Asklemmy

Yes swimming is a core part of the nz childhood. We had swimming lessons throughout school and my parents enrolled me in swim classes very early.

I'm terrible at formal swimming but I can survive and get around comfortably in the water

Nope. Couldn't afford lessons, no one had a pool and I lived in a predominantly black city. I'd like to one day just for safely but I usually just sink like a rock.

Yeah. Because in Australia they take swimming and water safety very seriously. I don't think I know a single person who can't swim at least a little.

I started taking lessons about a year ago. I'm glad I have. At least I feel like I might have a chance if something happens and I end up in deeper water than I can just stand in.

Yes, my mom made us take swim lessons up through lifeguard lessons, and some of my brothers were competitive (like very competitive) swimmers. I got my kids lessons through the drownproofing, not more.

Kids drown here every year, it's not important to have paid lessons but very very important to know how to swim.

Nearly everywhere in my country mandates lessons, so yeah

Yes. In sweden every child has been taught to swim for almost 100 years.

Yes. Am Dutch

Yup, learned as a child and was absolutely bewildered as a teenager when I met people who couldn't. Made sure my kids knew how as well. Child drowning injury and deaths are sadly high in the US.

Here in Germany we learn that in school in 3rd or 4th grade (ca 9-10 years of age).

My dad watched his brother drown when he was a kid and was unable to save him Ray Charles style and made sure he taught me to swim before dipping out

I couldn't swim until I was maybe 10 or 11 and it was awful. Thankfully my parents moved and my school mandated lessons - but I wasn't confident until maybe my late teens/early twenties?

I think kids should learn as early as possible and it makes me a bit sad that my niece and nephew haven't learned yet (and are unlikely to as their schools don't teach them and my sibling doesn't seem interested in getting them lessons or teaching them). We live on an island with a lot of water inland - it's more important than other stuff like riding a bike!

Yes, of course, it's a basic life skill.

No, almost drown when I was a kid and have massive panic attacks getting into the water. In the last few years I've been able to get chest deep without hyperventilating but can't really seem to float out anything like that without letting go of the side.

Yes. My dad tried to tech me but he was not patient enough so he showed me some things and then just left me in the water to go sunbathing himself. But somehow this seemed enough so I kept at it and could swim a bit, then over the years always a little better and so on. Still today my technique is quite bad but I can swim forever, just not as fast as other people.

Yeah but not that well. I can yeet my body off the divingboard something goofy, plunge into the water, and make it back to the edge of the pool, and tbh that's all the swimming ability that I've ever needed. At least I know that I can backstroke fairly effortlessly

Yes! I learned at the YMCA as a kid.

No, it's not common for schools to have pools in my city, never travel to a beach, no paying for a club(I don't think that's the right english word for it but I can't think of another one) to go to a pool. The only few times I got to a pool in friends/parent houses was not enough to learn how to swim.

I was varsity swim team in high school.

It was what all the freaks, weirdos, and gay boys did for a sport because no one came to watch our swim meets but our families. It gave us a sense of privacy and community at the same time.

I miss it a lot sometimes. I haven't had access to a pool to do laps in in like twenty years.

It's my favorite type of exercise.

EDIT: I just had a core memory resurface. We got in trouble in my senior year because we did a team photo where we all dropped our speedos to our ankles and covered our junk with our swim caps that had our high schools name on them.

Yes I learned at a very young age.

No. I don’t feel comfortable being in situations where I’d learn. I’m pretty sure I’m to skin and bones to even float properly.

I had the usual lessons at primary school, but at the end of those myself and one other in the class still couldn't swim. In the half century since then I have never found the need or the desire to try again.

My parents made sure I took swimming lessons as a kid, and as a teenager I did a lot of water sports (sailing and rowing). I grew up next to a really good lake, so it would have been a waste to not be in or on the water.

Nope, I had no school option, and no lake or river around home where I could learn. I went with my parents to the seaside a few days every year, but my dad didn't teach me. When I had kids of my own, it was on the "must" list: teach to ride bike, make sure they can swim.

Despite living in a country surrounded by water, no, I can’t swim. I don’t go in water I can’t stand in

Yes

Its harder to remember not swimming to be honest. School swimming lessons, beach holidays, leisure centres, holidays abroad etc. I actually used to swim competetively (for my age bracket in my teenage years) for a local team. Went on to do lots of scuba diving and was a pool lifeguard for a bit

I think not swimming here is pretty rare, I want to say that maybe 10 or 15% of my year were classed as "non-swimmers" and had lessons separately to the rest.

Yes, I went and learned as an adult, even. I figured the world is 70% water and I really needed to have a chance in case of a surprise encounter with it.

Yes, and according to my parents I didn't learn how to swim, I just instinctively did it, in a similar fashion to how I just started running one day. I don't remember learning how to swim either it's just something I've always been able to do.

yes but barely. I basically do backstroke and sidestroke. never could get the hang of putting my face in and out of the water. There are a few others I can do where you keep your head out but they are relatively useless so don't really do them.

Yes. My dad was an avid swimmer and scuba diver so he wanted to instill that onto us children.

Yes, but the sea is fucking cold as fuck so I don't. We were required to learn in primary school including the correct way to jump off a boat wearing a life jacket. And how to get a person in distress back to shore.

I knew someone who learned as an adult by reading a book about the mechanics of swimming and then getting into a pool and swimming.

I can swim. I just have a seriously hard time sinking. No joke. I have to work to go down.

For ~25 years I was too lean to float, so it’s a good thing I could swim.

Yes, because I grew up in an area where private pools were very common.