4 year old Diver?

[Coldwater_Canuck]

We as children also learn basic survival skills, and hunting skills early. We typically are shooting at the age of 10. I remember being 8, 9 , and 10 with Blow Guns, Tomahawks, Throwing Stars, and Small Crossbows to name a few. All used under absolute adult supervision, zero injury ever! Some people can scream "Your parents are nuts!" all they want, but I have wonderful parents that allowed us to experience many things as children, and we were never injured. We learned safety, and respect for those items.

I'm not really sure those activities are compatible in comparison to learning scuba though. The two main arguments against kids scuba diving are nothing like "they can't learn to do it" it is based on a psychological factor (developing reasoning) and a physiological factor (effects of nitrogen), neither of which is particularly importent when shooting a gun.

The first problem is reasoning, something if I remember correctly doesn't develop until mid-teeens: in an underwater emergency can they take everything they have learned and apply it to that particular situation or can they just do drills out of the books. The other problem is the effects of nitrogen on children's development. Now there is no proof that it is harmful, but there are some hypothesises that it may be. It's amazing how much we don't know about decompression even in adult divers who have been studied much, much more. With kids, there has been very little research and with some of the things that might be happening, personally I wouldn't risk it.

I wouldn't worry about it too much, as Rhoneman pointed out, this debate is an ongoing one. You look like you are doing a fine job in encouraging your son to love the water.

Okay I don't get this reasoning. You're declaring it safe ("I wouldn't worry about it too much") based on the fact that it hasn't been proven dangerous ("this debate is an ongoing one")?

If a 10 year old can be certified then you can rest assured that the certifying agencies have not arbitrarily picked this age; to do so would open them up to serious litigation in case of a mishap. There is a method behind the madness.

You are less cynical than I when money's involved

Also, if it was this clear cut and non-arbitrary why are the ages different accross agencies?

 

[EricJ]

I'm thinking about getting my four-year into advanced cave diving :blinking: Hey, he's got the regulator in his mouth...

 

[EricJ]

All kidding aside, right now our focus is water safety. Swimming lessons during most of the summer with a focus on having fun and being safe. Later, we'll get him in the ocean if he's interested. Snorkeling is a great activitiy if he's interested and an advanced swimmer. Absolutely NO hurry for actual scuba.

 

[Coldwater_Canuck]

All kidding aside, right now our focus is water safety. Swimming lessons during most of the summer with a focus on having fun and being safe. Later, we'll get him in the ocean if he's interested. Snorkeling is a great activitiy if he's interested and an advanced swimmer. Absolutely NO hurry for actual scuba.

I don't have kids yet, but I think that would be the route I'd take. Swimming lessons early are a good thing and I remember snorkeling being a lot of fun as a kid. With those two activities, the risks are very manageable and fairly obvious: your kid is a good swimmer or he isn't. With children in scuba, it's moreso the 'unknowns' rather than known risks that make me a bit uneasy. With swimming and snorkeling, there aren't many unknowns.

And by the way, lucky kid, I wish my parents got me a fancy Zeagle regulator when I was his age

 

[Walter]

So that's why some pages in a thread get screwed up
and then the next page is OK again. It's the pics. Never knew that.

It's pictures that are too large to fit in the post. The post (and all the posts
on that page) gets expanded so the picture can fit. Since I see 50 posts per page
it's a reall PITA. Having the page expanded means text doesn't wrap on that page
like it normally would in a typical post, causing us to have to scroll back and forth
to read posts. I try to help folks read my posts by hitting "Enter" where I want the
text to wrap. Now if someone would just delete or reduce that picture to a
reasonable size, the page would be fixed.

 

[simmonsjr]

Okay I don't get this reasoning. You're declaring it safe ("I wouldn't worry about it too much") based on the fact that it hasn't been proven dangerous ("this debate is an ongoing one")?

You are less cynical than I when money's involved

Also, if it was this clear cut and non-arbitrary why are the ages different accross agencies?

When I said that "I wouldn't worry too much" I was referring not to the danger level, which is not addressed until later in my post, I was referring to the OP's comment about provoking a war. In this comment I was simply reassuring him that there were no ill feelings between anyone, just a debate that has been going on for longer than when he accidently entered the fray. Looking back I can see how it appears confusing; I should have quoted that part separately. My apologies for the confusion.

If you notice further on in my post I stated that if I felt that my kids were ready to dive at age ten I would let them; however, I would be even more conservative regarding depth then the published standards.

Finally, would you mind telling me which agencies have different age standards? All of the ones that I have seen will certify junior divers starting from age 10.

Thanks again for pointing out my mistake.

Jason

 

[Walter]

would you mind telling me which agencies have different age standards? All of the
ones that I have seen will certify junior divers starting from age 10.

I can't speak for others, but SEI's minimum age is 12.

 

[Coldwater_Canuck]

When I said that "I wouldn't worry too much" I was referring not to the danger level, which is not addressed until later in my post, I was referring to the OP's comment about provoking a war. In this comment I was simply reassuring him that there were no ill feelings between anyone, just a debate that has been going on for longer than when he accidently entered the fray. Looking back I can see how it appears confusing; I should have quoted that part separately. My apologies for the confusion.

Oh sorry, my bad.

Finally, would you mind telling me which agencies have different age standards? All of the ones that I have seen will certify junior divers starting from age 10. Thanks for pointing out my mistake.

Unless they have changed recently NAUI always maintained that 10 was too young. I tried searching for their minimum age but I couldn't find it on the NAUI site. I did find things from 2007 that stated a minimum age of 12, but nothing from this year.

 

[neil]

I'm thinking about getting my four-year into advanced cave diving :blinking: Hey, he's got the regulator in his mouth...

Oh, really now. You gotta get him some black PJ's at least. Horizontal stripes are not DIR, I don't think. Very cute.

 

[psychocabbage]

Oh sorry, my bad.


Unless they have changed recently NAUI always maintained that 10 was too young. I tried searching for their minimum age but I couldn't find it on the NAUI site. I did find things from 2007 that stated a minimum age of 12, but nothing from this year.

NAUI is currently 10..

My 10 yr old is loving it and we just returned from our trip. Initially we were on the fence as to how deep was too deep.. She kept wanting to go deeper and deeper and hit 103 and was wanting to go deeper but we were just doing the wall dive and having a good time.

Do we worry? I think all parents worry but we have been in the water enough with them to know them. They call no joy when they need to.
Would I let her do it again? In a heartbeat (well.. as long as I get to dive too!)

After doing Devils Throat to 123ft and ending the dive with all the star fish, I think the other kids may want to come along on the dive as well next time.. We shall see..