Reply to Can your five year old swim?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote]No, it's pretty dangerous to have a 5 year old whose parents think that swimming skills are protective. Those are the parents who do risky things like reducing supervision.[/quote]

That's ridiculous.  Once a child has a certain level of swimming skills, it is entirely appropriate to [u]reduce[/u] supervision.  That is why YMCA pools and various city and private pools have swim tests that children can pass such that they can be in the water without an adult.  It is not, however, appropriate to [u]eliminate [/u]supervision - a parent still needs to be on the deck watching the child.  [/quote]

I belong to a private pool in MD, where such a deep test is administered. This pool prides itself on being "relaxed" and anti-helicopter parenting. These parents consider the deep water test to be when they can relax and let the lifeguards watch their kids. We have kids who have passed that test at 4!

As a former lifeguard, this makes me so nervous. I used to lifeguard at a children's day camp. Kids were not even eligible to take the deep water swim test at our camp until they were 6, and the standards for little kids were more stringent because they don't have the self regulation to know when they're getting tired. Even at 6, we would have kids who were competent swimmers get tired and need an assist. You might be sure your child is water safe, but it is absolutely a false sense of security. On the other hand, I have an almost 6 year old who would surely drown if dropped into water over his head, because he's got some sensory issues (in OT for) and is terrified of putting his face in water. I tell myself i'll watch him like a hawk, and do, but there were a few times of course where I had a mild panic like where's ___ only to breathe a sigh of relief when he was nearby of course. So I do feel like instilling basic water safety skills is very important, but there's a point where the child (and parent) become overly confident around water and that's truly equally unsafe. A fear of water is somewhat protective. (Of course, some kids are born without that water fear, and that's a whole different ballgame).

I think the ideal situation is a competent swimmer, but parents who remain truly watchful. Again, at our pool, it is absolutely the norm for children who are around 5 to be in the pool unsupervised. I know one mom of such a kid well and she thinks her kids is fine....he's not. I've seen him struggle and get a hand from a grown up while in the shallow end! She saw this and said, meh, he would have been okay. He was completely freaking out - I don't agree and it's nerve-wracking. But he passed the deep water test (which is, I think swim unassisted across width of pool and tread water for 60 seconds - sorry but that's WAY different from really being water competent) and that satisfies her, so what can i say? Again, lessons, but vigilance. [/quote]

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