Prior to joining my swim family at Hubbard Family Swim School my children were occasionally taking swim lessons at a Phoenix public pool. Jude was three years old and absolutely loved the water. Anytime we arrived at the pool he was overjoyed and overly excited. His impatience was what caused his slip. We had warned him not to run towards the pool. The moment I let go of his hand and turned away he ran towards the water, slipped, and his head slammed onto the pavement.
Posted in Benefits of Swim Lessons, Swim Safety on March 22, 2022
There are some new and exciting changes in Mesa with Hubbard Family Swim School swim lessons.
After spending 13 wonderful, rewarding, chlorine-scented years working full-time with the Hubbard Family Swim Schools, our much-loved General Manager at our Mesa Riverview location, Andrew Goodwin, has decided to take the plunge into an exciting, new career direction for 2021!
Posted in Hubbard Updates on January 28, 2021
Swimming lessons provide a great physical outlet for kids, along with the benefits of increased water safety, swimming confidence, social skills, and mental strength. But the classes themselves aren’t the only time for these rewards to be cultivated. If you’re wondering how to build confidence in kids, there’s a lot that you, as the parent or caregiver, can do.
Posted in Benefits of Swim Lessons on April 28, 2020
It’s that time of year when families everywhere are getting excited about spring break with kids. A family spring break is often a long-awaited time of fun, bonding, and memories. And if your children have been in swimming lessons, your spring break trip is sure to benefit in more ways than one.
Posted in Benefits of Swim Lessons on April 21, 2020
If you don’t have a full-size, in-ground pool in your yard, you might fill up a kiddie pool for your kids to enjoy as the weather heats up. An inflatable kiddie pool can be a lot of fun, and is often the center of lively outdoor play. But just because it’s a small pool doesn’t mean it’s free from dangers. In fact, even the best inflatable pool should be treated as any pool: a major safety hazard. Here are some tips for keeping your family safe if you have a kiddie pool.
Posted in Swim Safety on April 15, 2020
Does your child absolutely love swimming? Maybe you’ve enrolled in swimming lessons for kids, but your little one keeps asking you for more pool time. You wonder about how many swim lessons to learn to swim, when to stop swimming lessons, or if your child’s schedule is getting too crowded. Here’s our take on whether there’s such a thing as too many lessons, and how long you should keep your kids in classes.
Posted in Benefits of Swim Lessons on April 8, 2020
Drowning is horrific, and the thought of childhood drowning is enough to make any of us sick. This is probably why most of us don’t spend a lot of time thinking or talking about it, but nonetheless swimming safety is important to keep in mind. In fact, current drowning statistics tell us that drowning is still the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children between one and four years of age. This means we have to make pool safety and water safety a key point of focus in our conversations with our kids.
But, how do you actually have these hard conversations? And where do you start? Here are some tips.
Posted in Swim Safety on March 16, 2020
Did you know that March 2nd is “National Read Across America Day?” At Hubbard, we’re big fans of reading and really believe in the far-reaching benefits for you and your kids. One of these benefits is that some of the best books toddlers and kids love can teach them important lessons and help them through new, exciting, or challenging times in their lives. And this can include swimming!
In honor of National Read Across America Day, we wanted to share our top five best swimming books. These can help you start some valuable conversations in your family about baby and toddler swim safety, facing new challenges in the pool, and becoming a comfortable and successful swimmer. Here they are!
Posted in Off the Wall Thoughts, Parenting Ideas on March 12, 2020
When young kids are enrolled in swimming lessons it’s easy to wonder how many milestones there are and how they’re being met. You might see their class week to week, and not really notice much change from one to the next. Even so, progress is being made all the time - and progress monitoring is being done by our instructors. In fact, our team is trained in positive reinforcement and understands the importance of celebrating student success. Here’s a little more about our approach.
Posted in Child Development, Parenting Ideas on March 8, 2020
We’ve shared before why it’s important to keep swim lessons going even after the summer months are gone, but did you know that winter is actually a perfect time for kids to even start swim lessons, and embrace learning water safety life skills? Here are some more tips about kids swimming safety in the winter months.
