Do you know how to swim?
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Yep.
Part of schooling in NZ.
A lot of kids also get extra lessons, because well it's NZ.
note: the furthest from the coast you can get in NZ is 119.44 km (74.22mi)
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Yes. Am Dutch
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Here in Germany we learn that in school in 3rd or 4th grade (ca 9-10 years of age).
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... unless there are not enough teachers, or not enough public pools, or...
The indoor pool I learned swimming closed a decade ago and since then there is no public indoor pool in the city anymore.
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Wow, you have some very old kids
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For some reason I don't remember ever doing such a course. I never got a "Seepferdchen". I learned to swim on my own at some point or with help from my parents.
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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!
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Yeah, sort of. I can do 2km, but pretty slowly.
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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.
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Glad you found the piece. Had to look what that item was. In a word. OUCH
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Yes, of course, it's a basic life skill.
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Yep, did survival skills when I was a kid. Treading on water with neck high for 15 minutes, diving in with PJs and plimsoles, and controlling our breath at the bottom of the pool, taking off our shoes and tying knots in our pyjamas to use as floatation devices. It was pretty intense for a bunch of 10 year olds to do, but yep we did it.
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yes, and i even got enrolled (unwillingly) into water polo courses by my older sisters. understandably, the coach hated me because i was overweight and a slow swimmer.
there was a bit of inappropriate verbal harassment from the older members of the water polo team for my gynecomastia. after that, i got self-conscious and eventually stopped swimming.
if i ever have access to a private pool, or after i get surgery for my moobs, maybe i'll try swimming again.
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Yeah, this is basically how it goes. It depends what country you grew up in. Canada is the same way, almost everyone who grew up in Canada can swim (not necessarily well, but able to manage). This is partly due to the number of lakes that exist near populated areas so swimming is a common passtime and boating accidents are a fairly high cause of accidental death. There are some countries where it is much more rare.
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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.
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Yes! I learned at the YMCA as a kid.
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Yes, because I grew up in an area where private pools were very common.
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i learned to swim by puking so hard that the puke leaving my mouth propelled me through the water
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Yes, but the sea is fucking cold as fuck so I don't.
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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
