Parent Savers
“Teach Your Baby to Swim”

Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.

[00:00:00]

[Theme Music]

John Ruffu : It’s summer time and long days are filled with fun times at the beach and the pool with your children while the water can be fun. It can also be dangerous if you can’t swim. How do you prepare your child to enjoy the water with confidence and learn a viable lifelong skill? I am John Ruffu, owner of Swim2John and this is Parent Savers, Episode 15.

[Theme Music/Intro]

KC Wilt : Welcome to Parent Savers, broadcasting from the Birth Education Center of San Diego. I am your host KC Wilt. You can now take Parent Savers with you wherever you go. We have new apps that are available in the Amazon android market and iTunes apps store. They have great features like the ability to star your episodes and access to our recent episodes and social networking sites. It’s another great way to get parenting information on the go. Another way is to subscribe to our Parent Savers newsletter, featuring exclusive behind the scenes content from our show, special giveaways, discounts and more. Visit our website, https://www.parentsavers.com for more info. I am a new parent myself. My son Carson is now 20 months old and I am joined by two new parents here in the studio.

Jodi Roberts : I am Jodie Roberts. I am a high school teacher and I have an 18 months old little girl.

Owen Hemsath : Hi, my name is Owen Hemsath, I have a Video Marketing Company in oceanside California and I am a very new parent again. My third son Benjamin. O.K. Hemsath was born last week and I am just super, super excited about it and a little sleepy. So, I have a 14 month old and a 5 year old who is constantly asking me if he is now 5 and a quarter?

[Theme Music]
[Featured Segment: News Headlines]

KC Wilt : Okay, we are talking headlines this morning. So, we have got, the headline is called baby bikini Onesie has parents outrage. So, it’s basically, you know, on Florida and this Miami and this beach sides, they’ve got these T-shirts for adults that are women with bikinis on them and it’s just the T-shirt that they wear men with ripped bodies so that you can look, you know, beach ready when you are really not. They have these on a Onesie for 18 months old, what do you guys think about it?

Owen Hemsath : I think, you know, I think it’s something you need to be really careful about because the hyper sexualization in children is not a joke and I think that there is lot of people out there that look at these shirts and say, “oh! It’s just a funny thing, it’s just a little thing”. But I believe it’s part of a gender that goes deeper into the business community and into the psychological community that is a design to compress the age. They call it age compression in Medias that is to make children older so to speak and the sexualizing of children is I think it’s something we need to be careful of.

KC Wilt : Yeah, so they also have the bottom of this article some other T-shirts that are available some are kind of harmless like “You are with your tweeter.” “I poop rainbows!” You know, kind of….

Owen Hemsath : And there is definitely a multiplicity of colors in that.

KC Wilt : [Laughs] So, they also had, you know, “I drink until I pass out.”

Owen Hemsath : Right.

KC Wilt : You know.

Owen Hemsath : And there is a fine line there. I find it funny. You know, that one is kind of funny, you know, and there is the similar shirts like that are funny. It’s the ones that scare me or the ones that you might see, you know, you pass these stores in the mall that are clothing stores for teens and you are like “why is that girl 14 years old, 12 years old?” You know and that’s, that’s either some other countries out there that are more accepting of that. I don’t think that’s consisting with our culture and so I would like to see some responsibility from the parents to say “Okay, it’s a cute shirt, you know. I am not going to put my child in that.” You know, I mean, can you imagine being a parent at the beach and you see these kids in there they gear….

KC Wilt : With the bikini Onesie

Owen Hemsath : The bikini Onesie, yeah absolutely.

KC Wilt : Or even like a regular bikini and how old you put just a bikini on your daughter because I know that’s a big issue with lot of my parent friends that they grow older, the mommy friends that their wear bikini.

Owen Hemsath : Before your mommy friends jumped off a cliff….

KC Wilt : So, I am thinking about that with my 18 month old because they have those, they have little bikinis for 18 months old.

Jodi Roberts : I don’t think that’s easy. You put the diaper, you put it on, you take it off.

