Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I have a dumb question ... how hard is it to pass the lifeguarding test? One of my kid's friends said they have to swim 12 laps, tread water for 2 minutes without their arms, and retrieve a brick from the bottom of the diving well. That seems reasonable, but I'm also not sure my kids could do it. They swim fine, but they were never swim team kids. I could try to get them to go to the pool to practice swimming 12 laps, but I can just imagine the pushback!
Is that modern? Red Cross didn’t require that when I was a kid, and our local pool stopped the “brick off the bottom” after a guard popped an eardrum doing it. I would get better info before making choices.
This is the current requirements for the Red Cross certification. Some pool companies have their own lifeguard courses with different requirements. The course my kids do (with our pool companay) is 4 laps (100 meters.) But they are year round swimmers (summer/club/HS) and could have done the 300 meters if needed. Both courses required retrieving the brick and 2m of treading water with no arms. Every year, they say several kids can't do the 4 laps and/or treading water and fail right off the bat. If they are thinking of doing it, they would need to practice ahead of time.
Anonymous wrote:I’m not OP but one of the PPs. After reading all of the replies, I told my son to stop applying online and try to find small businesses. He is willing and wants to work once school starts too. Still no luck. He’s at least had real conversations with people now but everyone has said he’s too young. They won’t hire until 16 or 18.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I have a dumb question ... how hard is it to pass the lifeguarding test? One of my kid's friends said they have to swim 12 laps, tread water for 2 minutes without their arms, and retrieve a brick from the bottom of the diving well. That seems reasonable, but I'm also not sure my kids could do it. They swim fine, but they were never swim team kids. I could try to get them to go to the pool to practice swimming 12 laps, but I can just imagine the pushback!
Is that modern? Red Cross didn’t require that when I was a kid, and our local pool stopped the “brick off the bottom” after a guard popped an eardrum doing it. I would get better info before making choices.
Anonymous wrote:I have a dumb question ... how hard is it to pass the lifeguarding test? One of my kid's friends said they have to swim 12 laps, tread water for 2 minutes without their arms, and retrieve a brick from the bottom of the diving well. That seems reasonable, but I'm also not sure my kids could do it. They swim fine, but they were never swim team kids. I could try to get them to go to the pool to practice swimming 12 laps, but I can just imagine the pushback!