Of course, the first question may be ... why might this be needed?

@#5 ... t can't hurt, but it is far more unimportant to teach them to swim. A kid is 10x more likely to drown than get abducted. ...

I do not disagree.

But I also would say that teaching a child to swim should not negate also teaching a child that simple sign language.

We teach our children many things. Messages we hope they carry to the future.

Why should this simple signing not be one of those messages?

And, btw, in my high school, one of the gym classes was swimming in the school's pool. I had no problems in that class, but I did notice that some of my classmates did not have a clue when they were in the water. At the end of the semester, thanks to a patient gym teacher, we all were comfortable in the pool.

YMMV and all that....