4 year old Diver?

[AndrewST]

I am new to the Diving sport and have a wife and two boys. My oldest, 4 years old, has fallen in love with the idea of diving! I come home from work and he is wearing my Mask and Fins, or at least trying, and tells me how he is going to get "Yellow SCUBA fins, when I am 10 dad!".

Prior to this last week he hasn't been in water, except for the bath tub. Well my Mother, Wife and the boys went on a trip to So Cal to my Grandmothers house, my Grandmother has a pool.

With the idea of SCUBA Diving, and a new set of Yellow Fins /w Mask, he has learned how to swim a bit. In fact according to my wife, he won't get out of the pool until bed time.

Who says you can't start too soon?

 

[DandyDon]

Haha cute. My 5 yo granddaughter loves to snorkel. The little tyke is not afraid of anything, wants to pet the spiders we find on hikes, but is good about wearing her PFD. We got her first one for a trip to Florida, even tho she was to be the only one not getting off of the snorkel boat; they're required to wear one, by law and by me. We went shopping, trying different vest, and when we found one she didn't cry about - Sold! Now she is in swim lessons.

 

[Garrobo]

There's a lot of difference between puddling around in a family pool in a life vest and putting on dive gear and understanding and performing the concepts of diving. I think I'd wait a while. If not I'd get the kid a good insurance policy which included scuba diving.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

Although I would caution actually putting a child that young on pressurized air underwater, I do think if the child shows an interest, it's good to encourage that interest in responsible ways.

Here's Christine. She wants to be a scuba diver ... like her daddy ...

And my friend Doug just couldn't WAIT to get his son outfitted. Here's baby's first backplate (custom-built by Tobin George of DSS) ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Doc]

Looks like a good start.

I was sitting around with 15 or so family members, and of that group, about 10 of us were either certified or had been resort diving a lot.

The diving and training was all unrelated to one another's persuasions. It just happened over the years.

This is all because our mothers would use the lake as a babysitter- as soon as we could- we were tossed into the pond. None of us have any fear of water.

 

[Kingpatzer]

Personally, I think the general attitude towards minimum age requirements really fails to recognize that most kids simply take to this stuff very naturally. I wouldn't take a kid down to 100', but I suspect that you could let any average 4 year old scuba around the family pool without any problems at all with an adult supervisor in the water with them.

 

[Will]

Why not get him started into snorkeling / freediving? Never too early to start that and a lot cheaper Once he's old enough he would have a very high water comfort level and a lot of basic skills that would make openwater a much easier transition!

 

[Sue J]

My son became obsessed with scuba diving at 3. His favorite entertainment was a cheesy dive video about Cocos Island. He started the Scuba Rangers program at 8, was certified at 10 and last week, at 14, finished the qualifications for Master Diver. He introduced the rest of the family to diving. None of us would be doing scuba without him. Some kids just know what they want early.

I'd get your son some swim lessons and eventually get him started on snorkeling. When he turns 8 he can start the PADI Seal Team program or SSI's Scuba Rangers. Both programs are excellent for kids.

 

[diver 85]

yep---most little ones love the water-----keep it up, long ways to go but you never know.....

 

[Walter]

This scares the crap out of me. I believe there are rare children who are ready to dive at 12, but they are extremely rare. I do not believe anyone younger than 12 should ever be diving. Most people should wait at least until they are adults. Mental capacity is merely one aspect of the equation. Emotional maturity is a big factor as is physical development.

I love to dive as much as anyone, but it's simply not worth the potential harm to a child.