Toss Your Infant In The Pool?

I remember seeing something about it a few months back and it didn't agree with me at all.

I started my kids off by suspending them in a shallow pool or at the waters-edge when at the beach, so they could splash, kick, and familiarize themselves with the water. They were babies at the time, and as we spent more and more time swimming and playing in and around the water, I worked on them.

When they started getting older and reached the age and stage where they were more mobile and independent, it was then that I would do a simple swim like the dog-paddle, and encourage them to do what I was doing.

It was a slow process at the start, but kids learn surprisingly quick, and by the time my kids were in kindergarten, they could stay afloat and do a basic dog-paddle swim.
 
Heck NO....we live in Australia which is the largest island on Earth and we are all advised to teach our children
to learn to swim. At our Schools there are 'Learn To Swim' lessons through Primary/Infant School but these are ALL
supervised and the children are supposed to wear 'floaties' like these for safety. No 'floaties' no lesson.

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Quite frankly, I don't see the purpose in throwing a little baby into the water.

Sure, I've had fun with my kids once they got older and we've partaken in pushing each other in, or when they were toddlers I'd pick them up and toss them in, but they were swimming by the, familiar with and comfortable in the water, and it was done as play, but to teach in that manner, not a chance.

I feel those that do have a geranium in their cranium, as Ann Landers (I believe), used to say.
 
People did it that way back in the 50s and maybe before, but it's probably super rare now. In most of the USA if you toss your kid in any water over 2" deep you can be charged with child endangerment and CPS could seize your kids.

My dad dropped me in a lake off the side of his fishing boat when I was about 4, and I sank like a stone. Jumping in after me wasn't part of his plan, so I'm pretty sure he realized that wasn't such a good method. He had my uncle teach me in their pool and I turned out a very good swimmer.
 
StarSong said:
Now that there's funny - I don't care who you are!
:ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:
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I think I have heard that before. Oh yeah, Larry the Cable Guy.

Seriously though, I would not recommend doing this. Sounds very risky to me. I do advise new moms and dads to teach their kids to swim as early as possible, like maybe 1 or 2 y/o. I was once told that babies do enjoy being in the water. It's suppose to be calming to them.
 
I witnessed something like that at a family summer get-together in the early 1960s. My uncle, who was divorced but dating at the time, brought his date to the picnic. He also had a son who was about 5 then. The picnic was at my maternal grandma's house which was riverfront property and she had a dock. During the festivities, my uncle took my cousin by an arm and leg and flung him off the dock into the water. Of course, my cousin at that age didn't know how to swim and began screaming and flailing around in the water. My uncle let this go on about half a minute, then dived in the river and pulled my cousin out. My mother said afterwards that he probably did it to play the hero to impress his date. If I were that girl, I would have been impressed all right, but not in the way he would have expected.
 
Never! I cringe when my niece sends me photos of her two babies in a swimming pool. I am terrified of any bodies of water because of being a near drowning ~ myself. I never did learn how to swim after that incident.
 
My son was born in July and I had him in the pool in no time. Of course I stayed right with him until he naturally began to swim. When he was older, I taught him various swimming strokes and he became a terrific swimmer. By the way, do not toss your baby in the pool. Take him/her in with you slowly.
 
knowing how to swim should be "mandatory" whenever possible. when i was in college, a PE requirement was to pass the rudimentary swimming test. no passing = no graduation!

when i was in college, worked as camp counselor in summers. on the first day of each new group, kids who wanted to play in the "deep end" (jumping off diving boards) had to show they could swim. i'll never forget one kid... sure, i can swim... and he went to the bottom like a rock! he didn't know he couldn't swim.
 
drowning is often just so avoidable. unfortunately, seems like about every spring/summer there is a tragic droning in a local creek/stream or pond/lake. kids playing, someone gets in too deep, can't swim... neither can friends. very sad and unnecessary.
 
When my kids were little. Guess my daughter was age 5, I lectured her on NEVER going near the pool unless i was with her! I walked by the pool one day and she was diving off the high dive! hahaha! My mouth fell open!
 
Gaer said:
When my kids were little. Guess my daughter was age 5, I lectured her on NEVER going near the pool unless i was with her! I walked by the pool one day and she was diving off the high dive! hahaha! My mouth fell open!
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was there anyone with her? if not i would have had to have a FAKE a major HISSY FIT! there would have been a long talk about why i was so mad. eventually would have to let her know why i reacted that way.
 
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