Jinger Duggar Reveals She Didn’t Learn How to Swim During Childhood Due to Strict Dress Code

Jinger Vuolo (née Duggar) hasn’t been shy about discussing her strict upbringing, and she revealed that the modesty dress code she was raised to follow prevented her from learning how to swim.

“Since I was a little girl, I wanted to know what it felt like to push myself through the water, to swing my arms and kick my legs to keep me at the surface. But I didn’t know how,” Jinger, 31, wrote in her memoir People Pleaser: Breaking Free From the Burden of Imaginary Expectations, which was released on Tuesday, January 14. “Here’s what I did know for sure: Long skirts were not designed for learning how to swim.”

As fans of the Duggar family know, Jim Bob Duggar and Michelle Duggar raised their 19 children to follow the teachings of the Institute in Basic Life Principles. One of the rules of the Christian organization was that women were expected to wear dresses or skirts that fell at least to knee-length, and they couldn’t wear any outfits – including swimsuits – that showed too much skin.

After joking that “the laws of physics, gravity and buoyancy don’t play well with long skirts,” Jinger said that the dress code made it extremely difficult for her to swim.

“Another way of saying ‘long-skirt swimmer’ is ‘one who sinks,’” she continued. “And because long skirts were the only swimming fashion available to me as a kid, and because I had a thing about not wanting to sink, the skill of swimming was not something I picked up during that time.”

Jinger went on to admit that being around “water of all kinds” used to feel “scary” to her since she couldn’t swim. However, she has now started to dip a toe in the water after she welcomed daughters Felicity, 6, and Evangeline, 4, with her husband, Jeremy Vuolo.

“I want [my kids] to know how to swim. I want them to know that I can too,” Jinger wrote. “But I was still so scared, thinking back to the few times I’d tried as a kid, the long skirt encasing my flailing legs.”

She added that she was initially “hesitant” to try to swim again because she was “scared to fail,” though a friend named Rebekah offered to help her learn.

“We’re still at it, my swimming lessons, taking it baby step by baby step (or maybe I should say baby lap by baby lap),” Jinger shared.

Not only is Jinger taking initiative to learn how to swim, but she’s also preparing to welcome baby No. 3 with Jeremy, 37. The couple announced her latest pregnancy in October 2023, telling People that they were “super excited” to expand their family.

Jeremy told the outlet that he was “literally speechless” when Jinger told him that she was pregnant. “She got me good. It was on Felicity’s birthday. Jinger says, ‘I’ve got a gift for you.’ It was in an Amazon bag. So I’m thinking, ‘What did she get from Amazon for me?’” he recalled. “Then I open it up and it’s the positive result, and I’m actually speechless.”