Splash: A girl discovers the underwater world
Photo: Stanislaw Pytel / Getty ImagesMynia Deeg has just returned from showering when she sees a small child floating in the pool water. She knows her father is taking care of her son. But when she looks at him, he is drying his two other grandchildren.
It is Deeg's three and a half year old son lying there in the water.
"We got him out quickly, nothing happened. But I got the shock for life," she says. "And it was clear to me that the boy had to learn to swim." But when she is looking for a swimming course for him, she realizes that many courses are fully booked and all courses for which there is still space take place at times when she or her husband have to work.
The German Lifesaving Society (DLRG) has long been drawing attention to the fact that too few children learn to swim. According to a Forsa survey carried out on behalf of the DLRG in 2017, not even every second child under the age of ten could swim properly.
"An average of 80 swimming pools are closed each year, so there is no longer enough water for swimming courses," says DLRG spokesman Achim Wiese. "We have local clubs, but parents now have to register their children for swimming lessons up to a year and a half in advance." In addition, due to Corona, at least 20,000 children could not be trained to swim by the DLRG this year, as the swimming courses for beginners have been completely canceled.
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