Reinforcing the Important Basics

[Scraps]

My offshore dive was cancelled due to weather today, so I took my newly certified OW daughter to an inland site 2-1/2 hours from home.

22 minutes into the dive, she signaled that she was cold and gave me the thumbs up. We ascended and called it a day.

Afterwards, she was apologetic about the fact that we drove five hours for 22 minutes of diving, but I shut that line of thinking down. We accomplished the primary mission of getting everyone back safe. It was, by definition, a good dive.

I think one of the hardest skills for new divers is learning to resist social, peer, or family pressure to dive or to continue diving when they aren't comfortable.

I was glad she had the confidence to call the dive. I felt better about that than I did about her reduced arm sculling from last week.

 

[MargaritaMike]

My offshore dive was cancelled due to weather today, so I took my newly certified OW daughter to an inland site 2-1/2 hours from home.

22 minutes into the dive, she signaled that she was cold and gave me the thumbs up. We ascended and called it a day.

Afterwards, she was apologetic about the fact that we drove five hours for 22 minutes of diving, but I shut that line of thinking down. We accomplished the primary mission of getting everyone back safe. It was, by definition, a good dive.

I think one of the hardest skills for new divers is learning to resist social, peer, or family pressure to dive or to continue diving when they aren't comfortable.

I was glad she had the confidence to call the dive. I felt better about that than I did about her reduced arm sculling from last week.

I hope she reads this: I have known many divers who did not have the diving wisdom that your daughter has demonstrated. Blowing bubbles is great, but knowing when to stop is greater. There are hundreds of reasons to thumb a dive and most of them are a personal decision, if not all of them. BUT once the decision is made for ANY reason it is a GOOD decision. I have only thumbed a few dives, but I have no regret for any of them. I'm here to tell about it. My shortest dive was less than 5 minutes. Congrats to your daughter!!!!

Cheers - M²

 

[aviator8]

I’m glad you are taking the time to stress this and talk about it with your daughter. My daughter got OW certified this year and I stressed to her repeatedly that she can call ANY dive for any reason that makes her feel unsafe or uncomfortable. She should never feel pressured by anyone, even me, to do a dive she has iffy feeling about. With kids there is going to be an innate desire to follow what they are told and to seek approval, so it was very important to me to make sure she understood how that could get her into bad situations. She has called a few dives since she started and I’m glad to see her exercise that judgment. Kudos to you for discussing this with her.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

Good dad.

 

[formernuke]

Anyone can call a dive at anytime without recrimination, it's one of the basic safety tenants.

Good job reinforcing that to a younger person.

 

[Kimela]

She's learning to advocate for herself, and that's one of the many things I love about diving. I think it's an important lesson for women AND men. Too many of us grow up to be 'people pleasers' and say yes when we'd rather say no, and vice versa. Scuba helped build my sense of competence and assertiveness. Kudos to you both!

 

[Bob DBF]

22 minutes into the dive, she signaled that she was cold and gave me the thumbs up. We ascended and called it a day.

My adult daughter didn’t, and she spent the rest of the day being treated for hypothermia. If it was some other knucklehead buddy with her, they may not have noticed the odd behaviour and/or lost her when she was in no condition to surface unaided, never mind make it back to the boat.

Know your limitations.


Bob

 

[Scott]

Respect
Good call on your daughters part for knowing her limits and making the call.
Kudo to you for applauding good decision making.

 

[Divectionist]

Now take her exposure gear shopping as a reward

There are so many cold divers out there and they don't have to be.

 

[jadairiii]

In diving, as in life, when anyone "pulls the thumb" you turn and go home. If your buddy ever questions it, he/she aint your buddy anymore.