Are you a good swimmer?

[EssexSue]

We live in a smallish town and the swimming pool has always been a fairly big thing here (even before I worked there) and I wonder if it has given me an unreal perception.
I am a very poor swimmer but as a child we holidayed in England and the only time I went in a pool was with school. My children always had lessons (none were natural swimmers although obviously they got the hang of it eventually as both boys worked as lifeguards while at College/Uni.
All my grandchildren have/had lessons and can all swim even 4 year old. I assumed this was the norm these days. However while discussing the tragic events in Spain our grandson told us his girlfriend can't swim so it got me thinking, can most people under 45 swim these days?

[Rac20]

I’d consider myself an ok swimmer. I’ve been able to swim since I was little. I had lessons but my parents also took me regularly. My DH on the other hand could barely swim when we first met. We used to go swimming weekly and he picked it up. He can now swim but is probably not as confident as I am.

[ely3857]

My DH can’t. I can and am decent enough. My children are naturals and can swim incredibly well.

[mickey house]

Sue, I guess I am close to Olympic standard when it comes to swimming. When I was a kid aged about ten we went swimming regularly with the school (that's all stopped now), and I was awarded a 10 yard swimming certificate. Admittedly I did stop half way across and put my foot on the ground, but fortunately the teacher accessing me didn't notice. Some might say I have a fraudulent 10 yard swimming certificate.

[DisneyDaffodil]

I am older than 45 🤣 but cannot swim at all. No local pool while I was very young and too scared to learn as a teenager. I love a swimming pool or a paddle in the sea on holiday though but I’m too nervous to go in far as I’m aware of the dangers as a non-swimmer.

All my children, under 33, can swim but rarely do. My youngest swims well enough but she says she wants to improve as she wants to work in conservation and possibly marine conservation so wants her swimming ability to improve

Our one son’s fiancée (30) couldn’t swim until around 5 years ago when he taught her on a holiday in Greece.

The accident in Spain recently was a terrible tragedy though and it does show how simple it is for problems to occur for non-swimmers 😔

[shauney]

I am older than 45 and can swim to save my life - can just about manage to swim a length but it's not something I would choose to do as a pastime.

[Macca04]

I can swim but not very well, I don’t particularly like the water and hate going under. My four children all swim like fish as I didn’t want them to be like me so they had swimming lessons from an early age.

[Dayle]

It is part of the national curriculum I think ( I am in Wales ) and certainly in our school all KS2 children have swimming lessons through school.
The outdoor swimming pool was 5 mins walk for me growing up although only opened through the summer months ( sadly closed down now) and was a major part of our life growing up that’s where I learnt to swim plus we lived on the coast so although I never had formal lessons apart from a few at school ( in said outdoor pool😂😂 🥶 🥶🥶😂&#128514 I learnt to swim around the age of 5. DD had swimming lessons from a similar age for about three years.

[not2old4disney]

I would consider myself a strong swimmer, I used to swim for my school and for my county and was a member of the local swimming club. DH is a strong swimmer too and is a qualified lifeguard. All 3 of my children are also strong swimmers. When they were younger we always let them choose what clubs/groups they wanted to go to or not with the exception of swimming lessons, those were mandatory - they were all lucky enough to do rookie lifeguard and diving classes as well.

I have been surprised by the amount of their friends that can't swim though. DS2 had a pool party for his birthday just before his year moved up to high school - no major issues there, but after seeing this DD wanted to do the same kind of thing for her last yr of primary school - that couldn't happen as after speaking to some of the other parents about it, there were more kids in her class that couldn't swim than could so wouldn't have been much of a party.

[Sandraoh40]

I’m an ok swimmer. I had lessons when I was wee and had them with the school in P7 as well.
I definitely don’t swim a lot these days and if I’m in the pool on holiday probably only gently swim around.
I was much better when I was younger than I am now but I’m not afraid of the water.