Why can’t Johnny swim? Many reasons cited.
Chicago parents say costs, access, time are barriers
Experts have long pondered why over 40% of American children lack basic swim skills, but a new study goes right to the source.
Researchers at Lurie Children’s Hospital asked Chicago parents why their kids haven’t had lessons.
The top answer was cost, with 35% of parents pointing to the price tag. In addition, 22% of parents said they didn’t have enough time, and 21% were unable to find lessons.
“I hope these findings can start to prompt thought on the level of groups that are offering lessons, and help them realize they have an opportunity here to meet a need in groups that perhaps have not in the past been able to access these lifesaving skills,” said study co-author Dr. Michelle Macy, an associate professor of pediatrics at Lurie.
Macy said private swim-lesson companies, in particular, could step up.
“A lot of these companies are making a decent amount of money off of people who can pay, so I’d love to see them give back a little bit,” Macy said.
The findings come from a survey of 1,505 Chicago parents conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago for Lurie Children’s Hospital.
In the survey, 46% of parents said their children had never had swim lessons. White parents were more likely to know how to swim than members of other racial groups, and more likely to have obtained lessons for their children.
A total of 70% of white parents said their children had taken swim lessons, compared to 63% of Asian/ other parents and 45% of Black and Latino parents.
While swim lessons can be expensive, some local YMCAs and park districts offer free or low-cost swim instruction for beginners. The Chicago Park District, for instance, offers patrons, ages 6 to 17 years old, a free 10-session Learn to Swim class through the First Free program. Learn to Swim is on hiatus due to COVID-19 but will resume in the fall.
At CAST Water Safety Foundation in Forest Park, which offers an intensive six-week program for babies and children up to age 6, scholarships are available, and director Liz Huber says no one is turned away due to lack of ability to pay. However, Huber said, there are already a couple hundred people on the summer wait list.
She recommended fall and winter sessions, which may have short wait lists or none at all.
Researchers know that groups cut off from swimming access due to racial segregation are less likely to swim, and that parents who had swim lessons themselves are more likely to enroll their kids, Macy said.
“It’s not just the cost, you’re also thinking about race,” said Tiffany Monique Quash, director of operations at the International Water Safety Foundation. “Especially for people in Chicago, the first thing that comes to mind is Red Summer, which plays a lot into that trauma around swimming.”
Red Summer refers to 1919, when Black citizens across the U.S. were attacked by white mobs. In Chicago, the violence began after a Black teen rafting on a segregated South Side beach drifted into an area claimed by whites. He was pelted with rocks, and drowned.
“There’s that historical trauma, particularly for Black people. I don’t think you can pull out just one aspect of it,” Quash said.
The best solution, she said, would be free swim lessons for everyone, as well as free land-based water safety education.
Macy said a few specific skills such as floating on your back and swimming the length of a pool can be lifesaving. But even with the COVID-related postponement and cancellation of some swim lessons this summer, there’s still plenty that parents can do to make their children safer.
Among her recommendations: Kids should be supervised when they’re in the water, and the person in charge should not be distracted by a cellphone or under the influence of alcohol or drugs. If kids are not yet able to swim, a parent or other responsible supervisor should be in physical contact (touching the child) during water time.
“Swim lessons are just one piece of the puzzle, and one layer of the protection that parents can provide,” Macy said.