Owen Hemsath : Then you think about the little babies run around with just diapers. Yeah, you know what I mean? We had, we had some kids at our community pool running around naked but these kids were 5, 6 years old and I am thinking that is too old. You know, when I texted my complex manager and said “how old is too old to be running around naked?” and he texted me back “You are never too old.” [Laughs] You know, again it’s a funny thing. We can find humor in responsible adults but we really got to think about, you know, I did some work with a child, a predator activists, she said the No.1 that you got to be watch out for is a pool, the beach and like sprinkler type, water fun areas where you see a guy taking pictures, that’s your first warning side. I actually, I was at a party and like the mall had turned the sprinklers on, the fountains and brought in all the kids and I saw a guy two floors up crunched in the corner taking pictures and I followed him and had him removed from the premises, you know what I mean. That’s a creepy thing so, I don’t think we want to invite that as parents.

[00:05:30]

KC Wilt : Yeah, well and also some of the shirts have said “Proud stoner”, “I love my marijuana”, “I Love my dealer”, “Hung like a 5-year-old”.

Jodi Roberts : No, those I don’t think are more inappropriate but, I agree with you over sexualization. I think naked is more natural rather than like this hour glass figure of the bikini that they’re imposing on.

Owen Hemsath : Right, and I surely don’t like the idea of, “Hey, this is beautiful.” You know what I mean? This is an unattainable body for us. So many different men and women and we are teaching our children, you know, this is what beauty is and anything else is not acceptable. That’s why I love some of these companies that are doing natural beauty campaigns and what not and I think those are just tremendous and a great way to counter condition our culture into being more accepting of different forms of beauty.

KC Wilt : If you think you know it’s stressful enough to keep up with the ages and the times of being beautiful I mean, it starts at 18 months now.

Owen Hemsath : Oh! no, you know seriously.

KC Wilt : Where is the line people? We will be right back.

[Theme Music]

KC Wilt : So, today on Parent Savers we have John Ruffu, owner of Swim2John is here to talk with us about how we can train our children to become better swimmers. So, John it all starts with infancy. How do we get our kids comfortable in the water when they are little when they are 5 months old? Can they swim?

John Ruffu : My view point on teaching kids be comfortable in the water whether it’s a bath or shower or the swimming pool and is to understand how it works in terms of the No.1 thing people freak out about is, okay my kid’s underneath the water, okay so now what? And most parents, they are very concerned about it and they immediately work to go get the kid and make sure the kid is not under the water for any time. And the reality of it is if you put anybody under the water a child, infant or an adult, they automatically hold their breath. It’s instantaneous, involuntary reflex of the human body that they just shut up their way. So, when you put someone under the water, you don’t have to worry about them taking water into their lungs. Now, it’s possible for them to drink the water into their stomach but they not gonna get water into their lungs. So, that’s the first thing to keep in mind. The second thing is just about anybody you can drop them into the water they are gonna be okay for 30 seconds and then you are gonna bring them up you know……

Jodi Roberts: So, do you recommend that when your child does go into the water to kind of wait and not rescue them as quickly but you see under you grab them in 10 seconds?

John Ruffu : I just think it’s important you operate from an understanding of how it does work physiologically and what your options are. Whether, you immediately grab them or whether you wait till that 45 seconds to bring him up and look at him in the eyes and say “Don’t do that again.” They are gonna get the message a lot better in 45 seconds “I don’t know whether I am going to do that again” versus 2 or 5 seconds, “Why, why not?” you know.

KC Wilt : Right.

John Ruffu : So, you know, they pay a price for the mistake you might be saving their life.

Jodi Roberts : Have you ever heard of, because I have heard that they do inhale water and I have heard that they drown in their sleep because they have inhaled too much water in their lungs and there has been cases like that?

KC Wilt : She freaked out her first day of swimming, our children were swimming and, you know, they both drank a lot of water so that night she didn’t sleep.

John Ruffu : Well, again you are talking drinking water versus inhaling water into the lungs. Inhaling water into the lungs isn’t going to happen.

Jodi Roberts : Period?

John Ruffu : I mean, there’s obviously, have you ever taken a drink of water goes down the wrong tube? Now, I mean, but you kind of make but, really if anybody has ever done it or observed someone who has taken water or liquid into the wrong chamber, you get pretty vicious reaction from your body, don’t you?

Owen Hemsath : Sure.

