Sunscreen Advice

Posted on May 31, 2012 by Swim School Bob

The sun is high on the horizon. Temperatures are climbing. We have a hyper sensitivity as I have had family members who have battled melanoma — a result of our 60′s choice of baby oil and iodine as our sunscreen, as we spent our summers as ocean lifeguards in NYC. So remember to wear your hat and sunscreen. The Wall Street journal recently had a very interesting article highlighting the newest and greatest ideas in how to apply sunscreen. The basic theme was — we are not using as much as we should!!!

Wall Street Journal Article

Finally Baz Lurhman, a film director (Moulin Rouge and Australia) has an iconic video about sunscreen that you might enjoy.

Posted in Off The Wall Thoughts, Parenting Ideas | Leave a comment

Does Your 5 Year Old Swim Better Than You?

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Swim School Bob

I grew up learning to swim in the Atlantic Ocean in NYC. Yes, we had awesome beaches and great waves for body-surfing there. As Memorial Day approaches, I was reflecting on how comfortable I have always felt in the water. Being tumbled and tossed by waves when you cannot see the bottom is a world I know well.

Comfort under water and breath control are bed-rocks of our learn to swim program. It is great to see everyone from our Little Snappers to toddlers exploring the world beneath the surface of the water. Research shows us that many of the parents of our little swimmers are themselves uncomfortable in water over their heads. So if your toddler swims better than you what can you do?

Continue reading →

Posted in Parenting Ideas, Swim Tips | Leave a comment

Ready To Be A Water Watcher

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Swim School Bob

Temperatures are rising with the first 100-degree day coming very soon. As home pools warm up, we have a few reminders for you.

Keep your pool gates locked and limit access to your pool at all times.

Use Water Watcher tags to designate a responsible adult to watch the pool for short periods of time when your family and friends are using the pool. Our son has a pool with a locked gate. His family keeps the lock key attached to a Water Watcher tag. You cannot go to their pool without a Water Watcher tag as a visual reminder to wear on your wrist or around your neck.

Continue reading →

Posted in Parenting Ideas, Swim Tips | Leave a comment

Interview Tips for Your Teenager

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Swim School Bob

My daughter Ann Marie works for us at Hubbard Family Swim School and Sports Camp. Today she is sharing an insightful post for parents with high school or college aged children looking for a job!

Interview Season-
Preparation for Hubbard’s summer season is under way. One of the most exciting stages is interviewing and meeting so many wonderful, energetic, excited people who are looking for a summer job. Most are people whom love children, water and being active. My job is to interview and meet all of these people. I would love to share a few tips for those of you who have teenagers looking for a job. Please guide them, share your thoughts and experience and send them into an interview with confidence and professionalism. And if you happen to have that teenager that is difficult to talk to – try sending this to-do list to their in-box.

Continue reading →

Posted in Off The Wall Thoughts, Parenting Ideas | 3 Comments

Hubbard Swim Schools Ahead of the Curve

Posted on December 2, 2011 by Swim School Bob


WOW — WE ALREADY DO ALL OF THIS — TODAYMOMS on MSNBC has an article about a swim school opening in London in January, 2012 that highlights the fact that it will offer a pool that is four feet deep with 91+ degree water temp and UV lights for sanitation. Hubbard has had six pools that offer all of those special features along with our fantastic staff for years!!! Glad the rest of the world is catching up with us. Here is Baby Molly at 3 months swimming. We think she is cuter than those MSNBC babies. Don’t you?

Read the MSNBC article here.

Posted in Off The Wall Thoughts | 1 Comment

Big and Small

Posted on November 14, 2011 by Swim School Bob

We had a visit from our nephew last week. He is being honorably discharged after four years of service in the Marine Corps. Took this picture as he sat with one of our grandsons in the play area in our swim school. What struck me about the photo was the simplicity of the two of them just sitting and talking. Our nephew’s patience and interest in just being there with our grandson. They live in such different worlds yet when you bring things down to their essence — they are so much the same.

20111114-142124.jpg

Posted in Off The Wall Thoughts | Leave a comment

Life’s Cycles

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Swim School Bob

Tonite I sit and reflect on an amazing day. Drove our 17 year old son to school with all of his “equipment” to be a pirate at tonite’s Halloween dance at school. This afternoon I was with our daughter Maureen as she gave birth to her son Brian. What a joy to share that experience with she her husband Matt and Grandma’s Kathy and Karen.

After seeing Brian’s safe arrival into our world thanks to Dr Schultz and the team at Good Sam, I moved on to cowboy night at pre-school with grandsons Frank and Hank with their dads Pat and Bobby.

So my day was spent as a father to a 17 year old and father to a new mother and grandfather to a new new new baby boy and two of his 12 other cousins at the cowboy cookout.

Wow what a blessed life I lead.
Embrace those around you and embrace all of your roles in the world.

20111027-231451.jpg

Posted in Off The Wall Thoughts | Leave a comment

Swim School Bob Blog Honored

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Swim School Bob

Thanks to the member’s of the US Swim School Association for honoring “Swim School Bob” as the Best of Association Blog at the US Swim School Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Now I have to live up to the honor.

More thoughts coming soon and more regularly, I promise !!!

But right now we have the afternoon off so I am going to see Mickey and his friends with the grand-kids at Disney World.

Posted in Off The Wall Thoughts | Leave a comment

Sad News

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Swim School Bob
I feel compelled to share with my blog readers a recent message related to a friend’s loss of a child to drowning and one of the many thoughtful responses we received.

Hubbard Family Swim School August Message to Our Families:

This month we received the very sad news that a long time Hubbard Swim School family had lost their 4 year old to drowning. He was to start lessons that week. Our entire staff is mourning along with the family. We take pride in being able to recognize our families and children when they walk in our door. This is one of those times when that commitment to kids and families really hurts.

Continue reading →

Posted in Off The Wall Thoughts | Leave a comment

Dad’s Success

Posted on July 13, 2011 by Swim School Bob

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article titled: The Secret of Dad’s Success (click here to read).

The article uses a number of surveys, studies and examples to discuss distinct ways that men and women parent differently. I know there are many strong women out there who are going to argue with the various broad statements in this article but the author has many interesting observations about the different talents dads bring to the parenting role.

Continue reading →

Posted in Child Development, Parenting Ideas | 1 Comment