I was thinking about that when I was dropping my 6 year old off at some hobbies earlier - it’s pretty much expected to have learned how to ride a bicycle before starting school, and it massively expands the area you can go to by yourself. When she went to school by bicycle she can easily make a detour via a shop to spend some pocket money before coming home, while by foot that’d be rather time consuming.
Quite a lot of friends from outside of Europe either can’t ride a bicycle, or were learning it as adult after moving here, though.
edit: the high number of replies mentioning “swimming” made me realize that I had that filed as a basic skill pretty much everybody has - probably due to swimming lessons being a mandatory part of school education here.
Ever indoor pool I’ve gone to in the UK has offered Swimming lessons. Not having natural bodies of water isn’t a great excuse for basic swimming. Seems to just be a culture difference since everyone I know had lessons at an indoor pool as kids
It takes money to pay for swimming lessons. Not everyone has that money.
How much do you think I’m talking about? You’d be spending more going to the cinema then a swimming lesson. Obviously it may not translate but if so then at least we’ve found a cause
There are limited spots for public swim lessons in my city and they are $150 for a set of lessons. If you go the private route, it is generally at least double that.
Well that definitely solves the issue. It might be £5-15 a lesson in the UK depending on your age
I never went to the cinema until I was 22. Poor people don’t do that shit.