John Ruffu : Okay, so if you see a kid that may be has got couple of drops of water into that vent tube, they spend next 30 to 40 seconds hacking and coughing to blow that out. So, beside the other, you know, you taking water into lungs this had happened. I have had close to over a 100 medical doctors that have sat and watched me teach their kids. I have had, you know, one of this Pediatric emergency room physician down a children’s hospital which is the hospital for submerging cases and stuff and they all understand how the physiology works. You are just not going to take enough water into your lungs that’s gonna kill you.

Jodi Roberts : So, you don’t have to really teach them to hold their breath?

John Ruffu : No, that is,

Jodi Roberts : Hold their face?

John Ruffu : That is something once you go into the water once then you bring him up and you bring up and give a count 1, 2 and they go under. They are anticipating and expecting that not only it is automatic but then it also gives them the opportunity to maybe get a better breath or they know what’s gonna happen. But, in order to teach them, to spend 6 or 8 weeks to teach a person to hold their breath, it’s already in their brain, so you don’t need to do it.

Jodi Roberts : So, you don’t recommend to blow in their face beforehand or?

John Ruffu : I don’t.

Jodi Roberts : Okay.

John Ruffu : I just give them my count and tell them that their heads can go into the water.

Owen Hemsath : Okay, so my wife, we have got a 14 months old. He loves the water. So she’ll carry him out into the pool. So, you are saying it would be okay, for her to say “Okay, ready 1, 2, 3 and maybe even dunk under with him?”

John Ruffu : Yeah.

Owen Hemsath : Even that’s okay?

John Ruffu : Yeah, bring him down half a second and then just build on that.

KC Wilt : I don’t need techniques to help your infant to feel comfortable with water in their face because that’s typically the area where babies don’t like it or kids don’t like water in their face?

John Ruffu : Well, you know, every kid is gonna have their own personality. They like things, they dislike things, that they are more inclined to be able to do well or not to do well and this is gonna be one of them. Sometimes you put a baby into the water if mom and dad are having a good time going underneath and you make the first time experience really, really, you know, easy and funny. You know, like half a second underneath with mom and dad, you know, you both go under, you both look at each other and come right back up, it’s gonna be a positive experience. And the more positive experience you make it, the more enjoyable the kid is going to act and like to it.

Jodi Roberts: So, how important is it then to get the parents involved into the swimming techniques and like you said going under the water with them and teaching their kids how to swim?

John Ruffu : Like I said, to the point that they have bond with their parents and some positive, affirming, loving type of relationship and they trust their parents, that’s what the parents brings to the table.

KC Wilt : How do you teach survival? I mean, I know that’s a technique that people are doing that they throw their baby in the water with all their clothes and the concept is to teach the baby to swim to the side and grab on.

John Ruffu : Like emergency type swimming?

KC Wilt : Yeah, like roll at the back and swim to the side, would you think that’s important?

John Ruffu : Well, obviously that would be the entire goal of teaching a child to swim is that you prepare them for the worst case scenario of falling into a pool or to a body of water depending on what’s your point you’re around most. But you’ll have to start with the basic swim skill and so that’s what you want to teach the kid first. After they have that then you can add on clothing, etc., etc.

Owen Hemsath : And how do you get to that point? I mean, I have got these two kids. One of them loves the water I mean, every opportunity he gets I mean, we find him in the living room just at in the play area whereas Jameson he is making his way towards the bath tub and he crawls in there and just waits for mom to turn the water.

Jodi Roberts : He can turn it on himself.

Owen Hemsath : Yeah, really because his bath time is so fun for him. Now Kanan, my 5 year old is different. He, it wasn’t until we finally for him goggles that he was able to enjoy the water a little bit more. So, how do you teach a child to not to be fearful of the water? And would you recommend a third party object like goggles, you know, in order to convey that?

