Learning To Swim Through Life

As a child, I did not know how to swim and had, therefore, what was probably a healthy fear of the water.

When my daughter was very young, she had classes and learned how to swim proficiently and joyfully, and it made her confident.

Safety is knowledge and knowledge is safety.

Drowning is the number one cause of death for kids under four and remains high on the list even after that.

You may be taking every precaution with and around your kids, fencing in pools, having lifeguards, watching them closely at every turn.

It’s right to do those things. Still, many parents also teach them to swim, or get them lessons.

Knowing how to swim is the difference between being looked after, versus being able to take care of yourself.

The model applies on land, too.

We can teach stranger-danger, but do we teach self-defense techniques? Avoidance won’t always work.

Yes, be vigilant about their online activities, but also build a sense of self-worth, to recognize B.S. when they see it and you don’t.

Teach at home what won’t be taught, or taught with integrity, at school, from the Constitution and natural rights, to balancing checkbooks and borrowing money.

Make sure they can cook a little, mow a lawn, work a few tools, practice gun safety.

We can’t keep them out of the water forever, and we won’t always be there to dive in after them.

Life can be full of scary water, or of swimming lessons.