Missed swim lessons linked to teens’ drowning risk

WITH the risk of drowning rising thirteen times between the ages of 10 and 20 years old, Royal Life Saving Australia is urging parents to enrol their children in swimming lessons before high school.

Drowning in 15 to 20-year-olds increased by 34 per cent in the five years since 2021 compared to the previous five years.

It is estimated that more than 10 million swimming lessons were missed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and more than five years on, many of these children are now teenagers who can’t swim.

“The decline in swimming skills in children is a key factor driving elevated drowning in teenagers and young adults, where unsupervised swimming at rivers and beaches, risk-taking with friends, and falls from rocks or jetties, mean poor swimming skills can have life threatening consequences,” Royal Life Saving CEO Dr Justin Scarr said.

Although 60 per cent of children begin swimming lessons before the age of three, most have stopped by the time they are seven.

More than half of 10-year-olds and 40 per cent of 15-year-olds can’t swim 50 metres.

“If your children quit lessons before seven, a second dose of swimming at age 10 or before could be a lifesaving decision,” Dr Scarr said. “Whether to build confident swimmers, encourage them into water sports or recreational activities, and to prevent drowning later in life, swimming is for life, and no child should miss out.”

Parents are asked to assess whether their child at 10 years old can swim 50 metres, float for two minutes, swim 50 to 100 metres to safety if they fall from a boat or rocks, swim safely if they are peer pressured to jump off a pier, and know what to do if they are caught in a river current.