Yes, I know how to swim...and I learned when I was 6 or 7 years old. :)

for some reason i never learned. i bet i could fake it though.

I don't really know how to swim all that well, but I did learn about 5 years ago

I think I was about 8 when i learned to swim.

i can tread water. and dogpaddle. i was a big dogpaddler back in the day, poor dogs.

Yes, I know how to swim (though I haven't practised in years). I never really liked it, but it was a compulsory part of education in the final years of what we called Lagere School (ages 6 to 12). So I was about twelve years old when I finally got the hang of it. I have a certificate to prove it.

Yes - I was about 8 - it was part of our schooling.  I love swimming but never enjoyed racing.

i know how to drown.

i actually had to be plucked out of a swimming pool by a lifeguard once when i was a kid. i don't want to talk about it! so embarrassing.

for some reason i never learned. i bet i could fake it though.


It's never too late to learn!  :)

To all those that can't...learn!

(Not wishing to be funny, but you never know when you may need to...)

I learned when I was about 9...

I won't kid myself that I'm a superb swimmer, but I know enough to get myself out of danger...

Yes.  But I don't think I learned until I was at least 10.  I was scared of water.  I can't swim that fast though.  Usually if I go to the beach or go swimming, I do mainly backward strokes, or experiment with different ways to just float.

I know how to swim but not too well. 

i know how to drown.

i actually had to be plucked out of a swimming pool by a lifeguard once when i was a kid. i don't want to talk about it! so embarrassing.


It's ok.  I still remember my mom & little sis visiting me and church camp....hehe   She was no more than 7 I think.  She was standing on the diving board, holding a giant beach ball and said "Watch me mom!"  She plugged her nose and jumped, but then only the beach ball was floating.  She came back up....and went right back under and the lifeguard rescued her.  I was scared at the time,  but looking back, the mental image of her sputtering just cracks me up.
Then again, there was that time at the lake.... The giant floatie had gone out too far, and my mom swam back to shore to get a lifeguard, since my sis can't swim.  But some other a**hole lifeguard was blowing his whistle and yelling at her to get off, despite my mom's repeated attempts to inform him that she couldn't swim   >:(

yup.
my husband can't and nature has tried to kill him many times as a result.

"how do you grow up on an island and not learn how to swim!"

I can't swim...but I can stay afloat if need be.  We're forced to swim in school, but as far as I'm concerned, it's not worth the hassle.  So I usually "forget" my swimming trunks.  ;)

 I was scared at the time,  but looking back, the mental image of her sputtering just cracks me up.

lol! that's

http://www.junknugget.com/forum/images/smiles/catharsh.jpg

i always wanted to have a little sister so i could laugh at her misfortune. i love sibling stories.

Yes. I taught myself when I was like 7 or so.

I cannot do anything fancy....but I could survive in water if I had to.

I was always decent at swimming, but I really "learned" at 7.... I'm not a speed swimmer, or a technique swimmer, but I can keep above water decent.

Not really. I mean, I've done it for school, and I could probably do it enough to save myself if I had to, but I'm not experienced at all.

Honestly, I've always been a teeny bit scared of being underwater. Not phobia-like, but close.

Yes. I taught myself when I was like 7 or so.


;D Same here.

My Dad tried to teach me but he never could, then when i was about 8 or 9 and all my friends could swim i just got sick of it. Figured it all out in about an hour  ;D

I was about 7 when I could swim with floats or anything.  I can swim passably well but am a bit out of practice.

My two children have swimming lessons every saturday.  Elizabeth is hoping to get her 100 metres badge soon.

Swimming lessons were compulsory in primary and lower secondary (about yr 8-10) school, but I couldn't actually swim til about I was 9. I haven't really swam in years and can probably only swim one lap of the pool before gasping for breath lol. Were swimming lessons compulsory when you were at school?

Were swimming lessons compulsory when you were at school?



My Primary School (age 5 - 11) had its own swimming pool and so we had regular swimming lessons in the summer.  At Middle School (11 to 13) we had swimming lessons as part of the P.E. provision.  We used the local leisure centre.  From memory it was probably only for six weeks or so each year. From 14 to 16 the school I went to had it's own pool and swimming was one of the options we could choose as part of our compulsory P.E. lessons.

I htink I learned at about 4 or 5...my grandfather threw me into the pool and sat in a lawn chair saying "come on- just do it"
and I did!

then he did it again!

I htink I learned at about 4 or 5...my grandfather threw me into the pool and sat in a lawn chair saying "come on- just do it"
and I did!

then he did it again!




sounds like my husband's dad....when he was like 5...his dad threw him in a river or lake or something and said.."swim"....apparantly he did.

sounds like my husband's dad....when he was like 5...his dad threw him in a river or lake or something and said.."swim"....apparantly he did.




It's a tried and true method!

Yep, I learnt when I was in kindergarten, took some lessons, and having been swimming like fish ever since.  My daughter is the same way now. She also took lessons at age 5.

