[FourPeas]

Lap swimming is one part of swimming, but certainly not all-encompassing. See my previous post for other types of swimming for which shallow depths are not adequate.

[luckystarmom]

Being able to breath while you swim is the most important part of swimming that will save you if you ever fall in the water or need to swim a long distance.

Diving for objects won't be able to help with that. You can dive for objects and not be able to swim long distances.

I'm not against diving boards or diving pools, but our family loves our neighborhood pool. We have a pool in our backyard that is deep, and we don't use it. The kids like the other pool better. They play all sorts of games in the other pool and can take a break from tredding water.