I was watching the Today show on channel nine this morning, and they mentioned the Uncle Toby’s Swim Kids program. They are trying to raise funds to help 10,000 less fortunate kids to learn to swim, it is called operation 10,000.
In this article about operation 10,000 it states that there has been a decline of kids having swimming lessons. Well I think I know why, it is the cost. That is why kids cannot participate, their parents cannot afford the lessons, so kids miss out and don’t learn the skills. As stated my previous post called, “The extreme cost of activities for kids“, it is due to the high cost of the lessons and the fact that if you have 2 or more children, how do you keep up with the lesson, school payments, and all other extra things that you need to get for your children.
On the Today show, it mentioned that drowning is a problem that happens with young children, and it is preventable. I agree totally. Below is a quote form the Uncle Toby’s website.
“Drowning is a leading cause of preventable death in children aged 0-4 years. More than 50 children between the ages of 0-17 drown in Australia every year, highlighting the importance of swimming and water safety education for all Australian children.”
Uncle Toby’s is lobbying that swimming and water safety be part of the school curriculum. That is a great idea and something that I think will help all kids. It needs to be made into a reality, another thing that needs to be made into a reality is lowering the costs of swimming lessons so that all kids no matter where they live, and what situation the family is in can have swimming lessons.
Also why should we just choose a select 10,000. I do understand that it is cost associated and funding all kids nationally is expensive, but I think that is what we need to do. It is a skill that we all need to have. As you can see from my post on the extreme costs of activities for kids, that we were able to afford lessons for a while, but with kids going to pre-school, and the fact that currently I am not in paid employment we cannot afford to continue with lessons. We will need to try and teach the girls ourselves.
We live on an island surrounded by water, we need to know how to swim to save lives, our life and others. Also swimming is an enjoyable, relaxing thing to do that helps with your health and well being.
I believe that we should fund a program that has cheap or at least free lessons to all kids. This should be a government funded program that is funded with taxes or maybe a corporate sponsor. I am not sure how it would work. I think that the work that Uncle Toby’s is doing and also Grant Hackett is great, however it is just a start. At least it is creating awareness of this issue.
What are your thoughts on this subject? I am going to contact my local MP and see if something can be done. Also will be seeing what the process is with dealing with Council to see about my questions in my post about extreme costs with kids activities. Let me know what you have done in your area to help?
