The socioeconomics of swimming

We’re on a little road trip, currently in Portland, Ore., at a hotel with one of those rarities: a warm, clean pool with no who wants to use it but us.

We got a slow start to summer in the northwest, so the girls haven’t had a ton of opportunities to swim yet. And even when we do go, the public “pool” that’s closest to our house is one of those splash pools that dumps water on your head and has water slides. It’s not the kind of place you swim laps or pretend to be a mermaid.

Magpie’s only 2 1/2, but she’s more adventurous in the water than her big sister. Bo, age 5, is very timid and isn’t close to knowing how to swim. We’re signing her up for some private lessons in August to hopefully chip away at that—it’s too important of a skill to mess around with, and group instruction hasn’t worked for her so far.

We had a couple of near drownings in Spokane this month—a 3 year old and a 4 year old, both of whom were thankfully saved in the nick of time. The thought of that scene makes me weak: a child spotted at the bottom of a crowded pool, pulled out and resuscitated. The lifeguards and teenage bystanders who swooped in and performed CPR are nothing short of angels, in my book.

My friend and colleague Shawn Vestal wrote an excellent column about the socio economics of learning how to swim in The Spokesman-Review last week. In summary:

“Children from poor families and minorities are quite a bit less likely to get swim lessons – and quite a bit more likely to drown.”

Shawn’s article continued:

“Among black and Hispanic children the figures are more pronounced. Across the board, minority kids and poor ones were less likely to take swim lessons, more likely to fear the water and more likely to drown. African-American children ages 5 to 14 drown at three times the rate of white kids, and they’re five times more likely to drown in a swimming pool, according to figures reported by the Wall Street Journal. The National Safe Kids Campaign says low-income kids generally are four times as likely to drown as other children. You might imagine that this is simply an economic issue, but it seems not to be. Fear – on the part of kids and parents – was mentioned as a larger factor in the surveys. For African-American families, there is also a history of discrimination and cultural habit to overcome.”

I’ve been thinking of Shawn’s article as my kids have been frolicking about in pools this week.

J and my experiences with swimming pools are different and similar at the same time. 

I didn’t grow up wealthy (by any stretch of the imagination), but it was a country club pool where my sister and I swam away our summers. We’d jump off the high boards, dive for pennies and then charge licorice ropes to my parents’ account in the snack shack. My mom would sunbathe with her friends on the lounge chairs. It was like a scene from Caddy Shack, minus the doody.

300 miles away, J would borrow 40 cents from his cousin’s piggy bank and walk to the public pool while his cousin rode his bike. With five siblings and hard-working parents who earned modest salaries, J didn’t have the luxury of owning his own bicycle.

Different experiences, but we both learned how to swim.

All this talk of pools and swimming reminds me of an interview I heard on NPR a few years ago.

The guest was the author of a book about the history of swimming pools. He talked about how they began as giant bathtubs built as a way for poor people to get clean. Eventually, pools evolved to what they are today: recreational facilities, mainly for kids.

One portion of the interview has stuck with me. The author recalled an incident that occurred at a Youngstown, Ohio pool in 1951. A Little League baseball team was celebrating its city championship at the public pool, but not everyone was allowed to play in the water.

The pool was (unofficially) segregated, so the one black boy on the baseball team had to sit outside the fence and watch his teammates splash about without him.

Several parents, bothered by the situation, asked the lifeguards to let the boy play in the pool, even for just a few minutes. The supervisor finally gave in and allowed the boy inside, under two conditions: everyone else had to get out of the pool and the boy had to float on a raft.

My memory of the interview details was fuzzy, so I looked up the story on NPR today and was reminded of the heartbreaking way it ended:

“As his teammates and other bystanders looked on, a lifeguard pushed him once around the pool. 'Just don’t touch the water,' the guard constantly reminded him. 'Whatever you do, don’t touch the water.'"

So, I’m grateful today for a lot of things. For one, the fact that my husband and I can afford swimming lessons for our kids—private lessons at that. Most importantly, that my kids are being raised in an era during which any child is welcome at a pool, regardless of the color of their skin.

But Shawn’s article is a reminder that we’re still a long way from righting those wrongs. 

Let's keep an eye on the kids at the pool this summer—our own kids and our neighbors’. 

 

Comments

[Lauren Elliott]

Great post and good reminder!

[Krissy]

My heart breaks at those stories. My husband and I are trying so hard to raise our children to love their neighbors as themselves...regardless of color. We encourage them to find children in their settings that may look sad or lonely and be their friend. So far, so good! Compassion is a quality we can never begin teaching too early!

[Hollie Eastman]

I was totally struck by Shawn's article this week too and shared it with my husband. It's something we just take for granted, that my three boys one way or another will get swim lessons. We had the two older take them this year, and will have all three next summer, but again, it's a given.
My heart already breaks for children who have a hard time for any reason because of socioeconomic/family status, so I'm just so glad that Shawn took the initiative to write this article!
We had our swim lessons at the Hillyard pool and they had to combine classes due to lack of enrollment, and when we went swimming there last weekend on a hot Saturday, it wasn't even close to packed. So much to think about, and be aware of even more. Thanks for sharing Megan, and Shawn.
Hollie

[HMW]

Glad you're enjoying Portland! We live here and we love it! We recently had a great road trip to Spokane, though~ so right back at you!

Here in PDX, the community centers offer scholarships for swimming lessons. If you cannot afford the $44 lessons, your child can still learn to swim at a reduced price ($10, I believe). I guess with all the rivers and lakes and bodies of water here, they want every child to know how to swim for safety's sake. They also offer a week (at the beginning of summer before all the regular swim lesson sessions start) of free lessons.