My heart goes out to all involved.</p>
<p>TEACH YOUR CHILDERN TO SWIM. No matter where you live. They should be able to get to safety, no Olympic form or speed needed. And if even one member of your group can’t swim, don’t go near the water.</p>
<p>If you can’t swim, learn to at least stay afloat. If nothing else, teach and practice the infant safety–roll over on your back, kick hard until you get to safety. If you can’t get to safety, just float and shout until help arrives.
Infants/toddlers can’t pull themselves out of a pool, D and her cousins were all taught to rollover, float and shout for help. And kick to the side and hold on as they got a little older. I thought the school was crazy, but it works. D was dunked into a pool fully dressed, including shoes, at about 20 months or so. Came up, rolled over, shouted and kicked. She was mad as could be, but she was safe. (I was in the locker room, DH watched, I just couldn’t stand to watch.)</p>
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<p>Thanks for the link to the article. I’ve wondered about that, since the kids at our local pool are several generations removed from segregated pools. </p>
<p>Of course, my very white FIL can’t swim. He grew up going up to Minnesota to fish, owns a lake house in Minnesota now, owns numerous boats, and can’t swim.</p>
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<p>Wow, that’s incredible.</p>
<p>Our local elementary school has had swimming lessons as part of the PE program since I was a child (as my kids like to say - before there was color). </p>
<p>Our local high school requires all freshman to take swimming as a part of the required PE class - and everyone has to pass a swimming test to graduate. This requirement has been around since the mid 1960s when three seniors died while on a senior outing the week of graduation.</p>
<p>In my DS graduating class, there was a 4 year varsity athlete in multiple sports with a 4.0+ and an IVY school admission in hand who had not passed the test. Story was that she didn’t want to swim and didn’t think they would enforce the rule despite multiple warnings. School offered to let her swim the day of graduation - she refused - so she did not walk.</p>
<p>* reasons are complex, but the proportion of black children who can’t swim is much higher than the proportion of white children.
More blacks learn to swim, but numbers are still lacking*</p>
<p>This is why I was so disappointed that our female AA principal thought that we * shouldn’t * have swim lessons.( she was from Chicago- so perhaps it was even less common there for blacks to swim?)
It didn’t cost the kids anything ( the PTA paid for it for most kids). We have lakes and rivers and boats all over the place- it was likely their parents didn’t know how to swim, so even more reason for the kids to learn.
And cross body physical activity is so good for the brain- many of the kids were at the school in the first place because it was " alternative" and not a desk bound place.</p>
<p>It is also a lifelong physical activity that you can do with little equipment, cheaply- that might even save your life ( or someone elses) someday.
How many things can you say that about?</p>
<p>When my mom attended the UW they had a required swim test for graduation- don’t know if they still do- Colgate does I think. </p>
<p>Now I admit I hate whatever chemicals they put in the local pool, it isn’t chlorine, & it makes my asthma worse 
( however more pools are now saltwater), but I do have fun going swimming with D- she is so patient & encouraging- it is fun to see that side of her.
( that I * rarely see* being as I am her mother 
)</p>
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Not walking is one thing, but did she get a diploma? One can graduate without walking, but not without a diploma.</p>
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<p>Amazing! Maybe her essay was “why I refuse to swim…”</p>
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<p>I’m not sure what you consider a colder climate, but our pool is open for at minimum five months of the year. 
I grew up in NJ in a lake community. Everyone had swimming lessons every summer. I live in Toronto now and the schools my children attended here have swimming lessons for every kid in grades 3 and 4. There are swimming pools in many backyards here and I can’t think of any kid I know who can’t swim. The city offers summer swimming lessons at every public pool at a a nominal cost, and for those who cannot afford even that nominal cost, they will be subsidized by the city. There are thousands of lakes in the province, not even counting the Great Lakes that surround the province. We still have drownings here. In fact, there have been several this summer, mostly due to unsupervised swimming. If you and/or your children cannot swim, you and they should not be in an unfamiliar body of water. This is such a tragic story. Drownings are always tragic because they are always preventable.</p>