kidsthings

 My ten year old has been going to Nippers every Summer for the last four years. He loves it.

So what is Nippers exactly? Nippers is a Surf Life Saving Australia idea that teaches younger children some of the more important areas about voluntary lifeguard service. It is made up of young Surf Lifesavers aged between 7 and 13 years , actually some are only 6 years, they are called Flippers . Nippers isn’t like senior Surf Lifesavers because there is no  patrolling of the beaches. What the clubs do focus on is having fun, and surf awareness and safety. The little Nippers learn about safety at the beach such as pointing out dangers like rocks and also about surf conditions. Just the other day my boy was learning about how Rips are dangerous - a rip current is a strong flowing of water going out to sea from the shore. Not only what they are but what to do if you are caught in one.

The start of the season this year got the Under11 kids learning about some basic first aid. And also learned how to do  CPR. They were practising on a manikin, learning how many breathes to how many compressions. I was very impressed.

Today there was a lot of swimming and boarding, my guess would be a few hundred meters of swimming out past the breaking waves to a can (floating buoy)  and back then grab a wave board and do the same again. Pretty tough work and I know I couldn’t do it. Some kids didn’t make the distance but that doesn’t matter, they tried and had fun.

Next on the list today was beach sprints - hundred metre runs in soft sand and also Flags. Flags is where the kids lay on their bellies facing away from the finish. They then jump up and run to the end to get the ‘flag’. A bit like musical chairs were there is one less flag for the number of runners. This keeps going until the winner is left.

Going to the beach is great fun but can be dangerous if not careful. Nippers is a great way to show children, in a fun safe  way,  how to enjoy themselves and not get in danger.

Good stuff and something all kids living near beaches should do.

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