I also come from an immigrant family and my parents felt it was a life skill as well. I did the whole red, blue, green color thing then went on to do the auqa levels until I hit 12. Let me tell you I hated all of it.
This weekend I went up to Fairmont and we had a boat and the opportunity presented itself to go water skiing and wakesurfing. I def wore a lifejacket but needless to say I had a blast! It's such a fun activity that I would encourage anyone to try it, even if you have a fear of open water. Another thing I tried that I was too scared to do when I was little was go off the 3/4 meter diving board. I saw all these 5,6,7 year olds jump off doing all these dives and flips, so I said screw it Im going in full dive head first, first try. What an AWESOME experience. It was a cool feeling when you hit the water smoothly. I now see the benefit of swimming lessons, not only because it is a life skill which I feel everyone should have but it also made my weekend a hell of a lot better.
I encourage everyone, old or young, to learn how to swim.. who knows it may save your life one day
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