I totally agree! Parents are lazy that's really what those "floaty" things are for, so that parents don't have to watch them at the pool/water place.

With our first kid, there were water wings, floats, life jackets, everything.

With our second, he had water wings only one summer and a life jacket only if he asks for one or the water is very rough at the beach.

With our youngest, we just accept that we need to dive in once in a while and grab her from the bottom.

(just kidding! We ALWAYS bring her back up!)

We have a 16-month-old. Thanks for the rant. Wise advice.

We see lot's of people come to the beach and "teach" their kids that way. Oh, well...what do you do?!? lol I hope you guys are having a great time...(how's the traffic??**duck**did you throw something at me???)

Wise you are, young Jedi.

I figure my two year old, when in water over his head, will wear the flotation suit for this summer. He is legally bound to wear a life preserver in a boat, he will wear a similar garment when swimming off that boat.

And, at 34, I still hold my nose to jump in water. I was never taught how to dive. Swimming I could do for days and I can swim underwater fine, but jumping in water - I could never get that coordination of jump, hit the water, blow hard enough out your nose to stop the water from going up your nose.

You are so right about the floaties! I especially hate the "built-in life preserver" bathing suits. They make kids look like weird corks with arms and legs.

You will probably want to avert your eyes as Porter (almost 7!) attempts to learn to dive with one arm properly over his head and the other- OH NO!!- firmly clamping his nose. Interestingly, his actual diving skills are better than his twin brother's, who uses the conventional position. That doesn't say much for either of them, does it?
Anne www.tinykingdom.typepad.com

I have the same issues - no nose holding unless you are just BEGGING to blow out your ears through your eustacian tubes. And, we have NEVER had a pair of arm floaties. I have put life jackets and float suits on my son, but not while teaching him to swim. When we were teaching him to do it on his own, he was in his suit and that was it. Spent about 6 weeks clinging to the side of the pool before he realized how much fun he was missing out on, and pretty much taught himself to swim at 3.5 in about a week.

Also, our city pool has outlawed arm floaties. You can't even bring them through the gate. They can be WAY dangerous apparently - if they aren't worn correctly, they can actually hinder a child from keeping their head above the water by slipping down their arms.

Can you please tell my 8yo that her brain is not going to blow up if a little water did make it up her nose? It's making me nuts.

Glad your enjoying your vacation. We've had storms here in middle TN this afternoon with lots of trees down - sound familiar? I've seen pictures of the Cliff of Dover at the beach and hope the beach accesses are fixed by this weekend.

You're right about that nose-holding thing. I still hold my nose when I go underwater. I'm 28.
That's just sad. And since I'm way too old for swim lessons (besides, doesn't that require wearing a bathing suit in public? Yikes!) I don't think I'll ever learn it the right way.

I've arrived in Kansas City after adverse experiences with a number of those possessed toilets that you wrote about a couple weeks ago, some of the original large- city-airport models. I'm very impressed with TPFKBB's resilience if the trauma of those things didn't set him back in toilet training!
I've been warned for my return trip that even worse is the situation after the security checkpoints in the Kansas City airport - no bathrooms!

I don't EVEN want to know what brought that rant on.

Well, okay, I do, but I shouldn't. ;)

-G

I still hold my nose.

I still hold my nose too, when going under water. Or use noseplugs. I can dive in without them, being it's just a quick down & up, but I never got the hang of general swimming underwater without something plugging it for me. I'm 31.

I so agree about the floaty thingies. We took Tony to one set of YM*A swimming lessons, and were NOT impressed. For one the instructor...but that's another rant. The other is they load these kids up with float belts, and intertubes and tell them to paddle to the other end. Oh, they're swimming. Yeah. Right. We decided to go to the local community center that teaches the kids good ol' swimming skills, where they have to keep themselves up out of the water.

With you on the nose-holding thing! Drives me freaky. My kids started it one summer -just all of a sudden - and I refused to speak to them at the pool if they insisted on holding their nose. I also refuse to buy them noseclips. They got over it.

Not sure the floaties are awful - it's nice not having to be IN the water with the kiddos. However, I'm a big fan of using real pfds instead.

When we were little, my sister and I took swimming lessons.

As soon as the swim coach was certain we got the "blowing water out through our nose or mouth" thing, he started grabbing us and tossing us into the water, further and further from the wall of the pool, telling us to use the breath and swim back, whatever style we could muster.

It worked because it meant we weren't afraid of falling into the deep end of the pool anymore and it made the rest of the lessons so much easier.

Amen!

I LOVE this post. My daughter is 2 1/2 and LOVES the water. My husband is an excellent swimmer, and does EVERYTHING to get her not be afraid, watches her like a hawk (so do I) and she goes in with just her suit. She is 100% fearless, which may be a little tricky, but I can't swim a lick, I'm terrified of water, so seeing her bravado is good to me. Recently at a friend's house, I saw a 3 yr old in the pool on with wings, preserver and on a floater. It was so much gear it was comic AND he was sweating. Yea, he's going to have some problems learning to let go...