John Ruffu : Well, again it’s just an issue building the kid’s confidence, you know. Any kid’s gonna be able to learn how to swim whether he believes that he can do it or not to start with is, might be objective where he is using that to say “Oh! I am afraid, I am afraid.” Well you know he is afraid of being successful and not being successful and again you are talking of a whole gallon of age differences whereas the 20 month old, you don’t really, you know, they’re not gonna sit there and say, “I am afraid. I don’t wanna do this.” They are just gonna say and the, the important thing to keep in mind is, why are they kicking and screaming. And from my philosophy what I have been taught by Tom Bradbury he has been teaching this method since 1957. He has taught 93000 kids to swim; he is 81 years old but still teaches 40 kids each day. The kids are gonna, they are gonna scream and kick and cry because they are certainly at 20 months old have lost control of their world where they were, you know, so that they are gonna, by being involved they are gonna cry. They are gonna yell and say “I don’t like this. Get me back to my mom. Or mom, come and get me. Get one out of this. You know, can’t you see I am into stress here.” And so, you know, often that a parent will normally get their kid out of that stressful situation and that works. And it’s been working for that kid for 20 months so when they come to swim lesson whether it’s with me or whether it’s with somebody else, they don’t like it, they are gonna make noise and the difference is what the swim instructor do with that. And in a lot of programs, you know, the swim instructor will do whatever is required to make the kid be quite. Exactly and then for me it’s like I don’t care if you are making noise, if you fall into the pool or at a swim you will never make another noise in your life so and the parent understands that so the parent will reframe from saving or pulling the kid and giving the kid a sense of control back while the mom holds the kid.

Jodi Roberts : And you had said every kid can learn how to swim. What about kids with disability?

John Ruffu : Yeah, you know, again because my understanding that Tom has taught me and my experience over the past 10 years in teaching 25000 kids is that swim is already in the brain. It’s almost an in aid skill which is I told you, I think I mentioned that you don’t have to spend 8 or 10 weeks to teach a kid to hold their breath. Its automatic, they do it anyway so don’t take the time or the money to do it because it’s already there. And the other thing the kids will do and is a necessary requirement to swim and swim well is they have to kick their legs and they will naturally do that particularly as they start to learn. They run out of oxygen, that skill just automatically happens. I cannot put a kid into the pool that is 2 years old and say “kick your legs” if he is not kicking his leg “it’s you can’t do it.” He doesn’t know what it means you know, you can’t teach those motor skills to happen,.

Jodi Roberts : But it is a need?

John Ruffu : But it will happen nearly so those are the two things hold your breath, kick and they can be swimming.

Owen Hemsath : And you can take those things and refine them?

John Ruffu : Well, I take those things and they get refined by themselves as they spend time in the water. They naturally will pull out. I spend time building confidence as they are utilizing them to get to the side where they can hold on.

Jodi Roberts : But if these are need skills and to a normal human, what about a brain that is wired differently you know?

John Ruffu : Well, speaking what do you mean by wired differently?

Jodi Roberts : That they have mental disabilities or…

Owen Hemsath : Or even a physical disability. They can’t move as quickly. What about autism even you know if that would affect?

Jodi Roberts : So, to what extent is this successful?

John Ruffu : Yeah, you know, this is specifically because swims already in the brain, it’s in the brain for everybody, okay. So, autistic downs, special needs kids, kids with chromosome disorders, whatever the disability may be, I have had a 100% success teaching them. And most of those kids have learnt to swim as fast if not faster than kids with no disability.

Owen Hemsath ; Fantastic.

John Ruffu : Because swims are already there and that’s just a confirmation, not only, you know, talking to Tom Bradbury who has been doing it for 60 years and his confirmation. But, I have observed myself for the 10 years for every special needs kid, down kid, high functioning, low functioning, they all swim.

KC Wilt : Great, when we come back we will talk about what types of lessons are out there to help you to determine what program is best for your child? We will be back shortly.

[Theme Music]

KC Wilt : We are back with John Ruffu and we are here to talk about swimming. So, what age should we start swim lesson, John?

John Ruffu : I think it’s the best thing to do is when they are able to actually remember the life skill swimming which is generally 17 or 18 months old. That’s when actually the brain is cognitively developed well enough that they can remember what is learnt in terms of the swim environment. You can teach an 8 month old how to swim and swim well but they are gonna forget it within a day or two. And as well with kids under 17 months old, they don’t have the strength to even hold on to the sides, they don’t have focus to hold on to the side, they slip right back in and, you know, so they just aren’t survivable in a swimming pool environment if they fall in if they are 12 to 14 months old.

Owen Hemsath : Now, my son is enrolled in karate right now and the big thing we liked about it is the Campbell is more specific is that it wasn’t just like he is learning a self-defense skill, he is learning a focused skill, he is learning a self-disciplined skill. And I wonder if the same is with swimming the skill sets that are involved in learning had a swim more professionally. And what skills are those, you know, what skills are they?

