I just don’t get it when an adult says that they “can’t swim.” Okay, so maybe they can’t do the crawl, but keep their heads above water? One would think it would be an innate ability.
Throw a cat which has never been in water before and it will indeed be able to swim (or at least hold its head above water.)
Perhaps the meaning is that the adult human panics because he thinks he can’t swim, then drowns? We all instictively flap the air when we think we’re going to fall; don’t we all instinctively kick our feet and “flap” our arms to stay afloat in deep water?
If you panic in the water, you drown – it’s that simple. Unless you’re taught swim strokes and how to be comfortable, there’s a very strong chance you’ll die if you fall in the water.
It’s true that there is some innate swimming ability (they used to – and maybe still do – teach babies to swim by just dropping them in and letting them figure it out, with an adult right next to them to prevent disaster), but it will only keep you afloat for a short amount of time before you tire.
Well, possibly. But if you have no technique at all, and aren’t in very good shape, how long do you think you’ll be able to keep that up?
I suspect that when adults fall in the water they don’t just sink like a stone like they do in the movies when they ‘can’t swim’. Rather, they probably flail around for a while, burning up huge gobs of energy keeping their heads out of the water, until they tire and drown.
I spent time on the island of Haiti and found the majority of adults could not swim. There were even a number of fishermen who did not know how to do more than keep themselves afloat.
I’m not sure quite why this is so, but I would suppose most people just don’t have the time for recreational swimming.
I’m not sure I’d consider swimming a recreational activity for a fisherman. More like a job requirement. Like a fireman knowing how to stop, drop, and roll; or an airline pilot knowing the procedures for an emergency landing.
My husband can’t swim. It isn’t that he cannot learn the technical aspects of how to move his body through the water. It is a psychological barrier that causes him to think he will drown, panic, and then indeed he could drown.
I think the inability to swim in an adult is acutally more of a water phobic condition. I have worked with him in the shallow end of a pool wearing a mask and snorkel, and without some kind of professional intervention, there is no way this boy is going to swim.
Well, if swimming were an innate ability, then it wouldn’t matter if we were talking adult, infant, or adolescent, would it? Given that drowning is something like the third leading cause of accidental death, I think there’s ample evidence that swimming isn’t something that’s second-nature to human’s. And drowning rates fall as age increases, so that also argues that it’s a learned ability and not an innate ability.
While part of swimming is technique, it’s also true that some people have less body fat than others or are in some other way less naturally buoyant. So swimming is more effortfull for them. And when you’re a few feet down in possibly turbulent water, it’s a very bad time to learn to swim by trial and error.
I taught a water babies class for many many summers. We used a technique we called torpedo. We supported the back of the head and held them with one hand on the chest. We would then “torpedo” them to the mom or dad just a few feet away. Because of the way the head was positioned, and the direction they were moving, they usually did not take in water. In all the years I did this, I never saw a baby younger than 20 -22 months actually swim. I am not saying that this never happens but I have not seen it. I think it is a great program for lots of reasons but we didn’t produce any infant swimmers.
Adults that are non-swimmers have some difficulty getting used to getting themselves comfortable being “levelled off” or prone in the water. Usually they try to stand up, put their feet down, regardless of the water depth. It takes significant time to break this tendency. I have worked with lots of adults in the water. It is slow and difficult but worth it if they ever get the hang of it. They are soooooooo appreciative and proud of themselves.
I live in the Caribbean and it always amazes me that on an island surrounded by water, about 70% of the population cannot swim. That does not stop them going to the beach and playing in the water so the number of drownings is pretty high. The kids get taught at a young age that the water is dangerous and never to go beyond waist high, but they don’t get taught to swim so as adults they perpetuate the same myth and are mostly terrified of water (this goes for the fishermen too!).
Slightly off subject, but I was reminiscing about one carnival where the main song was about getting ‘Wet Up’ so everyone walked around with SuperSoakers and everyone got extremely wet…then it starts to rain and everyone runs for cover! It was very amusing. The caribbean is an experience!
I live in the Caribbean and it always amazes me that on an island surrounded by water, about 70% of the population cannot swim. That does not stop them going to the beach and playing in the water so the number of drownings is pretty high. The kids get taught at a young age that the water is dangerous and never to go beyond waist high, but they don’t get taught to swim so as adults they perpetuate the same myth and are mostly terrified of water (this goes for the fishermen too!).
I’m in my 30’s and never once was interested in learning to swim. It’s not that big of a deal to me that I haven’t nor have I ever learned how to dance. I don’t even go to clubs for that matter.
I can’t swim either, and have nearly drowned a few times when I was younger. Maybe I’m just denser than average, but even when I try to do the dead-man float, I float a couple feet underwater. I have extremely low body fat , which doesn’t help at all I’m sure. My eyes also shut down when I get chlorinated water in them.
I have a pool, but I always stay on the shallow end.
I sink. I don’t panic, because I make sure I’m close enough to shallow water or a way out. Besides, I’m not a panicky person.
I took swimming lessons once, and I had absolute trust in my instructor. When I would totally relax I would surely and pretty quickly sink to the bottom of the pool.
When I try to do the “crawl” (that’s the common stroke, right?) I have trouble getting any air on the breathe stroke because I’m usually too deep in the water.
Way too much trouble, I say. That’s what they make vests for.
BTW; I used to snorkle a lot. I’d use one of those floats like lifeguards use. Nobody would teach me Scuba. Cowards.
Before I learned to swim, I remember trying to teach myself. I’d get into the water, and just start stroking and kicking and breathing when I could. Before long my lungs were about to burst and I couldn’t breath any more. Then I heard a friend of mine yell, “EXHALE!”
I had been inhaling but not exhaling. A simple thing like that was not instinctual, it had to be learned.
I learned to swim quite late in my 20s. I was put off by macho school swimming lessons, macho father, and practical visual difficulties from wearing glasses. Finally I learned on going to the sea over a summer with friends. I’d say part of the trouble is that many teachers (and most media portrayals) are obsessed with the crawl - in my view, a showy specialist speed stroke for those who are very fit and comfortable in the water. Once I discovered breast stroke, I was fine.
Well… negative buoyancy certainly doesn’t make it impossible to swim; I have it, always have, and have been a capable swimmer since the age of 4…
Used to teach swimming, too, and never saw a kid whose downward motion in the water was so great that forward progress, or breathing, was impossible. In a few cases, it did make getting a rhythm more difficult. Generally, though, once a kid got the idea that you need to keep your lungs rather well inflated, the tendency to sink was not an issue.
Without an actual cite, I would hazard a guess that many, perhaps most, very good swimmers tend to sink.
I tried treading water, exactly like my teacher showed me. Cool. So I sank a little slower. She laughed at me.
Somebody please, what’s the difference between crawl and breast stroke.
Tarzan (Johnny W.) used the crawl when he went after killer crocs, right?
