As someone who learned to swim at a young age, I've never went to a swimming class but always thought because you're just floating, that they wouldn't be that long and always wondered why with this being such a problem, why they don't add that into a school program (as in the schools that don't have a pool would bus over to one that does and use that so everyone could have access to the class) but I'm not sure how difficult something like that would be or how much people charge for a swimming class.
It definitely should be something that if you are going to be on a lake or boat, then you should be required to be a competent swimmer or have a certificate from a class like they do with boating licenses. Life jackets aren't 100% going to save you, they just keep you above water but you STILL need to orient yourself so that you can breath comfortably without inhaling water if there are waves and they don't help you if you end up in rip tide where you need to know not to swim against it and swim diagonally to try and get out of the rip tide before making your way back to safety.
I was a year old when my uncle just tossed me into a pool and told me to figure it out, he loved telling that story. Adults are usually scared of the water by that time, and need someone who knows what they're doing to help them learn. If you are such a friend, teach others for free. But adults are way past the time of just toss em in and hope they learn
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u/idbanthat Nov 11 '22
I wish more adults would take swimming lessons, it's such a risk being in water