TEACH THE CHILDREN TO SWIM!

[Maggot]

A pool alarm coast 90.00

[SIXFOOTERsez]

We have all kinds of codes and regulations here dealing with pools, Alarms, fencing, gates, gate and screen door latches, ladders, all kinds of things. It probably keeps some of them from drowning, no way to know how many, all you hear about are the ones that drown, not that can't get in. I don't know why, but the black folks in the south (maybe every where) do not teach their kids how to swim, damnedest thing I have ever seen. Poor is not the reason, we grew up shit poor and still learned. There is a lady down in Miami, black lady, lost her grandboy because momma didn't watch him and he drowned in the pool, apt complex I think. She has been running all over the south to black communities trying to get folks to teach their kids how to swim and working on programs for free lessons and all that.

[Lady Cop]

Six, i did see an objective article recently about the subject of blacks and swimming. statistically it seems there IS a resistance among blacks to swim and/or teach their kids. there were all kinds of "reasons" that i can't even recall. i'd have to relocate the article.

[Lady Cop]

this article from 2010 says 70% of black children cannot swim and discusses it:


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/20...-swim.html


there are other articles out there that can be googled.

[Duchess]

This is not a smart ass response. I've heard/read on more than one occasion that they don't like to get their hair wet. If that's legit it may explain why so few know how to swim.

[JsMom]

I believe you're right, Duch.

[Lady Cop]

from the article linked in post 12 ^ :

And personal appearance, as silly as it sounds, is a serious issue for black women, says Davis. Many African-American women, she says, are averse to swimming because they don’t want to ruin their high-maintenance hairstyles. “I know it's hard for a guy to understand,” she says, “but for women of color, this is a big deal.” And she says any educational program needs to address this as a legitimate concern. “I'll tell you, the fact is that African-American women spend a lot of money on their hair—a lot, and I can say this because I'm African American. So they are always afraid of what [water or chlorine] is going to do to their hair.

other reasons were cited including slavery.

[Maggot]

I do not want any afro-sheen clogging up my filter and leaving a translucent layer of New Orleans oil slick on my freshly cleaned pool either.

[Lady Cop]

Two-year-old Marylou Rondeau fell into the water at her Quebec home after darting outside while her parents were inside the house. She was found unconscious at the bottom of the above-ground pool moments later, but despite frantic attempts by her parents to resuscitate her she died. Her mother, Julie Dufault, 27, said her daughter was able to access the pool because the lock on the patio door was broken.

a 2-year-old Canadian boy also drowned in a pool the same day. i don't have details.