Today after my first jaunt back to the gym after being a bit under the weather, yet again, I read an article about a young, black world champion swimmer Cullen Jones. Jones is involved in the "Make a Splash" organization that teaches minority kids to swim. It was intriguing to me because I don't know how to swim and I desperately want my babies to be like little fishies to water, plus Babe and I were discussing this exact topic just recently.
Did you know that six out of ten black children are unable to swim? Almost double their white counterparts. And, according to the article, 56% of Latino children are unable to swim. WHAT?? So why is this? We could pinpoint the involved process of getting a little black girls' hair together for the week and not wanting to go through the trouble again because of swimming. But then why can't the Latino children swim? The article suggests parents don't know how to swim therefore the children can't. I could see that being a big factor.
Growing up I was a very nervous, anxious, scary child. Of course water was one of my fears. I'm sure being afraid of the water was an "easy out" for my mom to keep my hair fresh because my parents are unlike the stats, they both swim, as does my younger sister. For me it came down to being terrified to...well, drown I suppose. My cousins swim, Babe swims, so unlike one misinformed white woman once suggested, blacks don't swim because our melanin weighs more - for some of us it's fear and others just weren't exposed to it.
So why does swimming have to be any different from anything else? What do your parents do that, as an adult, you don't choose to do? Or vice versa, what don't they do that you enjoy doing now? As a child I didn't see my parents making great strides to work out, they were hardly overweight but because they didn't exercise much when I was child should that keep me from doing it now and showing my children something different?
Something as simple as going to the movie theater is a big thing for my family now. We see previews for the hottest summer movies and you can bet we'll be there the weekend they open with booster seat in hand for Nas. I can count on one hand how many movies my parents took me to see at the theater, that just wasn't (and still isn't) their thing. But with "Speed Racer" hitting the IMAX this weekend, please believe our little clan will be there. The theater has become something I truly enjoy and love to expose my children to.
Needless to say, there's a swim school opening near our house soon and my kids will be on the list for classes. Jay has done a little but the spacing for classes was too wide leaving gaps in the learning process. I need them to have constant interaction with the water because they will not become part of the 6/10 black kids who can't swim and if I can help it, the higher rate of drownings among our children.
Maybe you can't swim, but what could it hurt to expose your kids to something new and very healthy for them? Swimming isn't "for white kids", it's for anybody who wants to be safe in and around water. I hope the "Make a Splash" program teaches parents of color and their kids just how much fun swimming can be.
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