John Ruffu : Well, you know, obviously they are more skilled developments that is big, that’s for really developing an athlete which is already in the body. But in terms of the other issue that you mentioned because it’s a pretty much from my perspective it’s already in the brain, you are not really developing skills, you are just pulling out, utilizing which is already there.

Owen Hemsath : You had mentioned things like confidence and I would think even control of mind, you fall into the pool and you are no longer scared. You have got that control maybe that starts with confidence.

John Ruffu : Yeah, that’s a whole idea. That’s really what I do. That’s the only function that I provide is that I build the child’s confidence because they are providing everything else. So, my job is to make sure that I pull that confidence out as quickly as possible in the way that I do that is I let the kid do the work. Like anything else in the world if you want to build confidence you have got to do the real work yourself. Okay, you can get an online degree that says you’re PHD but if you haven’t done, you know, there is no real confidence behind that diploma. But in terms of teaching the kids to swim, yes they have to develop the confidence through their own experience. My job is to enable that confidence to develop.

KC Wilt : Well, what kind of skills will my child gain from the lessons? What’s the goal of some lessons?

John Ruffu : Well, No.1 is you want to develop a child that if they fall into a swimming pool, they will live another day so that they can live another day.

KC Wilt : Is that common, I mean?

John Ruffu : That should be the so primary objective of teaching a child to swim and the reason that should be is there is actually no other life skill that is a life skill. In other words, if you need the life skill of swim and you don’t have the life skill of swim your life is over. There is not another life like that, you know, we have been looking, Tom has been looking for 60 years. No one else is able to provide us a description that is that absolute.

Owen Hemsath : Oh! You know, I read a book few years ago about Freak Economics when I read it they evaluated statistics and things in that book. I think the first chapter was Swimming pools are more dangerous than guns and we hear and see lot of regulations whenever there is a gun horror story. We read about it, we hear about it, we push regulation but we don’t hear those things about swimming pools and putting gates around them and things like that I mean. Is that the case you think that the swimming pool is more dangerous? I mean, it’s a pretty dangerous area if you don’t know what you are doing.

John Ruffu : Well, we know, you know, from the numbers, drowning is the second leading cause of death for kids 4 years and under. So, as you start to quantify, yes, you know, a body of water for anybody that doesn’t know how to swim is like having a loaded gun or playing Russian roulette.

Owen Hemsath : Oh! It’s more dangerous.

John Ruffu : Yeah, it’s gonna be more absolute, you know, drowning is a lottery. You know, I think it’s 9 to 10 kids win that drowning lottery every single day in the United States.

Owen Hemsath : Oh!

John Ruffu : And then for every child that survives you have a gamut of kids that have some loss because they rounded too long and some brain damage all the way to severely brain damage where they can’t breathe on their own, they have breathing tubes. So, for every drowning you have a whole number of kids that have some lifelong consequences for being submerged or surviving a near drowning.

Owen Hemsath : And I wonder if things like beaches, lakes and, you know, water parks might have some impacts in those statistics. Are there different types of swimming lessons that can prepare a child for different environment, surfing a body boarding or that sort of thing or swimming is, the swimming skill is the swimming skill?

John Ruffu : The swimming skill is the swimming skill but it needs to be strengthened and or improved and or prepared for the particular environment that the child is going into.

Owen Hemsath : What the fundamentals you think are?

John Ruffu : Well, absolutely you can’t teach a child to swim in the ocean until they can swim in a swimming pool.

Owen Hemsath : Sure.

John Ruffu : You can’t teach them what to do if they fall into a river unless they have the basic swim skill that they use in a swimming pool.

KC Wilt : So, what type of lessons are out there?