Posted in Benefits of Swim Lessons, Swim Safety on December 25, 2019
If you don’t have a pool at home, you might think there’s nothing you can do to prepare your infant for stress-free baby swim lessons. But that’s not the case. In fact, almost every home has the one thing that can help you get your little one ready for baby and me swim classes: a bathtub!
Here are a few ways you can prepare your baby for swim lessons at home:
Posted in Child Development, Parenting Ideas on December 17, 2019
Swimming is almost always associated with summertime, but did you know it’s also one of the best fall activities for kids? If your child is learning to swim, the best rule of thumb is to keep them enrolled in swim lessons year-round, even after school is in session.
Here are a few of the reasons:
Posted in Swim Safety on December 11, 2019
Even when swim schools share similar instruction methods and philosophies, no two schools are created exactly equal. In fact, at Hubbard Family Swim School, we have very particular guiding lights that help us shape the curriculum we use for our swimming classes for kids, and direct how we run our infant, kid, and toddler swim school. Here’s a little more about why we do what we do, and how it’s helped us offer the best swimming lessons around for over 20 years.
Posted in Swim Safety on December 4, 2019
If you’re about to start swimming lessons for babies, you might be excited but have some questions about what the actual class will be like. In fact, there’s often as much of a period of adjustment for parents who are helping their baby swim as there is for the infants!
Most parents who are experienced taking their little one to baby swimming classes have come to understand one truth: baby swim lessons will go a lot more smoothly if you learn to decode your baby’s signals and respond accordingly. Here are three common cues you may get from your baby, and how to handle each.
Posted in Swim Tips on November 26, 2019
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, we wanted to take some time and express our gratitude. We have so much to be thankful for, and so many ways in which we hope to pay it forward and give to others. Here are a few of the things for which we’re most grateful.
Posted in Off the Wall Thoughts, Hubbard Updates on November 21, 2019
Some of the first questions we get from parents who are just starting their child in a baby swim lesson are about baby swim diapers. Here’s some more information about how we handle diapering at Hubbard Family Swim School, as well as some answers to common questions about baby swimming diapers.
Posted in Parenting Ideas on November 20, 2019
Did you know that November 13th is World Kindness Day? We love that a day has been globally dedicated to kindness and that people around the world will be participating in World Kindness Day activities. We are committed to incorporating kindness into every single day at Hubbard, 365 days per year. Here’s a look at how we do this, and how we try to do our part in teaching kindness to kids too.
Posted in Off the Wall Thoughts, Parenting Ideas on November 13, 2019
There are often endless questions swirling in a new parent’s mind, many of which concern the health and safety of their newborn. And the chatter among other well-meaning parents and friends can compound the uncertainty, especially when there are discussions about the practices, activities, and approaches that each feels is best for a baby. Swimming can fall into this category and become a hot-button issue if a parent feels strongly about a particular methodology.
Some parents prefer family swim schools, like Hubbard, while others believe in the Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) program. If you’re interested in a gentle, gradual, and parent-involved approach like the one at Hubbard, you might get pushback from other parents telling you that your child needs infant survival swimming classes too. So, what is ISR? And does your baby really need it? Here’s our take.
Posted in Benefits of Swim Lessons on September 4, 2019
For many parents, enrolling their children in swim classes is just something they do, especially if they or a family member has a pool or live near bodies of water. But some of these parents may never have learned to swim themselves. If this is your situation, you may not think your swimming ability matters. Your attitude about your own swimming skills can have an impact on how your child feels about swimming. Before you stress, read on for some tips to address any fears you may have and what you can do about them. Here are a few factors to think about.
Posted in Parenting Ideas on August 29, 2019
Drowning is horrific, and the thought of childhood drowning is enough to make any of us sick. This is probably why most of us don’t spend a lot of time thinking or talking about it, but nonetheless swimming safety is important to keep in mind. In fact, current drowning statistics tell us that drowning is still the leading cause of unintentional injury-related death among children between one and four years of age. This means we have to make pool safety and water safety a key point of focus in our conversations with our kids.
But, how do you actually have these hard conversations? And where do you start? Here are some tips.
Posted in Swim Safety on August 23, 2019
