It's the time of year when we think about self-improvement. What we might do next year to make our lives better. It's often about losing weight, often about drinking less alcohol and nearly always about doing more exercise.
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That last one is not so much about me. I walk kilometres every day, do annoying weights and stretches and more recently, have learned to squat against a wall and hold it for 45 seconds. Like you, I read stuff and try to act on it (check out wall squats and blood pressure!).
And about six years ago, I vowed to take on a skill I'd missed throughout my entire life. Learning to swim.
Yes, I am the archetypal child of migrants. My parents were both waders rather than swimmers. They loved the beach but never really went in the water. They installed a pool but mainly sat on the side, legs in the water.
Of all three children, I was the worst learner. The. Worst. My sister (long gone now) and my brother were both competent freestylers but not me. And when I turned 60 I decided to learn to swim. Lots of lessons. Some practice.
I am still hopeless - and that's partly because I am still afraid.
Each year, I'm reminded of my shortcomings over summer. I sit on the sand or poolside and watch as people one-tenth of my age can surf and swim and dive at what look to me like Olympic-level competencies.
And each year, I'm reminded about why, in this country, swimming matters more than any other physical skill. Between December 1 and December 28, 23 people have drowned in Australian waterways. That's three more than for the same period last year and a merciful three fewer than the average for December. I am very much hoping it stays that way.
Not all drownings are the same. The victims are old and young. They get caught in rips. They suffer medical episodes. Some drown trying to rescue others. Some drown because of the unexpected nature of natural events, flooding, storm water.
And I've written many stories on why you should learn to swim; how you should be able to swim a kilometre as an adult, why seven year olds should be able to confidently swim 25 metres. I listen to the experts, quote the experts and hope everyone will take notice.
Here's what you should do.
Expose your kids to water early - as early as three months. Get them to be familiar with water on the face. Babies as young as eight months can learn to lift their heads out of water. All this helps them to learn not to panic. I still panic when I'm underwater, even though I'm purposely doing this.
By the end of preschool, kids should be able to float confidently. That will help in many circumstances but doesn't work in all contexts. Watch your kids in water all the time. Be alert and, in my case, be alarmed. My then two-year-old ran into a pond in a park. Fortunately my husband, always an excellent swimmer, fished her out in 10 seconds. She thought it was hilarious. I burst into tears.
Don't mix alcohol and water. Hard as it may be to understand, getting pissed on a boat is not a good idea. Getting pissed and going swimming is an idiot's game.
Learn to swim even if you are old. Like me. As an expert told me a few years ago that learning to swim is not the same as learning to ride a bike. Water is changeable and the environment matters. Pools, beaches, rivers, dams - they all have different challenges.
In the days when it was possible to learn to swim for next to nothing, my husband, an excellent swimmer, insisted our kids go to the fancy swimming school that was nowhere near we lived. Off they trotted to Forbes Carlisle (which by all rights should have been called Forbes and Ursula Carlisle). The water was pee-warm, the pools were tiny, the instructors were both friendly and fierce. Would not take no for an answer. None of this gentle parenting bullshit I am now observing. Kids had to learn to swim. And somehow, even the sobbingest kid poolside learned to swim. My husband, who knew more than me the value of water safety, took them to lessons, practised with them, threw them up in the air and let them splash when they landed and played games with them. I sat and watched. Hoping not to infect my kids with my own fears.
None of the expert advice explains what to do when you are old and afraid. When I go in the surf, I am usually hanging on to a responsible adult who would know what to do. A year ago, I watched as a friend was caught in a rip. What I didn't really understand was that he was conserving his energy so he could swim back safely. He was figuring out how he could get out of the rip instead of trying to swim against it. All I could do was shout and panic.
MORE JENNA PRICE:
When I'm in the water myself, if it's placid and shallow, I feel perfectly fine. I'm not great when the waves start coming. While I love the feeling of the waves against me, I do not enjoy being underwater. Still, I'm an outlier. Most adults who learn to swim get so many benefits.
It is true I can swim a lap of a pool using uncoordinated freestyle and breathing on both sides. It's also true that I can float and do breaststroke of the kind which does not require me to put my face in the water. I can only hope that my grandchildren follow in the footsteps of their maternal grandfather. Or at least in his wake.
- Jenna Price is a regular columnist and a visiting fellow at the Australian National University.
Jenna Price is a Canberra Times columnist and a visiting fellow at the Australian National University.
Jenna Price is a Canberra Times columnist and a visiting fellow at the Australian National University.
