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I personally know two adults that cannot swim, never learned how. Neither is afraid of water and will venture into the shallow end of a pool or river. I just can't understand how they can play in it and not have enough interest to learn how to swim for the sake of safety. One, a senior now, proclaims she does not have the ability to swim after failing miserably when more than one swim instructor tried to teach her.
Is it possible that there really are people who cannot learn to swim for some unexplained reason?
My cousin tried to teach me for a long time, he made me feel safe in the water. But no matter what, I could never put my head under water without freaking out about it touching my eyes or getting in my nose. He showed me I could float, but I rarely ever did it without holding on to the side of the pool, I couldn't let go. You'd have to like hypnotize or brainwash me if you wanted to teach me.
Since I live next to the Potomac, learning to swim was vital and something everyone did early early on. I agree with the poster who said that if you don't know how to swim you have no business wading in a river. Or kayaking! We just had a drowing here, and the guy was in a kayak without a life vest or knowing how to swim. He was horsing around in the kayak, it tipped over and he drowned. Fool.
to me it's amazing that the parents would let there kids go into a river that can't swim without life jackets
I agree. God knows the pain they are going through, but there's no excuse for their outright carelessness. Kids that can't swim, adult supervision that can't either, no lifeguards, only one lifejacket, moving water... HELLO???
Of course, the slate article wants to drift the story into the the typical journalist's favorite talking points.. i.e. race, income level, "what government program could fix this", etc.
I heard about this on the radio the other day and remember thinking, "if none of them knew how to swim, what the heck were they doing in a RIVER?!"
You really need to know your environment too. I remember there were some incidents around here with a local swimming hole, where a number of people have drowned due to a strong undercurrent at certain times of the year. One incident in particular comes to mind in which three fully trained life guards drowned as the fourth sat and watched because the undercurrent was so strong.
I know how to swim, but it's been a really long time since I've had the opportunity to swim. My SO took me to the lake a few weeks ago and I was swimming around, but was really rusty. I used to be an excellent swimmer, but I'm not very confident anymore. I guess I'll have to keep working on it.
Both my siblings can swim too, but my sister is better. My brother was always terrified of water, especially lakes, but he had to learn through the Boy scouts. He can swim now but prefers not to. My dad made sure that at a young age we all knew how to swim.
I first swam in Pike Lake in July 1994, when I was 7 years old. I was probably one of the later learners in my area. Nowadays, I can't imagine not knowing how to swim, but in retrospect, it took a lot of trial-and-error to get there. Kind of like riding a bike.
As far as I know, white people are more likely to know how to swim than black people, and the drowning victims were all black. I asked a Mexican if most people he knows can swim, and he replied in the negative, though he knows how because "he took classes". I suppose it's really a cultural thing.
News, Six teenagers drowned after slipping from a wading area into the deep water of a Louisiana river on Tuesday. None of the victims could swim, nor could the adult bystanders who watched helplessly as the children went under. What percentage of Americans can't swim?
I agree. God knows the pain they are going through, but there's no excuse for their outright carelessness. Kids that can't swim, adult supervision that can't either, no lifeguards, only one lifejacket, moving water... HELLO???
Of course, the slate article wants to drift the story into the the typical journalist's favorite talking points.. i.e. race, income level, "what government program could fix this", etc.
When I swam in a public pool in Los Angeles in the late 50's early 60's I was the minority and I am white. Ya all we need is a program stating all children should lean to swim and we get to pay for it
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i've been swimming since i was two years old..
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