Parenting Guru: Do your kids know how to swim?

Our oldest child had his first swim lesson before he was two months old. Okay, so it was more a Lamaze class reunion than a swim lesson (though a friend hired a certified swim instructor). Caleb was enrolled in some form of swim class every year until after he turned 5 years old. We moved from Florida to Ohio when Caleb was 5 and Levi was 3, but I drove them to lessons (in the snow!) because we knew we would be spending summers in Florida. It sucked, but both boys are excellent swimmers.

By the time Maggie was born, we were back in Florida. I swear I meant to sign her up for lessons, but I never did for all kinds of reasons. Some seemingly legitimate. Of course, when Ben was born two years later it became even more difficult to juggle schedules and put swim lessons on the growing to-do list. But, today putting swimming lessons on our calendar became the easiest call I ever made.
I read a post by Jo Ashline atA Sweet Dose of Truth that moved teaching Maggie and Ben to swim to the top of my to-do list. The post recounts the near drowning of a three-year-old during a pool party.

I left this comment on the post:

We have four children, ages 13 to 4 years old. The two older children swim very well after years of lessons. The two younger children have never had lessons, but that won't be true by Saturday afternoon. We live across the street from my parents and their pool. We are not as diligent as we should be when we are eating burgers or hooking up the outdoor speakers. Our 6 year old girl and 4 year old boy usually play on the steps. A child can drown in just a couple of inches of water. I. Know. This. I haven't just dropped the ball…I left the field. Thank you for a wake-up call that was much gentler than it could have been.

Maggie and Ben are now enrolled in swimming lessons.