And be super careful of glass at the bottom of rivers/in river banks.

Swimming is something I wish I learnt to do better and now I will make my kids do the same so they can help themselves in that situation should something go awry (touch wood)

Teaching kids to swim is a necessity and not a maybe. You never know when they’ll have to use it when you’re not around or at a pool

So important for kids to know how to swim. This was not negotiable for our family as we love the water and as soon as the girls were old enough they swam and still do now at agd 9 & 11 they are both in squads now!

So important to teach kids to swim from an early age. With all the swimming lessons available for babies and up, there’s really no excuse not to

Absolutely I think swimming and water safety are two things that must be taught to our kids

In SA in Jan. each year we have swimming school called Vacswim.
The kids are taught how to float, do different strokes and water safety.
At local swimming pools(mainly indoor ones) some of them swimming lessons. I’m not sure what the mininum age is. Until they are 3 years old a parent or other responsible adult has to go in the water and hold onto their child most of the time. As they reach different standards, (I think they get certificates) they change classes and teachers. Our older one has to overcome constant ear infections from swimming in a pool before we resume. The youngest one now goes in the pool alone but hasn’t reached the next stage yet.

This is interesting! Thank you for sharing this!

A lot of people think there is no point taking babies as young as 6 months to swimming lessons, but there is. It begins with water safety, entering water safely is a big teaching point for parents and babies. Start swimming classes as early as you can

Thanks for sharing. Such an important part of life and learning for kids.

Swimming is such important skill. As an instructor I know how important it is and how it is important to be consistent. It is not enough to rely on school swimming programs to teach your kids water safety, neither is getting the kids to swim in summer. Skills need to be developed and worked on throughout the year.

Swimming is a vital skill in Australia.

It’s great to see a big company like Uncle Toby’s getting behind something like SwimKids. I wish more companies would get involved in the community, instead of concentrating on profits above all else.

Water safety is so important in Australia! there is just so much water activities everywhere!

Good read thanks for the information

I never had the chance to learn swimming when I was a child (having born outside of Australia), but I hope my future baby would have all the opportunities to master swimming skills!

this should be compulsory for all children to learn

it always scares me the amount of children that are not water smart, because their parents are frightened of the water themselves. thanks for writing this, I hope it makes other get their children water smart,

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  • • mom94125 replied
    • 19 Oct 2015 , 1:02 pm

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  yeah they should learn to swim together then

Thanks for sharing this great read, will be passing it on to my sister inlaw.

my daughter has been taking swimming lessons and just loves them – I think it is so important that she learn to swim