John Ruffu : Well, just for the basic swim skills, you have your typical American Red Cross program you are gonna find at the YMCA or in San Diego you have all the different schools that use that model or one similar to it. There are swim programs out there that take parts of it or take away from it. For instance, there is a Swim School here in San Diego that teaches, that restricts the kids from actually kicking. In other words they say “do not kick” And I have had kids, parents have brought me their kids that have been in that program and I have to retrain the kid “Yes, you must kick.” that’s what we want you to do. So, you know, you have different varieties but the primary one the typical YMCA top of approach that’s one, then you have I think ISRs the another one which focuses on teaching the child to float, roll around back and float. And then teaches them to swim from that point to get to the side or to get to safety, I understand it. I have never seen it. I don’t know it but, from people who have brought their kids to me from the ISR system that still are having problems with the swim skill. That’s what they tell me that they have observed and then there’s this, what I use and I was taught to me by Tom Bradbury who has been doing it since 1957 is this approach which approaches it from as we said, swim is already in the brain and the kids can hold his breath and the kid is gonna kick. And we just have to make sure that they know where to go and they develop the confidence and as we spend time in the water that ability gets refined because more of it 8comes out naturally as they spend time in the water so, that’s this approach.

KC Wilt : So, how does yours work differently from the other programs?

John Ruffu : Well, No.1, the objective is to let the kid’s natural skills come out by getting your hands off of the kid and the other programs approach it okay, we first have to spend time to teach the kid how to hold their breathe to go underneath the water. Well, that’s something that you can’t teach a kid. It already exists so we start there. Fundamentally though, the big difference for me is in the philosophy where the typical program used to cause is to not allow the kid to get too upset or cry or so to basically appease the student.

Jodi Roberts : So, what kind of experiences you have had that you are not appeasing?

John Ruffu : The whole program, my program, every kid is not happy. My interest is not to appease the kid. My interest is to make sure the kid has the life skill of swimming. And I know, again back to the main philosophy, every kid that comes into the pool with me wants to maintain control of their environment, maintain control of their world and when they feel a loss on that control they are gonna look to their parents and cry or say things or do things to manipulate getting out of the swim environment.

KC Wilt : And this won’t scar them for life that they never wanna get into the pool again because that’s my fear?

Jodi Roberts : It lessens their confidence.

KC Wilt : Yeah.

John Ruffu : It actually does absolutely the complete opposite because what it teaches a kid is that you can behave and try to get out and lose control, you know, just trying to get back to control the environment or you can do the work required until that you have the skills that enables you to regain or have control of your environment. So, you are teaching two different things, the traditional program is teaching “you can get out of it just complain enough.”

Owen Hemsath : Sure.

John Ruffu : Or this particular program says, “I understand that you don’t feel like you’re in control of your world but, I am gonna show you and teach you, you can overcome that and you can have control of your world. But you have to do something.”

Jodi Roberts : Which is a great philosophy as a teacher like, I think our culture is going more and more towards the “Oh! Complain enough and you won’t have to do it” and I see that first hand.

KC Wilt : So, we start them young?

Jodi Roberts : Yeah, start them young and make them feel that they are not entitled. They can’t take the control of it versus just you know….

KC Wilt : And you have a great success rate of kids swimming, tell me about that?

John Ruffu : It’s a 100%. Every kid is swimming if 30 miles older at a 3500 kids one 34 month old girl that took 6 weeks to teach how to swim.

KC Wilt : And then how long is your swim program?

John Ruffu : Well, normally it’s 10 days, 10 minutes per day, 10 days is all the time you need.

KC Wilt : So, you have 100% success rate with 10 days in 10 minutes a day?

John Ruffu : That’s correct.

KC Wilt : All without appeasing, any crying and everything else and by the end are they stop crying, do they like the pool, do they like it?

John Ruffu : Yeah, then they are crying because they have to get out mom and dad say “Well, it’s time to go” I am not, yeah that’s the truth because the last two days mom and dad are in the pool taking over being the new coach “I train them to this is how you do it” Now you understand how it works it’s already in the brain, developed as it gets older, they copy me they copy you at home for over anything anyway. Well, I mean I had this one 32 month old child, day 7 and we get comfortable, we built a relationship and, you know, we were taking a rest from swim.. So, I started a conversation up with her she is 32 months, she speaks very well, she can talk and….

Owen Hemsath : 32 months?

