Categories: Kids

Why Kids with ADHD Need Swimming Lessons

Miss you Jake

Ok, this is going to be hard but I’m going to write it anyway.

Two years ago my cousin Jacob was hanging out at the lake with some friends. He wasn’t a very good swimmer. Like me, he had a hard time paying attention at swimming lessons. So he didn’t do them for long when he was a kid.

Maybe you know where this is going and I can barely write it.

Jacob drowned two years ago on July 18, 2013. He wasn’t a strong enough swimmer when he got into trouble.

————-

Kids with ADHD struggle with paying attention to teachers, coaches and instructors. This is true even with basic skills like swimming lessons.

Even though we disrupt the class, derp in the pool, are unfocused and bored I want to tell every kid to suck it up and DO your swimming lessons.

I really looked up to Jacob. We have a big hole in our family with him gone. I think about him a lot. It is because of losing him that I had to write about taking swimming lessons.

I actually hate swimming lessons, they bore me to tears AND I’m doing them anyway. My mom got me a private teacher this summer so I can at least get through the Red Cross program up to level 10. Then I’m doing my Bronze Cross and Bronze Medallion like my brother did last summer.

To make it better for my instructor we told them when I registered that I have ADHD and to not get mad at me if I am not as focused as they would like.

So that is my challenge to you this summer.

Learn to swim. Do it for Jacob, do it for my Auntie Helen and Uncle Darren.

Write me back and tell me what a great swimmer you are!

Sad face,

~ Jeff

Make sure that your kids know how to swim.

Get Updates from Jeff in Your Inbox

Don't miss out! Sign up to get the latest news and updates from ADHD Kids Rock.

You have Successfully Subscribed!

Jeff Rasmussen

[content-block title="Meet Jeff Rasmussen" color="orange"] Age: 18 City: Langley, BC Diagnosed with ADHD in Grade 7 Biggest Dream: I want to change the world for younger kids like me who are punished daily for having ADHD. Fave Class: Mechanics "I've got the plans in my head for a motorized scooter with a gas-powered engine that I'm actually capable of building." ADHD Superpower: "If I'm determined to do something, literally nothing can stop me. Nothing. Not bribes, not bullets... nothing." Fave Food: Hashbrowns (the kind you buy frozen, in a bag) Career Goals: Telecommunications Guru Life-Changing Event: Winning the WDS Scholarship for Real Life School Achievement: Completing Math & Socials 10 in just 8 weeks this summer. "School's like 99% fluff. Summer school is that, minus the fluff." Biggest Struggle: Even though I take medication I still have trouble staying on task, doing boring homework, remembering not to swear when I am angry or staying still through assemblies. (That's where some of my strategies come in.) [/content-block] [content-block title="An Average Kid with ADHD" color="purple"] My ADHD has been really bad and given me every bad experience you can imagine for a kid. Before medication teachers took away my recess, my gym classes, they put me in the hall, I have been suspended from school, and I never did my work because even though my tests say I’m “gifted” I couldn’t do it. When I first learned I had ADHD I was so happy that I wasn’t bad or broken, it had a name and an explanation for what was going on. [/content-block]