Little Nippers program for autistic children

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A quick explainer for non-Australians - the Little Nippers program in Australia teaches children from age 5 surf life saving skills. Very few of these children will grow up to become surf life savers but all of them learn how to swim and survive in the oceans which is very different to swimming in a peaceful lake or a swimming pool.

Swimming lessons are a compulsory part of the school curriculums here but they're usually conducted in swimming pools and don't prepare kids for the real world. Also the swimming lessons in schools don't start until the kids are 7 years old which is considered way too late by most parents, so many parents will enroll their kids in a Surf Life Saving Club instead.

The success of these programs - 99.5% of all drownings in Australia happen to tourists or recent migrants. And by far the largest group in this category are a cultural group that doesn't like seeing their wives and daughters scantily clad. There was another drowning just a month or so ago, a small child fell in to a suburban creek and his mother jumped in to save him, both of them drowned. Although fast flowing the water was only 15 cm or 6 inches deep.

Woman and child drown in Dandenong Creek in Melbourne's south-east

Now in Western Australia they've started Little Nippers programs for autistic children and a lot of parents are very happy about it.

All-abilities nippers surf lifesaving program extended to regional WA

 

[Shamar]

A quick explainer for non-Australians - the Little Nippers program in Australia teaches children from age 5 surf life saving skills. Very few of these children will grow up to become surf life savers but all of them learn how to swim and survive in the oceans which is very different to swimming in a peaceful lake or a swimming pool.

Swimming lessons are a compulsory part of the school curriculums here but they're usually conducted in swimming pools and don't prepare kids for the real world. Also the swimming lessons in schools don't start until the kids are 7 years old which is considered way too late by most parents, so many parents will enroll their kids in a Surf Life Saving Club instead.

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The success of these programs - 99.5% of all drownings in Australia happen to tourists or recent migrants. And by far the largest group in this category are a cultural group that doesn't like seeing their wives and daughters scantily clad. There was another drowning just a month or so ago, a small child fell in to a suburban creek and his mother jumped in to save him, both of them drowned. Although fast flowing the water was only 15 cm or 6 inches deep.

Woman and child drown in Dandenong Creek in Melbourne's south-east

Now in Western Australia they've started Little Nippers programs for autistic children and a lot of parents are very happy about it.

All-abilities nippers surf lifesaving program extended to regional WA

As a former lifeguard, I approve wholeheartedly. I respect the Aussie lifesavers, they are highly trained (more so than here) and disciplined. Australia is the only place I know of where lifesaving is a competitive sport. I saw a few of the competitions and was impressed. ALL children, including autistic ones, need to learn to swim.

 

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ALL children, including autistic ones, need to learn to swim.

As I mentioned, it's a compulsory part of school curriculums here but learning to swim in a pool doesn't really prepare you for living rivers and oceans.

Also sadly there's a few migrant groups that use religious and cultural excuses to exempt daughters from learning to swim (or playing any other sport) and it's these groups that represent the highest number of emergencies and drownings.

Another part of the problem is that people see Aussie kids swimming in the rips and have no idea what they're getting themselves in to, they think if kids can do it then they can too. I used to do the same myself, lazy surfers, we use the rips to take us out to deeper water so we can catch waves back in again.

Australia is the only place I know of where lifesaving is a competitive sport. I saw a few of the competitions and was impressed.

A lot of that is to do with the way all sporting clubs are set up here. None of them are associated with schools or government bodies and in fact interschool sports is not all that common here. If people want to play sports they go and join a local sports club.

These are all set up as Community Social Clubs, non-profit community organisations that can raise funds to improve on infrastructure and services, this is usually done by having club rooms that are also bars and restaurants.

Most of our top tier athletes have been playing their sport from age 5 and playing competitively from age 7.