All you Canadian kids out there probably recognize these little morsels, and so will Mom and Dad. When I was little my parents enrolled me in swimming lessons, tossing me half-naked into a group of other kids I barely knew in order to ensure I wouldn’t sink to the bottom of a pool like a stone. Well, it worked and today I can swim like doofus whenever I need to.
The Canadian Red Cross swimming lessons were broken up into “colors”. When you completed a level you were awarded with that badge color. I always liked the design of those badges, really smart with the swimmer aligning with the wave. I managed to find these online last week and wanted to show them off, mostly because these are the four I got when I was a kid. Maroon basically meant “He can dive, but not well.”
Not sure if you have these in other countries, or if us Canadians were the lucky ones. I’m not even sure if these are still being used. Anyone know?
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I have those! Looks like there are numbers instead of colours: http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=32242&tid=001
No indications as to badges.
In Germany we have a seahorse badge for the small kids. Then there are bronze, silver and gold badges.
Wow!! Many memories came rushing back when I saw these. I still have my original card and patches all the way to the color white. You should at least have the white badge Mr. White.
Dude. I miss the colours. They changed to numbers in Canada as well somewhere during the 90′s. I became a lifeguard and awarded the number badges to kids, but the colours were still the best. :)
I have seen a few badges from other countries. Some places use animals (I think the YMCA has an animal system, or did at one time). And when you get past the colour/number levels a metallic system is really common.
The Royal Life Saving Society system (Bronze Medallion, etc.) is suprisingly common around the world too.
It depends on what age/level they’re in. The kids are in lessons now. Alexis just gets stickers, but Shannon get badges. I’m not sure if he got any yet – they finish this week. But I’ll have a look to see if they still look the same and let you know.
Yes! I still have these at home somewhere. My mom stitched them to a towel. The new ones aren’t nearly as cool.
Thanks for posting!
Dang. This brings back memories. Going to go hunt for them now.
Nice! I don’t know where mine are but I must have some…somewhere
Ooooo. The yellow and orange badges are money.