This is something that’s always puzzled me.
I get not knowing how to do the various ‘stroke’ styles of swimming.
But a simple dog paddle? How can people NOT know how to do that? Especially when it means keeping yourself alive.
Well, you do need to learn it. If you’ve never learned it before, you might figure it out when you get tossed in the water - but you might not, and that’s not a great failure mode outside of controlled circumstances.
If you’re asking why people wouldn’t learn, though - well, it isn’t really an essential life skill. Travel by water isn’t that common for most people, commercial vessels very rarely sink, and commercial vessels always have life-vests, life-boats, or both. If water-based recreation doesn’t appeal to you - pools, rivers/lakes, the ocean - then you don’t really need to know how to swim.
That said, I agree most people do learn sooner or later. I can manage a decent doggie-paddle myself.
Some people just don’t go to the pool. Many might not even have access to a pool. Others might not have parents who took them or perhaps did go, but always used a life jacket or some other device. Still others may be so terrified of water they’re just not willing to learn. If you look outside the U.S., too, in some places swimming just isn’t that common.
That said, I agree that learning to swim is important. It is absolutely non-negotiable for my children. First of all, yes, it’s a good survival skill. Second, not knowing how to swim can be somewhat limiting socially for kids, especially in summer.
Are you assuming all people can float?
If you can’t float, than learning to instantly swim in an sudden panicked situation really does become very very difficult.
People don’t think clearly when they are panicking, they are trying to lift themselves vertically out of the water as high as possible, rather than moving horizontally through it.
I am.
I know that we’ve had this discussion before, and some people are convinced that they sink like rocks, that’s just the way they are. Then I asked a swim instructor about it. She said that’s nonsense. Everyone floats.
Almost anyone can be stay afloat fairly easily if they remain calm and move deliberately and slowly. However, people that don’t know how to swim are usually afraid of the water as well. They panic when they get in water over their head and thrashing about while panicking is the worst thing you can do. They make the mistake of thinking they are sinking so they must not be trying hard enough so they thrash even harder, wear themselves out, and then drown if they can’t get help. I have pulled a few people that couldn’t swim well out of the water and their panicking and thrashing is not only quite effective at almost drowning themselves but also anyone that tries to help them.
I don’t think Shakes was saying that everyone should be able to learn how to swim just by being thrown into the water; my understanding of the inquiry was why anyone would choose not to learn how to swim or would not consider swimming an important skill. However, I could’ve read the intent of the OP wrong.
That said, I think most everyone can float, but would agree with you that panicking is what gets people into trouble in the water. Part of the process of learning to swim is learning to relax and not work against the water, if that makes any sense.
Although I could probably tread water for a couple of minutes, I have always considered that I “can’t swim”. Not afraid of the water (I can submerge myself and come back up) but never had a need to learn to swim competently. I can lie on my back and kick over to the side of the pool but that’s it. If I had to be in the ocean over my head without a preserver I would eventually tire out and drown, I wouldn’t be able to make it to shore if it were more than a few hundred yards.
I even taught a water aerobics class for a while, although there was a certified lifeguard on duty with me, and the water was only chest-high. Now as an adult I have no desire to learn, nor any need to. I don’t enjoy swimming for sport or pleasure, so there’s no need to swim. That’s what pool floats are for!
My kids are all good swimmers, though, I made sure of that.
This thread got me thinking – grab them from behind with an arm around their neck, with their trachia in the crook of your arm? Can they attack you from that position?
Some people have never submerged their whole body in the water. Sounds crazy to me because I grew up around water and I and my family spent time at pools, lakes, etc. My son, when he was round 10, brought a friend to the pool who, it turns out, had never been to one. Maybe he was embarrassed to say he had never been, or maybe he really had no idea what to expect. Anyway, he jumped in, sank to the bottom and just sat there. I swam down and pulled him up, just to be on the safe side and THEN it came out he had never been in a pool. He was sitting on the bottom going, “Oh shit, what do I do now!” My sister rescued the child of her maid who had jumped into her pool and didn’t know that he would sink. The mom had never been to a pool before.
It isn’t an inate skill, you know. It’s learned, and just like anything else, if you don’t encounter the need for it, you don’t learn it. I didn’t learn how to swim until I was 10 or so. Then I started taking lessons. Kept at it until I got my Life Guard certification, among others. But it wasn’t a skill-set I was born with.
I can’t swim. I took many sessions of swimming lessons as a kid (I have never been able to even float, so while I know intellectually that everyone must float, count me as one of those people who doesn’t truly believe it.) I’m also afraid of the water and dislike the sensation of being underwater* intensely.* All of that adds up to a non-swimmer.
I don’t understand not learning to swim either. Especially here in Florida, where you can hardly throw a rock without having it land in a body of water.
My MIL never did learn because she was afraid. Well, I was afraid to drive, but I learned how and now I’m not. See how that works?
ETA: MoonMoon, that wasn’t aimed at you specifically.
I learned to swim by being thrown into a lake from a boat, but I don’t think my stepfather was trying to teach me to swim.
Whoever told you every floats is full of hooey.
People who are afraid of the water, panic, make very jerky movements and sink like stones. They cannot float, because of the jerky movements.
There are cultures in the world where swimming for recreation is unheard of, and women in swimsuits taboo, so I’m not seeing the shock and awe that there should be people who have NOT acquired the skill. Not everyone is white, and middle classed, and of your culture is all.
My name is amaguri and I don’t know how to swim. I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and access to a pool was certainly not a given. My parents apparently did not think it was a worthwhile thing to learn (although they felt that way about many things…)
This became particularly embarrassing in high school when we had some classes at the pool, but those of us who did not know how to swim (as far as I recall, 3 out of about 35-40 kids) did not actually get lessons, they just put us in a separate area to get us out of the way.
I can float and tread water and sorta push myself in a general direction, I don’t think any of that qualifies as ‘swimming.’
Ok you guys lost me.
Nobody ever taught me how to swim. For me, it was innate. I figured it must be for everyone since I am quite convinced that I am the most athletically challenged person on the planet. Seriously, I couldn’t throw a ball to save my life.
So with that line of logic, I figured it must be innate for everyone.
Public service announcement: NEVER approach a panicked swimmer, EVER, if you are not a trained lifeguard. A panicked swimmer is more dangerous than you can imagine, and you will only get yourself killed as well if you get near them without specific training. For example you might think you can get behind them but if they see you they will literally climb up your body and hold you underwater until you are dead. A seemingly passive victim can suddenly become very, very active. Drowning people are acting on deep-seated instinct and not conscious control. They do not recognize you and they do not care who you are. Lifeguards get specific training in dealing with people in this altered mental state.
If you are not trained stay out of the water, attempt to toss rescue aids from a safe distance, call 911, and step back. if you are in the water with the person first, get away from them. Then, back away from them (keep them in view) staying well out of reach, and towards shore.
Anyway, most people can doggie paddle and instinctively move hands and feet BUT non swimmers --even fit ones – do it much much too hard/fast and exhaust themselves.
How did you learn that it was innate? Did you fall into a pool and just swim, or did your parents take you and you just did it? Did you grow up around water and just watch other people swim all the time? If so, how long did that take? And how old were you? Do you specifically remember the first time you swam ever or is it possible that you just learned at a very young age and don’t remember? Was it just once and you got it, or did it take a few times before you mastered it? Sorry for all the questions - I’ve just genuinely never heard of anyone simply knowing how to swim.
And I guess I did misunderstand your post - I had assumed that you felt it was irresponsible not to swim, not that everyone just knew how.
Everybody floats. That’s a simple matter of physics. The point is that you have to learn to float with your head out of the water so you can breath.