Every now and then, I read an article about people who, fed up with their busy lives, have decided to make radical changes.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Learning to swim just cannot be pushed to the side as one of those "luxury" activities that kids can undertake when the family has more time.
They quit a high-powered city finance job and buy an organic veggie farm on the North Coast, use their business skills to run a wildly successful home business or simply buy a Kombi, enrol the kids in distance education programs and take off.
Most of us, though, don't have the luxury of being able to do that, so we just have to keep muddling through.
When you're a parent and juggling commitments to work, family and friends, life can get a little nuts, and some times things slide.
But there are some things that we cannot afford let slide. Swimming lessons for our children is one of them.
Learning to swim just cannot be pushed to the side as one of those "luxury" activities that kids can undertake when the family has more time.
Drowning is a leading cause of death and morbidity for children in NSW.
A report from Royal Life Saving Society-Australia has shown that 965 children aged four and under drowned in the 25 years between July 1,1993, and June 30, 2018.
Just over half of all the drownings involving young children in Australia occurred in private pools.
The report has also revealed that for every fatal drowning there were an estimated 7.6 close calls resulting in hospitalisation.
This means, according to Royal Life Saving, about 7300 children were involved in near-drowning incidents over the last 25 years and some may have suffered permanent injuries as a result.
Our kids need to learn to swim. So much of the Australian lifestyle revolves around water activities that we simply cannot consider swimming lessons as unimportant.
But it is up to us as parents to get our kids to lessons. We cannot fob this one off to schools to take care of because we're too busy.
The school curriculum is already stuffed full of activities. We cannot expect school to act as a catch-all for all of our children's learning needs.
My boys' school gives the students a chance to do lessons, and while they've been valuable for helping to reinforce what they had been learning every week, it just isn't enough to be the only instruction they get.
I'll be honest with you: Getting the kids to swimming lessons every week is a pain in the neck. At least one of them will try to lodge a formal protest against being made to go, and it takes a good chunk of time out of the day when there are so many other things we need to do.
At least one of my kids is about as naturally gifted in the water as a rock, so learning to swim with a reasonable degree of competency has been a struggle.
But, he has finally reached the stage where, if he is invited to a mate's place for a swim, he is skilled enough in the water for me to happily let him go.
Within the Wagga City Council area, there are about 3500 homes with private pools, and with the increasingly popularity of the blow-up variety, that number is only going to increase.
We also need to factor in rivers, dams, channels and trips to the beach.
In 2016, Suncorp Bank's Cost of Kids Report found that the average cost of raising a child to 17 years of age was more than $297,600.
Given how much our kids are going to cost across their childhood, a few dollars a week for swimming lessons probably isn't that big a deal.
The state government's active kids voucher can also be used towards the cost of lessons. Yes, it's only $100 and won't cover many lessons, but every little bit helps.
Of course, there is another bonus to swimming lessons: It is great exercise.
At a time when we are trying to combat increasing obesity in this country and instill good lifestyle habits in our kids, swimming lessons offer a sort-of two-for-one deal, in that they learn to swim and also get some good exercise into the bargain.
The NSW Department of Health estimates that about 20 per cent of children are overweight or obese, and one of the biggest reasons for this is a lack of physical exercise.
A decent half hour of hard work in a lesson followed up with some splashy hi-jinx afterwards sounds like a great way to get the kids moving.
jody.lindbeck@fairfaxmedia.com.au