New research has revealed that more than a third of children hate the water and can not swim while 25 per cent of parents believe that schools should be responsible for teaching their kids the important skill.
The survey, which was carried out by Speedo, found that although 60 per cent of parents worry about their little one drowning only half revealed that they believed learning to swim was a valuable life skill.
Nearly 75 per cent of children have never had a swimming lesson, which Speedo believes is to blame for a high level of water accidents.
Olympic swimmer Rebecca Arlington is encouraging children to swim
Team GB Olympic medalist Rebecca Adlington has teamed up with Speedo to encourage more children to get involved in swimming.
“I’d love to see more kids getting in the pool and enjoying learning to swim as much as I did as a child,” she said.
Sally Polak from Speedo UK said: “We want to engage children with swimming and get them enjoying the water safely, reducing the number of accidents occurring in the water due to a lack of experience.
“Winter is the perfect time to get to a leisure centre and away from the cold weather,” she said.
Her.ie loves taking a trip to the pool and we think it is an extremely important skill for all children to learn. We’re running to get the togs out, already!
