How Old Were You When You Learned to Swim?

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How Old Were You When You Learned to Swim?

July 1, 2009

I began taking swim lessons early, once I overcame my deep fear of water (I thought sharks could live in pools — I was 3-years old and quite irrational). Now, I love swimming and count it as one of my favorite forms of cardio. This Summer, I plan on spending many hours with my girls in the pool blowing bubbles and moving beyond the dog paddle.

Source: Getty

Poll Swimming

34 Comments

biarose 3 years 39 weeks

I went to my first swimming lesson when I was little and the instructor made us open our eyes under water. After that I said I didn't want to go back and so I really didn't learn to swim until last year at 17!

Soniabonya 3 years 45 weeks

By the time I was 11 months old, I was apparently jumping into the 13foot deep end of the pool swimming after my dad and giving plenty of heart attacks to surrounding viewers :) I simply love being in the water. I admit I am not a Master swimmer but I know my strokes, tho I hate doing butterfly. My little sister, on the other hand, took forever to learn how to swim and used to cling to our backs and necks like a monkey, practically choking/drowning us. But in highschool, when she joined water polo after I did and then went to swim team, she became the better swimmer :\ Go figure. Now she scuba dives.

kgr3p18 3 years 46 weeks

my mom was a swimmer and so she wanted my sister and me to be swimmers so we learned very young

ellieb 3 years 46 weeks

Now that I think about it, the major motivator for the girls my age in beginner's swim was the Little Mermaid!!! (that was certainly true for me!)

kscincotta 3 years 46 weeks

I was in Water Babies at the local YWCA. My husband was too, and in all likelihood, we were in the same class. We were in the same swim lessons for years before we were even really friends!

elladebella 3 years 46 weeks

I tried swimming twice. When I was four I had lessons but didn't dare to swim without my floaties. I tried swimming again when I was eight, then I learnt how to swim!

bailaoragaditana 3 years 46 weeks

I did waterbabies when I was very small (I only have vague memories of it, so I was probably 2-3 at the time), and the only thing I remember was that I was scared to put my face in the water (but blowing bubbles was fun!), and I refused, flat-out, to jump off the diving board (I was afraid of heights even then!). I was on the swim team later in life (ages 7-13), and even now swimming is my favorite form of exercise.

cg130 3 years 46 weeks

I learned to swim almost before I could walk - I was ALWAYS in the water (in a lifejacket) as a baby, I don't even know when I learned to swim...I was always comfortable and capable in the water.

le romantique 3 years 46 weeks

Now that I really think about it, my parents weren't very 'hands on' with me... my brother taught me how to swing on a swingset by myself when I was like 4, I taught myself how to ride a bike at 6, and my best friends dad taught me how to swim when I was 6... I was always at her house and they had a pool, so I guess that explains that... but thinking about how I learned many things makes me feel weird since my parents never taught me 'normal' kid things... I did learn to have my own morals and work my ass off to succeed from them, and about sex at age 8 though, which I find to be very useful, since I was never irresponsible with that information as a teen, unlike many of the kids today since their parents don't tell them ANYTHING... In conclusion, I learned USEFUL things from my parents about life and the world... and all the other fun things from everyone else... hah

bchicgrl 3 years 46 weeks

I didn't really learn until I was in elementary school but my mom used to take me swimming all the time with floaties and I had my only little kiddie pool when I was younger. I thought that pool was the coolest haha

sundaygreen 3 years 46 weeks

i did 'floating lessons' when i was still a toddler, about 2-3 years old. so that if i ever fell into a pool i would be able to float and not drown - ha ha! i learnt to swim probably when i was around 5 ish.

GlowingMoon 3 years 46 weeks

I was about eight years old. I took to swimming like fish to water, so to speak. I quickly passed through all the lessons. In a matter of weeks, I was doing the crawl stroke (free-style), back stroke, and breast stroke in the deep end of the pool. Also, I was diving all the way down to the bottom, and pushing back up to the surface. I fancied myself a mermaid. :) I learned the butterfly stroke later when I was in competitive swimming. Swimming was an important part of my life. Collectively, I swam competitively and for fitness for about 20 years. These days, I don't swim as much, but I do has some very, very fond memories.

simplyfab87 3 years 46 weeks

Still can't swim. I was so pissed when I got to college and you had to take a swim test to graduate, I had to take 2 semester of swim class to not have to take the swim test. Those classes didn't help any.

discocactus 3 years 46 weeks

The missing option, before Kindergarten but after age 3.

MissSophia 3 years 46 weeks

Well I live in Sydney and as an Aussie water safety is paramount cos its everywhere - pools, creeks, rivers, the ocean etc. I started when I was about 3 and I think most of my friends started around that age too.

insanitypepper 3 years 46 weeks

I don't remember not knowing how to swim, so I must have learned pretty early.

sarahcateh 3 years 46 weeks

i was on swim team for about 8 years starting at the age of 5, the youngest age for my league. I've been swimming in general since i was about 2 and a half though.

margokhal 3 years 46 weeks

I know I learned to swim before I started elementary school, I might have been 5? so I said kindergarten. I think they just kind of threw me in and I floated, so I wasn't scared of drowning or anything. My dad learned by getting thrown in, and my grandpa would hold him up if he started sinking. We're hearty people, lol! :D

3 years 46 weeks

I actually children shouldn't learn to swim (in pools) until they are 5 years old. The lining in the lungs is still developing and if they go into pools (the chlorine) before the age of five, they can develop asthma.

kia 3 years 46 weeks

I developed a fear of water (even showering) and my parents solution was to make me learn how to swim. A summer of swim lessons and synchronized swimming for two years. I am still a little scared of water but I am one hell of a swimmer.

meereesa 3 years 46 weeks

Sadly, I was one of the ones who put "I don't know how to swim". Apparently, I was a fussy child, and I refused to go to the swimming lessons my parents enrolled me in as a child. Totally regretting being a bratty kid :(

Spectra 3 years 46 weeks

I still don't really know how to swim properly. I can doggie paddle a little bit, but I never took lessons and I can't swim very far at all. I always wanted to learn how to swim as a kid, but my mom never let us take lessons because she thought we would drown (?). I really need to learn how because my lack of swimming skills is what's preventing me from training for a triathlon.