Splash!

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.