I'm not nervous, my mom is.

[nwNemo]

Hey! I'm new here, I'm 13 and my name is Ben. I got a PADI Scuba Course Gift Certificate for Christmas [which took a ton of convincing to get that far.] I'm totally excited, not nervous one bit about Scuba diving, the problem is, my mom is incredibly nervous about me Scuba diving. What can I tell her? Raw statistics that won't scare her away? I live near Kent and Auburn, Washington, and will be doing all my training open water dives in the Puget Sound, I know this sounds crazy, but I really want to see a six gill shark before I die, what are the odds of this in shallow water in the Puget Sound? I know it's rare, but HOW rare?

Thanks so much! This looks like an awesome community to be a part of.

 

[vladimir]

My mom was a little bit stressed by my scuba diving when I started; luckily my dad was in charge of access to guns, motorcycles, scuba diving, etc. I was 15 and returning to shore from my first dives after certification. My instructor asked me how I was getting home from the pier. I told him I'd call my dad and he'd pick me up, so he suggested that I call on the ship-to-shore radio to give him some lead time. (Note that cellphones didn't exist in 1975.) Well, my mom picked up the phone and heard, "This is the marine operator with a ship-to-shore call," and she nearly lost it, naturally assuming the worst. She handed the phone to my dad, and later asked me to never use the ship-to-shore again.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Scuba is not the most dangerous sport on earth. It can have serious consequences if you do not get proper training and pay attention to that training. Some agencies require that anyone under 16 have the parent present at all training sessions. Classroom and pool. Mine does. I find that this alleviates a great deal of parental stress. Call the shop where the certificate is from and make sure your mom can be presnt at all sessions. She may not have to get in the pool but if she wanted to be on mask and snorkel in while I was teaching that would be perfectly ok. No reason why she could not be unless she started to actually interfere in the process.

Any reasonable instructor should be fine with a similar situation. She may even get interested enough to join you in the class! Parents not being able to participate like this has been one of the biggest obstacles to effective training for young divers from what I have seen. Even if she does not decide to do it herself having first hand info of everything that goes into learning to dive may ease her mind a great deal. I also hope you ask her to look around and read this thread especially:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...ng/287780-how-find-excellent-scuba-class.html

Let her speak to the shop or instructor and ask them the questions outlined here. A good one will have no problem answering all of them in detail and be willing to discuss any concerns. Then read the who is responsible thread so that both of you understand the real risks involved with diving and why you need to pay attention to your training. Here is a link to that one:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...ering-diving/283566-who-responsible-what.html

I believe in fully informing every person involved with a divers training when it comes to junior divers. The good and the not so good. Only by doing this does it make for a clear understanding of what is required of everyone. You would still need to dive with a parent/guardian or a professional after certificiation but that does not make you any less responsible for yourself. You may also use this as an opportunity to demonstrate to mom just how mature, responsible, and intelligent you are. That is never a bad thing in my book.

 

[rcs9250]

Unfortunately for mom's , all the statistics in the world won't make her feel
good about you scuba diving. Trust me , my mom used to kneel and pray at a statue in the back yard till I came home from skydiving lessons. Then rapelling then spelunking
then rock climbing then whitewater rafting then back to scuba then decompression diving.
The best thing you can do for her is get good training. Make sure you thoroughly understand what is being taught to you and ask questions when you don't. Hopefully you will find an instructor that is forthcoming and knowledgeable with anything you ask. If you don't feel comfortable or satisfied with the answer find someone else to ask. Don't trust everything you read on the web.
Get your mom involved or at least tell her what you are learning. The more she knows the more comfortable she will feel.
Find a good buddy. If you find a buddy that swims single file and occasionally looks back to see how you are doing ditch him for one that swims side by side with you. That's how you monitor a buddy.

 

[OceanEd]

I agree with Jim. When I have a young person beginning a diving class I try everything I can to get the parents to to take the class with him/her. If that is not possible I offer to put them in the pool for one session, for free, with the class to see what is going on. If that doesn't work then I invite them to just "sit in" if they can to see what we are doing.

Hopefully one of these methods will work for you. It always goes much smoother at home if you mother is all right with what you are doing.

 

[JahJahwarrior]

My parents are very nervous about my diving. What I have done is to learn everything I can as best as I can, so I can dive as safely as possible. I have spent a lot of time showing my parents the various ways to do things and explaining why the way I do them is the safest. It's working, slowly but surely.

 

[RJP]

Hey! I'm new here, I'm 13 and my name is Ben.

I'm totally excited, not nervous one bit about Scuba diving, the problem is, my mom is incredibly nervous about me Scuba diving.

Ben, I'm gonna let you in on a little secret:

You're 13. Your mother is incredibly nervous about EVERYTHING you do. Hell, I'm 44 and my parents are nervous about the type of diving I do!



But seriously, the fact that your mom went for you getting the class in the first place says that while she is worried (as a mother would be) that she does trust you. It's up to you to ensure that you are a safe driver.

The analogy I use with my wife (non-diver) who gets nervous about my wreck and cave diving is...

"Scuba diving is like driving a car: it's very easy to have an accident, but it's just as easy to NOT have an accident. The difference is up to me."

The overall concept helped my wife - who had no context to understand the safety of diving - understand the difference between RISK and DANGER.

While there is some inherent RISK involved, diving is not inherently DANGEROUS and with the proper training, attention, and diligence on your part...is just as safe as any other sport or activity in which a 13yo might participate. (Probably safer than many, in fact.)

Welcome to ScubaBoard - and to diving!

 

[TSandM]

Having been a parent (well, stepparent, but it's the same thing) I can say that one thing that would have made ME feel better would be to see you have a very responsible attitude toward your class. If you are studying and doing all your knowledge reviews and being prepared and reliable, it's a lot easier to convince your folks that you are going to take diving seriously.

As far as six gills go, they're a gift from Neptune. I've seen one in about 500 Puget Sound dives. I talked the other night to someone who works with the Aquarium six gill research project, and he says they seem cyclical, and we are currently in a part of the cycle where there appear to be few around.

But don't despair -- there are LOTS of fascinating things in Puget Sound, even (maybe especially) in the shallow water. You might want to check out THIS thread on one of our local bulletin boards (and maybe even share this with your mom, to give her an idea of why you want to do this!)

Have fun with your class! And here's some more fun -- go to YouTube and search on 5thD-x, and watch the videos there

 

[OldNSalty]

Mom's are suppose to be nervous-that's their job. In fact, as a dad, I can tell you we are just as nervous as or mom-counter part but we have a slightly different job to do. Do you think she would be willing to take a class with you?

 

[Sinbad the Diver]

I'm probably the wrong person to ask...when I enlisted and was getting ready to ship to basic training I rented Full Metal Jacket and watched it with my mom and my gf so they could see what I was getting into

But as a parent I can tell you the most important thing you can do to make her more comfortable, as others have said you will not make her not worry, is to keep her informed of what you are doing so she can see how serious the training is and that it is not "here's some gear, let's see how deep we can go". And it's good that you are not nervous, but be sure to make her see that you are not cavalier about it and that you are taking the training seriously. One thing all us parents remember about our adolesence is our feeling of invincibility and how we all knew more than the adults around us....we often project that on our kids...and not always incorrectly.