How refreshing it
is to jump into a pool in the hot weather.
How much nicer it is when you know how to swim and can really enjoy the
water!
In the classic
book, Cheaper by the Dozen, Ernestine
Gilbreth describes how her father insisted on throwing his young babies into
the bathtub, sure that they would instinctively know how to swim because they had
already been swimming for nine months. Ernestine’s mother was not so happy with
this experiment, and I am not sure if this theory worked, but it was certainly
amusing to read about. Despite Mr. Gilbreth’s theory, however, the best time to
start teaching children is not when they are newborn but when they are four or
five years old, according to Judy Mellman, a WSI-certified swimming teacher in
Baltimore.
Teaching children
how to swim is not just a modern notion. It is actually one of the obligations
that a father has towards his child, according to the Gemara. This is because
if a person does not know how to swim, and he is on a boat that sinks, the
person will drown. Today, although most of our travel is by air and boats are
less likely to capsize, with pools all over our neighborhoods, it is certainly
prudent to keep children safe by teaching them how to swim.
Lessons
Swimming lessons
are fun. They are a great way to help children experience success, even those
kids who are not the most athletic or the most studious. The Red Cross has six
levels of swimming instruction. Each level builds on the skills learned in the
previous level, with a test that must be passed to go up to the next level. The
first level involves getting the child comfortable in the water, learning to
put his or her face in the water, and blowing bubbles. Ms. Mellman says, “The
children should be encouraged to practice their skills when they are just
playing in the water after their lessons.”
Rochel Vim, an experienced swimming instructor, mentioned
these tips: “Make sure that the swimming teacher is trained to teach swimming
and not just a lifeguard. For many children, it is important that the pool
should be heated and have a shallow end so that the child can stand
comfortably. The foundations of swimming are using the breath properly and
being able to do a front float for a sustained amount of time. Swimming without
putting your face in the water can injure your neck and back. It is worthwhile
to teach a child to swim properly so that your child can enjoy swimming his or
her whole life.”
“A lot of learning
how to swim,” says Tobi, a swimming instructor, is in the head. “There is
really no difference between swimming in the shallow water and swimming in the eight-foot
part of the pool, except fear. Once you know how to swim in the shallow, you can
use the same skills to swim in water over your head. It is like learning how to
ride a bike. Once you are confident that you can do it, you are able to do it!”
Safety in the Pool
Strict rules must
be enforced for people who have a pool in their backyard. Adina, who has a pool,
gives her kids swimming lessons at a very young age and has a combination lock
on the gate around the pool.
Yehudis, who has
an above-ground pool in her backyard, is very enthusiastic about her pool. “I
just love watching my children splash in the pool with their friends. It is so
much fun to see them laughing and enjoying themselves. When I was a child, no
one I knew had a pool, so it feels very luxurious to have our own pool.
“I feel like an
above-ground pool is different than a regular pool because you need to climb up
a ladder to get into it. Also, there is no shallow end. It is a lot of work to
put up the pool every summer and to maintain it, but it is so worth it. We take
many precautions to keep our family safe. For example, we always take the
ladder away when we are not using the pool, and we have a fence around it that
we keep locked. Also, an adult must accompany any child who can’t stand in the
water”
Judy Mellman
starts off every swimming session with a safety lesson: “Safety is the most
important lesson, and even young children can learn the rules.” Some rules that
she teaches the children are: 1) Always have an adult watching. 2) Never go
swimming alone. 3) If you see another child struggling in the water, tell an
adult. Remember to “reach or throw but
never go,” meaning that you can reach out your hand to help or throw a
ring, but never try to pull someone out yourself. The struggling child can pull
you down. 4) No running near the pool, and no contests to see who can stay
under the water longest. In addition, Ms. Mellman says that the adult should
always have a phone with her in case of an emergency.
Lifeguarding
The culmination of
swimming lessons, of course, is to take a lifeguarding course and become a
lifeguard. Many teenagers in our community take lifeguarding courses and are
then able to get a serious job where they are in charge of saving lives. I
spoke to Chani, who just completed her lifeguarding course. “The course takes 25
hours over a period of two months. We had to take three tests: a written test,
a swimming test to make sure you are a strong swimmer, and a water test, which
is about getting an injured person out of the water. One of the parts of the
course was a ‘brick test,’ where we had to pick up a brick from the bottom of
the pool.”
Most of the time,
being a lifeguard involves watching the swimmers and doing very little, but the
purpose of a lifeguard is for the unusual emergencies. I asked one lifeguard if
she ever had to rescue anybody. She told me that once there was an older woman
in the pool who was not able to straighten herself and pick her head out of the
water. She needed to be rescued. Another lifeguard said she was supervising a
girl taking a deep-water test, and all of a sudden, the girl started panicking
and sank under the water. She needed to be rescued, but she did not need to be
resuscitated.
Malka, a former
lifeguard who now watches her own kids in their backyard pool, makes sure her
skills are up to date every year, even though she hasn’t gone for
recertification. “I always make sure that the water is clear, that I can see
all the way to the bottom of the pool, and that I still have the skill of
picking up a brick from the bottom of the pool.”
Summer is here.
Swimming is a major part of the fun of the summer. Enjoy the pool and stay
safe.
