Hopping into a pool feet first with water up to your waist has to be much more fun than this wreckless youth is having.
Posted on 06/30/2003 5:05:41 PM PDT by hole_n_one
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:35:14 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
PHILADELPHIA -- The diving boards were pulled up in the 1980s, and now deep ends are being deep-sixed.
The rectangular municipal pool that many Americans grew up swimming, splashing and diving in is fast being replaced by shallow water park-style pools featuring spray toys and water slides.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
Hopping into a pool feet first with water up to your waist has to be much more fun than this wreckless youth is having.
18-year-old Eric Harris killed 12 students and a teacher at Columbine High School before killing himself. Harris was on one of the SSRI anti-depressants called Luvox.
This nitwit ought to speak for himself and not for others. Some of my fondest childhood memories was when I became a good enough swimmer to go to the "deep end" of the pool. I eventually became very comfortable in water over my head. As a result, it would be very difficult to drown me as I can even today tread water or float for hours on end. During my trip to Alabama last week, I took my son to the municipal pool in Douglas (where I went as a child) and they still had a 15ft deep end. My 12-year-old son and I spent several hours out there.
Ironically, this trend towards shallow pools will probably increase drownings in the long run as kids will grow up afraid to be in water over their heads and will be more likely to drown if ever they find themselves in a situation where they are.
Like chrome bumpers and fins, the deep end will be deep-sixed. Small children drown in 5 gallon buckets, by tipping over into a few inches of water.
Unfortunately, backyard pools with diving boards were often built in such a way that someone with a lot of 'spring' could easily come in contact with the 'hopper' (where the deep end slopes up to the shallow end). Eight feet was the minimun depth for pools with a board.
When they were older, they couldn't go into the deep end or off the slide or diving board at the club pool until they demonstrated to the lifeguards that they could swim the length of the pool in addition to swimming from side to side underwater.
Talk about motivation! Kids don't want to be left out, so they practiced until they could do it and bang, they were off to the deep end.
I worry about the sissifacation of the nation's youth.
The neighborhood pool when I was a kid had a 14' depth and a high dive. It probably wasn't that high but to a little kid, it was like a skyscraper.
I remember summoning every ounce of courage just to climb the latter and jump off. Not dive, mind you, just jump.
After I did this, I spent the rest of the day climbing back up jumping over and over again from that high dive.
I used to love the exhiliration and the water pressure I'd feel by trying to swim to the bottom and touch the concrete 14' below the surface.
I never wore a bike helmet either. And some of the playground equipment was made from steel. And we had bb guns and Estes rockets.
It is a wonder I survived childhood.
Of course I recently learned that the current president back then was doing some young woman too.
Some things never change.
Perect retort.
I was in Las Vegas at the Treasure Island last spring. What a disappointment! 4 feet deep, just a big kiddie wading pool.
Lawyers run our country.
Now these kids, left to their own devices, will die in far greater numbers when they walk out into that natural water, and HORRORS! it goes right over their heads.
Blub glub gurgle gurgle.
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