How did you learn how to swim?

[Wild Bill]

When I was a kid, about 10 or 11, my uncle took me out on a small boat, about 100 yards off shore and threw me into the water and told me to swim to shore.

Sure there are easier ways to teach a child, but more efficient... I don't think so... lol.

[Reese]

Wow...I don't think I will be trying that one any time soon. I think my dad taught me. I was pretty young though. I know I was on the swim team by the age of 6, so I learned by the time I was 4 or 5.

[Lightfoot]

That was too many years ago for me to remember. I know I was pretty young, but I can't recall how I actually learned. I think I would remember if someone tossed me out in the middle of the water!

[camp1]

I will never forget when I learned to swim. We had a swimmobile that came to the local school. It was a huge vehicle with a swimming pool inside of it. My mom took my sister and I to the swimmobile every Saturday for lessons.

[Wild Bill]

Hmm... not that I'm criticizing the conventional way of learning how to swim, but it seems that most of you that were "taught" how to swim forgot who taught you and where you learned.

Again I'm not saying my way is the best, but I will never forget who taught me how to swim or where I learned.

I will admit I got a pretty late start, but some of my friends had the same method applied to them when they were about 6 or 7 and they remember.

[Pebbles]

Originally Posted by Wild Bill

When I was a kid, about 10 or 11, my uncle took me out on a small boat, about 100 yards off shore and threw me into the water and told me to swim to shore.

Sure there are easier ways to teach a child, but more efficient... I don't think so... lol.

My brother-in-law has kind of a similar sink or swim story. His older sister took him out to the lake with a bunch of her friends when he was 7. They took him to the deeper water and played catch with him. They would throw him to a person and he would swim, when he started to sink, that person would pass him to someone else, and so on. He got the gist of it in one afternoon.

[drake]

I took kiddie swimming lessons at the age of five in a private swimming resort where they accept swimming lessons for all ages. I still remember who my swimming instructor was at that time. He must probably be a grandpa by now.

[Wild Bill]

Originally Posted by Pebbles

My brother-in-law has kind of a similar sink or swim story. His older sister took him out to the lake with a bunch of her friends when he was 7. They took him to the deeper water and played catch with him. They would throw him to a person and he would swim, when he started to sink, that person would pass him to someone else, and so on. He got the gist of it in one afternoon.

I had not heard of the "pass'em off" method, but I think I like it, lol. Kids are a lot smarter than we give them credit for.

[Bumpkin]

When I was a baby I would "swim" with my parents in the ocean. Then when I was around 3 my dad decided it was time for an in ground pool. The following summer my mom hired a private instructor to come to the house, but that was very short lived. I hated the woman because she would hold me under water until she decided I had been under long enough. It's a miracle that didn't traumatize me, but I went on to become a certified lifeguard, a certified swim instructor and a competing amateur diver. And you can believe that when I was teaching small kids to swim, I never forced them under water and held them down, lol.

[southerngal]

My husband's father "taught" him to swim by tossing him in a lake. This is NOT a method I approve of and will not be how I teach my kids to swim. That's just mean!