Fourth Grade Safety

Today I received a forwarded email from the school about an opportunity for intensive swimming lessons for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders who have not yet reached the Bronze level swim certificate. The Germans are very concerned about children's swim regression because of the pandemic. This intensive summer swimming lesson website is available in English, Turkish, French, Arabic, and Farsi.  Germany has a unified swim level structure which a governing body agrees on the skills (here if you speak German). Here's a general overview:

Seahorse (Seeferdchen): Swim 25 meters, be able to retrieve something off the bottom of the pool

Bronze: Swim continuously for 15 minutes, swim down 6 feet (2 meters)

Silber (Silver): Dive in and swim for 20 minutes

Gold: Do all the strokes with some times associated

All children learn to swim in the third grade. The schools will bus the students to the pools. In Crosby's school, the pool is just a couple blocks away, so he'll walk there once a week starting next school year. I have also heard of schools that start earlier and go more often.

Crosby doesn't love the water. But one of the take-homes of the recent track meet is that he also doesn't like finishing at the bottom of the pack. As such, we are working hard (ie I'm taking him swimming when school is off and Kita is on) to get him to the basic Seahorse level before school starts next year. For a second I was shooting for Bronze but our last swimming session wasn't super great, so I think our goals need to be modest.

In the USA, forth grade safety means something completely different. Watching the political nonsense from the Uvalde tragedy makes me want to break all the Ikea furniture in my house and quiet hour noise ordinances. We are thankful to live in a country that prioritizes teaching children to swim instead of practicing active shooter drills. We will continue to blissfully enjoy the awesome parks and not worry about the safety of the best big brother.