I can't swim. I just lay next to the pool and pose in my gorgeous bikini. Why bother? lol  ;)

No.....  ;D

I learned during the summers of 1987 and 1988. But, I really, really learned during the summer of '92. That's when I became really good.

Yes, I think I was in my early teens(don't remember exactly when).

I'm a swimmer, I don't remember ever being taught :)

Yes,I know how to swim but I haven't gone swimming in quite some time now.

Yeah, I taught myself in a little 4 foot pool we had... I was probably 8 or 9... but I'm afraid to put my head under water without plugging my nose (a few bad experiences) - I see people jump in without plugging their nose... and I don't know how they do it.. the last time I tried that, I came up choking and gasping for air. :o

I htink I learned at about 4 or 5...my grandfather threw me into the pool and sat in a lawn chair saying "come on- just do it"
and I did!

then he did it again!


LOL, a similar thing happened to me around the same age. We were at a family friend's house (I really liked this guy, though he could be kinda wild/unpredictable at times) for a party of some sort. I wasn't any more than 4 or so, and he said, "Do you want me to throw you in?"

And me, not really even thinking anything of it, said "Yeah". I do vaguely recall my mom being mad at him and telling him to get me out, but I wasn't really old enough to be afraid or anything (I didn't care, LOL).

If that happened today, that'd be a different story. ;D

Yes, I was around 10.

I learned how to swim a the local municipal pool.  During the summer it costed a nickel and my mother sent us almost everyday, which was good for her and us.  The older neighborhood kids taught the younger ones to swim.

Well...I've been learning how to do it over the years, so I cannot answer with a complete yes or no. (Actually, I could say, "no, not fully.") When I last had regular swim lessons, I was in my teens and learned from a guy who was a year or two older than me (at the time).

Oh yes.  I learned to swim when I was 6....or was it 5?  I can't remember, but I know it was before 1st grade, because that's when our school started going to the local Y every Friday.  I love swimming.  We have a pool in our subdivision and over the summer, my sister and I spend a lot of time there, just swimming laps.

Well I used to back in the days and I was wearing those things you blow up and had them on each arm to keep me from drowning.I forgot what you call them.

water wings.

what a mental image!

I grew up near the beach,so i don't really remember learning to swim,i just always did.
I love it,now in the Winter i go to the pool at least twice a week, but i rather swim in the ocean,from May to October i go to the beach every weekend :)

We were all "water babies". We would always go to a pool/beach so it was just natural for all of us. I remember when I was 3, we were staying a hotel in Florida that had a pool. My dad put me in the pool, I was holding on the to the side screaming my head off and my dad was standing with his hands on his hips laughing at me. Of course my dad wasn't going to let anything happen to me but when you are 3, you don't know that. I have since talked to him about that and told him that he should have to pay for therapy about that incident.  :D :D

Then when I was 6, we were at a pool. We were playing/spashing around when I turned to my dad and seriously said to him, "Would you teach me how to swim?". So he did. When I was 11/12 or so, my brother lived in an apartment that had a pool. It was a similar scenario where we were playing/spashing around when I turned to him and said (like I did with my dad), "Would you teach me how to dive?" So yeah, my dad taught me how to swim and my brother taught me how to dive. At the age of 15/16, I was a pool bum. Spent all day, every day at the pool.

Now it is funny. When we go on the boat, sometimes we go swimming. It takes me forever to get into the water. Once I am in the water, I never want to come out.  ;D ;D ;D



Cat

We went swimming right from babies, we grew up with a swimming pool two minutes down the road and used to spend all summer there, it was outdoor. I recall my hair went green from the chlorine in the water!

We went swimming right from babies, we grew up with a swimming pool two minutes down the road and used to spend all summer there, it was outdoor. I recall my hair went green from the chlorine in the water!



My hair went almost blond.



Cat

I think I learned to swim at 4 years old.  The house I grew up in had a pool so we swam all the time. 

water wings.

what a mental image!



Maybe I'll post a picture of myself with my family from 1979.

Well I used to back in the days and I was wearing those things you blow up and had them on each arm to keep me from drowning.I forgot what you call them.


I wore those all the time. I love them. You could just wander into the deep end and still stay afloat without a big tubular thing around your waist. I have this funny picture of me wearing them in the pool that I scanned some years ago. I should dig it up!

Yes, I know how to swim.  I learned when I was around 2.  We had a pool in our yard and my mom would put me in a tube and I would slide out and swim under water.  I made my grandmother very nervous becuase she never learned how to swim.

I was 5 years old and went to the local pool for swim lessons. I took to the water like a fish.

I can't swim at all.

I wore those all the time. I love them. You could just wander into the deep end and still stay afloat without a big tubular thing around your waist. I have this funny picture of me wearing them in the pool that I scanned some years ago. I should dig it up!


I had trouble keeping afloat so that's what I wore when I was 5