‘OutDaughtered’: Hazel Busby Was the Last Quint to Learn to Swim, Adam Busby Said

TLC’s OutDaughtered Season 9 features Adam and Danielle Busby explaining life with their six daughters — Blayke and the Busby quints. The quints turned 8 years old in April 2023, and they’re learning many new skills. Unfortunately, the series still focuses on Hazel Busby’s eye issues, as her eyes may affect her ability to learn new skills. And Adam once documented Hazel’s journey to learning how to swim.

Hazel Busby needed more time to learn how to swim than the rest of the Busby quints

The Busby quints are all developing their personalities in OutDaughtered Season 9, which also applies to Hazel Busby. Adam and Danielle Busby always knew Hazel as the sweet quint, though she had trouble with her eyes. She has nystagmus, causing her eyes to move rapidly. In season 9, this issue persists.

Early seasons of OutDaughtered showed Hazel lagging in learning motor skills. And she also reportedly had trouble learning how to swim. Adam posted video footage to his vlog, It’s a Buzz World, showing how Hazel eventually conquered swimming. But she was the last of the quints to learn.

“This whole summer, pretty much all the girls knew how to swim except for Hazel,” Adam said in the video he posted in 2020. “Hazel was the one that … she was just being super stubborn about it and just had this fear.”

The vlog occurred over Labor Day weekend, and Adam explained how he brought his kids to Lake Charles, Louisiana, for family fun. “What better thing to do than to try to coax Hazel to start swimming?” Adam noted. “Out of all the girls, Hazel’s been the only one who’s been refusing to start swimming like the other girls have. She just had a little bit of animosity with swimming.”

While the footage began with Hazel barely able to swim without a floating aid, she accomplished her goal by the end of the 15-minute video. “It’s been a good trip,” Adam said. “Hazel learned how to swim this weekend. That’s awesome. Well worth the charge of admission for that.”

‘OutDaughtered’ Season 9 features Hazel Busby learning how to ride her bicycle

OutDaughtered Season 9 fans will see more of Hazel Busby learning a new skill this season. In episode 5, Adam and Danielle Busby discuss how Hazel’s having difficulty understanding how to ride a bicycle even when the other Busby quints mastered the technique.

Adam believed that Hazel’s inability to ride had to do with her eyesight. “The thing is, how much [are] her glasses helping whenever she’s moving fast?” Adam asked Danielle in an exclusive clip posted to People. “She normally isn’t moving that fast. And so it’s like she doesn’t quite trust herself.”

“To me, that doesn’t mean anything that has to do with vision,” Danielle countered. “Look at Ava. Ava gets nervous to go fast on a bike and is kind of still scared of it. So, I don’t know if it’s, like, vision or not.”

Danielle then noted that she doesn’t like to jump to the conclusion that Hazel’s vision is the reason why she lags in learning some skills. Danielle thinks it could also be due to Hazel’s general lack of confidence. “I don’t like doing that to her,” the mother said. “Because we wouldn’t second guess that if it was any of the other girls. But because Hazel has nystagmus, we must immediately say, ‘This is what this is.’”

OutDaughtered Season 9 airs Tuesdays at 9 p.m. ET on TLC.

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