World's Largest Swim Lesson

Drowning is the 2nd leading cause of unintended, injury-related death among children ages 1-14. And here's another scary statistic... if a child doesn't learn to swim by 3rd grade, they probably never will. In an attempt to reverse this trend, the City of Raleigh Aquatics is taking part in the "the world's largest swim lesson" (swim lessons are being offered at over 100 aquatic facilities worldwide). All children ages 3-14 are invited to the Optimist pool at 10AM. If all goes as planned, we may see a new world record for the largest simultaneous swim lesson ever conducted!

Although none of us fall into the "3-14 year old" category, I just thought this event was well worth mentioning (and some may have children who are that age). It has always worried me how many adults do not know how to swim. I looked up the statistics on this, and the results shocked me:

• 1.2 million deaths per year have been attributed to drowning (that's approximately 1 every 2min)
• Although 50% of these deaths are among children, people ages 20-25 and 60+ represent the other major age categories. Drowning is also more common among males than females.
• 1/4 of drowning victims know how to swim.
• Approximately 3000 people a year become partially or fully paralyzed as a result of breaking their neck in swimming-related accidents.

For more information on drowning, this is the article that I pulled that information from. #20

Drowning is the 2nd leading cause of unintended, injury-related death among children ages 1-14. And here's another scary statistic... if a child doesn't learn to swim by 3rd grade, they probably never will. In an attempt to reverse this trend, the City of Raleigh Aquatics is taking part in the "the world's largest swim lesson" (swim lessons are being offered at over 100 aquatic facilities worldwide). All children ages 3-14 are invited to the Optimist pool at 10AM. If all goes as planned, we may see a new world record for the largest simultaneous swim lesson ever conducted!

Although none of us fall into the "3-14 year old" category, I just thought this event was well worth mentioning (and some may have children who are that age). It has always worried me how many adults do not know how to swim. I looked up the statistics on this, and the results shocked me:

• 1.2 million deaths per year have been attributed to drowning (that's approximately 1 every 2min)
• Although 50% of these deaths are among children, people ages 20-25 and 60+ represent the other major age categories. Drowning is also more common among males than females.
• 1/4 of drowning victims know how to swim.
• Approximately 3000 people a year become partially or fully paralyzed as a result of breaking their neck in swimming-related accidents.

For more information on drowning, this is the article that I pulled that information from. #20


In case you are wondering this post is not a mistake. In honor of June 3rd (Probably Meghan's favorite day). Today is National Repeat Day