John Ruffu : Yeah, 32 months well she is a girl so anyway, it goes like this so “do you like to go shopping with mommy? Yes, we would like to go shopping with mommy. Well, well what do you, what do you and your mommy likes to go shopping at?” And this little 32 months says I am expecting target, KMR you know this 32 months old girl says “at the wine store.” And her mommy, her mom is caught and grandma happened to be at the same class and grandma literally leans over to the right and pouched her head over to the right and says “I didn’t know you started drinking, Oh! No” So, you get funny stuffs like that happens all the time but the kids are happy because they have actually accomplished something and it wasn’t given to them. They did the hard work. They understood that no one is gonna save you. You can do this and mom is just, you know, mom and dad are firm to say “The manipulation is not gonna work.” You have to learn how to swim.

Owen Hemsath : I think that is super relatable for me because I went to a community like a city program, lots of kids in the class and I fought it, eventually I got engaged. But few years later, it was clear to me that I still didn’t know how to swim. So, but those programs are everywhere, you know. So, how does a parent go about finding a program like yours if they are not in your area?

John Ruffu : Yeah, you know, and that’s gonna be a tough question because I just know of, of the people that I have actually trained to do the same type of thing here in San Diego. And then Tom Bradbury who has trained me 10 years ago, he has trained about a 50 other people over the past, you know, 50 years to do it and so it’s just the matter of knowing who to contact and then seeing of their program similar to it.

Owen Hemsath : Are there already buzz words that parents can Google or look for? Is there a certain philosophy? Is it branded?

John Ruffu : No there’s really not even a branded name for it. I would just call it, you know, the Tom Bradbury method because he is the guy that taught me and he is the guy that’s been doing it for ever.

Jodi Roberts : We are branding it now.

John Ruffu : Yeah, you brand it now you know Swim2John, you can brand it Swim2John.

Jodi Roberts : Yeah, you know, that’s better.

John Ruffu : That’s fine but it’s a difficult question to answer because you would think it’s the best thing for the child. It’s the most affordable thing for the parent because you know how long it’s gonna take and with my program there is a particular price. And it gets to types of results that make a positive impact on the kid. I have had over a 100 medical doctors that have watched me teach their kids to swim. They love it. I had probably anywhere from 20 to 30 or 40 psychologists that have watched me teach their kids swim, they love it. They see all the positive reinforcements, they see all the benefits from a psychological developmental stand point, you know, 2 Psychiatrists watched me teach their kids. And, you know, that’s the way you develop character is by making kids work it and earn it and show them that they can do it.

KC Wilt : I think that’s what we pulled from today no matter where you are you can learn that swimming is a need and also just don’t put up with the crying and you can do it, you can work through it and they can enjoy swimming still in confidence.

John Ruffu : And any instructor that approaches from that view point it doesn’t matter whether it is a typical American Red cross why implemented program or not? If that particular why or that particular school says yeah, you know, we are gonna let them cry it out. We are not in the business of appeasing. We are in the business of getting something done then you are gonna get the same result as long as the instructor put the kid in the water, push him to something that the kid can hold on to and start building confidence. But get your hands off the kid, the kid is gonna develop.

KC Wilt : Thanks to John Ruffu for helping us to learn about swim lessons. If you want more information on John and his technique, go to today’s show on our episode’s page on our website or visit https://www.swim2john.com.

[Theme Music]
[Featured Segments: From our Listeners]

KC Wilt : Before we wrap up today’s show, here is a message from one of our listeners.

Steve : Hey, Parent Savers, my name is Steve and I am calling from Las Vegas. Hey, first congrats on your new shows as a lot of mommies shows are out there and not a lot of shows for new dads. I really like how you guys give us an equal voice. And here I just finished listening to your episode on how to turn the terrible two’s into terrific two’s and it really helped out. My son recently turned two and I wish I would have listened to this episode when he was about 18 months because the terrible two’s came way sooner than expected. Anyway, the idea of redirecting the child’s behavior is been really helpful for me and my wife and we are starting to see some good results. I wanted to tell you thanks for the good info. Have a good day!

KC Wilt : That wraps up today’s episode. We love to hear from you. If you have questions for expert about today’s show or the topics we discussed, call our Parent Savers hotline at 619-866-4775 or send us an email through our website https://www.parentsavers.com or Facebook page and we will answer your questions on an upcoming episode. Coming up next week, we are talking about what to put on your child while swimming, we are talking about sunscreen. Thanks for listening to Parent Savers, empowering new parents everywhere.

[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media production. Information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Suggestions and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. For such information in which areas are related to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, Medical or advisor care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating house care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.