Summer is a few weeks away and a favorite activity for kids will be in full swing: swimming! But for some parents, there’s a nervous feeling that hits the pit of their stomach at this time of year because either they don’t love to swim, or they simply can’t. But with drowning being one of the major ways kids lose their lives over the summer, parents like Jay-Z know they need to get on board. Not only do children need swimming lessons, but parents should take swimming lessons too!
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Safety around pools and beaches is key to enjoying the summer, especially as drowning is the third leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide, accounting for 7 percent of all injury-related deaths, according to the World Health Organization. The WHO also shares that children, males, and individuals with increased access to water are most at risk of drowning.
The rap icon, mogul, and soon-to-be 2021 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee recently shared how his relationship with swimming changed when daughter Blue Ivy was born in 2012. (Jay-Z and wife Beyoncé are also parents to twins, Rumi and Sir, who will turn 3 this month.)
During the first episode of the fourth season of the LeBron James-hosted HBO’s Max series The Shop: Uninterrupted, where athletes and celebs discuss career, politics, family, and culture, WNBA superstar Nneka Ogwumike posed the question to the music icon, “What’s it like as fathers with daughters in this world now?
“It’s amazing. It’s a very grounding thing,” Jay-Z said about becoming a parent. “I didn’t learn how to swim until Blue was born. There goes everything you need to know. This is a metaphor for our relationship. If she ever fell in the water and I couldn’t get her, I couldn’t even fathom that thought. I gotta learn how to swim. That’s it. That was the beginning of our relationship.”
Besides inspiring him to learn how to swim, Blue Ivy, 9, also seems to know how to keep her dad humble.
“Thinking about the Hall of Fame, when I got the announcement, I was taking Blue Ivy to school,” Jay recalled, smiling, on The Shop. “I was like, ‘This ain’t no celebration.’”
Jay-Z continues: “She walks away [from the car], I was like, ‘Yo, give me a kiss, I’m in the Hall of Fame!’ She was like, (rolling eyes) ‘Bye, dad.’”
Blue Ivy is one of our all-time favorite unique celebrity baby names. See who else is on the list.
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