I can see $20.00/lesson for a private, or more advanced lesson. Red Cross subsidizes group public lessons and - as I recall - they were not expensive at all to us and we had three kids in them. They had levels and a child could work their way up to competency and then life guarding. They were a highlight of the summer for fun and activity.
[QUOTE=poltroon;8830738]
[…]
My daughter has had some swimming lessons but I do not consider her a competent swimmer. The activation energy required to get her to a place where she could swim was just too large. […] [/QUOTE]
This sounds like me growing up. I really don’t know how to swim. I had about a month of lessons one fall, but it was just to time consuming for my mom. The pool was 25miles away so a good 30-40min drive one way. Plus the lessons weren’t cheap and with no pool to practice in it was hard to improve.
I am fascinated by this thread because I honestly have never thought about how fortunate I was as a child when it came to swimming… I was in a pool and the ocean before I could walk, and I simply cannot remember a time when I didn’t know how to swim. I was born in Daytona Beach and while my parents didn’t have a pool, our best friends across the street did and I was there almost every day. Either that, or we went to the beach. When we moved to NJ we joined the local swim club and spent most summer days there - or else we were on vacation at the Jersey Shore! I also took lessons at the Y and learned how to do all the strokes (except I taught myself butterfly).
Despite all that, the one thing I absolutely pined for as a kid (only second to wanting a pony, of course) was a pool of our own. We had a huge, level back yard and it just seemed so obvious… but Dad was having none of it. “Too expensive and too much work,” he always said. I know he was right but I still want one…
Now I realize I was damn lucky to have ANY swimming in my life! My kids were in water from infancy, became sailors and are excellent swimmers so I’m sure the family tradition will continue with their children. It would be great if Michael Phelps can support helped underprivileged youth learn!
[QUOTE=IronwoodFarm;8830459]
I grew up in Northern VA starting in 1959 and my experience was very different from yours. First of all there were public pools – Lake Fairfax comes to mind. Second, there were plenty of community pools particularly in Reston, where ANYONE who lived there could use the pools and tennis courts. Reston was a diverse community. I was not aware of any high school having a pool; that’s news to me and my high school most certainly didn’t have one.
I am not saying that your experience was invalid or that defacto segregation did not exist, just that it was not universal. I went to school with African Americans. I went to public pools as my parents did not have the money to join the local country club and there were no neighborhood pools. I grew up at a time where the western part of the county was quite rural and there were more cows around than people.
And I think it is entirely possible we had these same experiences at the same time.[/QUOTE]
I grew up in Woodbridge but it was in the 80s (80s-2006). I saw the same.
Arlington was very integrated when I left. It was very expensive to live there though and a bit more “upity”.
