Teaching my daughter scuba diving?

[bpotkin]

I have recently purchased all new gear for my 19 year old Daughter.
She has finished the PADI open water book including doing all of the quizes.
We have also gone over test questions etc. She is busy going to Colledge
so her official ow training is planned for a few months from now. In the
meantime, we have have done over 8 dives in our swimming pool and she
can perform all of the drills very comfortably. I am a PADI
AOW diver with a CPR card and working on rescue. Does anybody have
any issues with me working with my daughter in our pool? I am definitely
not going to take her in the ocean until she is certified!

 

[chrpai]

Not me.

 

[Scuba_Noob]

While likely nothing would happen, it's not really recommended to teach someone diving unless you're under the guidance of a certified instructor or at the very least, a divemaster. I know that divemasters can officially teach drysuit orientations and discover scuba diving under the supervision of an instructor.

Without proper training, you might run into problems that you don't know how to solve. Better to be safe than sorry.

 

[616fun]

You sound just qualified to be dangerous. Take her to get her certs. Classes are cheaper than a funeral.

 

[Quero]

Since you are an AOW diver and not an instructor, how did you get access to the quizzes? Do you mean the self-evaluation "Quick Quiz" elements of the book and the study questions at the end of each chapter called "Knowledge Review"? Certainly, doing all of that work ahead of time will give her a leg up in the official course when the time comes. However, instructors have in-depth knowledge of the topics covered in the Open Water course book and all good instructors expand considerably on the information given. I don't know your background, but are you able to do this?

As for working with her in the pool, I've never seen you dive, and you may be an excellent role model, or you may still have residual skill glitches that you are transmitting to your daughter without realizing it. Instructors are required to have "demonstration quality" skills that are role-model perfect for student divers to emulate. I would be concerned, personally, that you are unwittingly instilling undesirable habits in your modeling of skills since a good number of AOW divers are still developing and perfecting their diving techniques and skills.

If I were your daughter's instructor, I would not accept the work you have done with her and would require her to do everything again. And I'd probably insist on doing her pool sessions without your presence so that there would be no confusion on her part regarding who is in charge of her training.

 

[redacted]

I'm guessing you taught your daughter to drive also. Didn't you understand how that belittles all the driving instructors in the world somehow making them seem less important.

 

[ScubaSteve]

Does anybody have any issues with me working with my daughter in our pool?

This confirmed it for me. This post was a definite

 

[Glenn08]

Your daughter may have good pool skills, but you risk offending her future instructor if she is too competent without benefit of his skill and knowledge. Confidence is good, and pool practice is good, but be discreet, especially with the instructor that will sign her C-card, about how 'advertising' much 'instruction' you have given her.

 

[bpotkin]

Thank for your response Glenn08. I did mention to a couple of instructors that my daughter is good with all of her basic skills. I was kind of expecting them to give me some negative comments, however they said they would be happy to have a student who owns her own gear and
can perform all the pool skills. I do understand that when I turn her over to an official instructor,I'll let her know that what the instructor says goes....

 

[spectrum]

She's a nineteen years old adult and apparently she is willing to trust you. When people are in a hurry to go pro I say not until you have enough experience to feel you would trust a loved one with you, Apparently you have cleared that hurdle too. Yes there some ugly things that can happen in a pool and I trust you have reviewed them with her. Being in college she has probably been in a physics class sometime in the last few year and with a very simple mention understands Boyle's law better than many instructors. Generations of divers learned just as she is learning and they went on to write the book on the sport. Is this ideal and can anyone endorse it without even knowing you, of course not. Respect your limitations and know when to stop.


Pete