9 year old diving?

[halocline]

Think of it this way - is your 9 year old physically capable of rescuing you? Or emotionally capable of dealing with a situation from which there can be no rescue?

If that's your standard for letting people dive, basically any child and many adults would not meet it.

 

[Glenn08]

"Understanding the complete reason for the rules ..." Riddle me this: what is the purpose of swimming on the surface without a mask and breathing through a snorkel ?

---------- Post added September 20th, 2013 at 09:31 PM ----------

<facetious font> So just because you were active in, and familiar with, your son's training and abilities, and limited his diving to be within his abilities, you think you were justified in breaking the hard and fast age rules ? Surely you will be shunned !

 

[mathauck0814]

If that's your standard for letting people dive, basically any child and many adults would not meet it.

I'm not sure I'm ok with the idea of letting children dive. I wouldn't take one for a student, for certain. As for adults, once you're of age, you're free to do as you please in my book; whether it's a good idea or not

 

[RJP]

Hard and fast rules are best for those who don't want to think. I challenged the hard and fast rule that student divers do not use dry suits. My son did his open water training in a Viking dry suit - he was always too cold in a wet suit. And if your son is not capable of rescuing you, dive in a group of three - but you have to vet the third diver. We also broke the hard and fast rule of only diving in pairs. Bottom line = expect a lot of resistance to breaking the rules, especially if you question the justification.

How silly.

There is no "hard and fast rule" about students in dry suits.
There is no "hard and fast rule" about diving in pairs.
Minimum age for scuba certification is 10 years of age. Certifying someone younger than that is a violation of standards. That's "hard and fast."

(Frankly, hard and fast rules - scuba or otherwise - are typically put in place to protect people who can't or don't think from harming themselves or others.)

---------- Post added September 20th, 2013 at 10:50 PM ----------

If that's your standard for letting people dive, basically any child and many adults would not meet it.

Divers need the physical and mental skills necessary to perform the actions that may be required of them on a dive - both uneventful and emergency situations.
Further, divers need to have the intellectual AND emotional capacity to understand and accept the risks/consequences they are assuming.

All divers fall somewhere on a spectrum for both of these variables. Adults have the "advantage" of being allowed to accept risks/consequences for themselves... irrespective of their actual diving skills.

It would be atypical, but not impossible, for a 9yr old to have the requisite mental and physical skills to dive and be an effective buddy.

However, the likelihood of a 9yr old having the necessary intellectual and emotional capacity is infinitesimally small. Personally, I feel that any adult willing to put a 9yr old in that position either does not understand diving or is just plain irresponsible.

Of course, some will say "But does that magically change on a kid's 10th birthday?" My answer is "Of course not. 10 is too young as well. As is 11, 12, 13, and for many so is 14." (And yes, there are many adults that lack the skills, intellectual ability, or both to dive. If that's the case, those people should not have been certified.)

 

[Crass3000]

I have to admit that when I started diving I couldn't wait until my son was old enough to get Jr OW. He did some of the PADI Bubble blower and Seal Team. Lately I am starting to realize that there's a lot of stuff in the OW manual for most 10 year olds to understand. I'm not sure I'm going to be comfortable with it but I guess I'll see if he is mature enough to take reading the manual seriously. I used to ski all over the US and had no problem with most double diamond runs and started my son skiing when he was 3. He loved it but I finally ended up with a BAD leg break (on an easy 300ft vertical hill ironically). It made me think that he had no idea how bad he could get hurt if he blew his knee or something. He was a crazy little madman and always wanted to push things to the harder hills. I just came to the realization that it was sort of irresponsible of me to take him doing things that had such high consequences. I'm not saying I won't let him get certified at 10 if he shows the maturity and effort to read and learn but otherwise I think I would just be putting him in danger.

 

[FinnMom]

You can always give it a try. Just take it slow, don't scare him and don't pressure him (or anyone else) to do something when they are no longer having having fun. He can gain a lot of experience, have a lot of fun and see amazing things in water that's only shoulder-high. Teach him to go slow and look carefully and he might be champion critter-spotter in no time.

 

[The Chairman]

I won't teach a student younger than 14. The Boy Scouts have that as the limit for diving on a Boy Scout trip as well. There is no compelling reason to teach a kid younger than that, other than the need to demonstrate arrogance.

 

[Max Speed]

Starting young is how you get to be good at stuff. Skiing, motorcycle racing, shooting, gymnastics......and water sports. Once you're in your late teens it's too late...

That said, you have to balance the risk of brain lesions and other pressure effects against the desire to participate. Snorkeling would be a good start.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Jim Lapenta]

NetDoc and I agree on many things. Even though for some reason he ignores my friend requests on FaceBook. Have to ask him about that at DEMA.

But on this we have a separation of beliefs. I have assisted in the certification of ten year olds as a PADI DM. Something that I now struggle with except in the case of one young lady who is now 18 and one helluva diver. As a YMCA/NAUI DM/AI candidate and later YMCA Instructor I team certed a few 12, 13, and 14 yr olds with no regrets. But that was due to the screening process of those kids. I also saw a few get turned away and told to come back later. And that was done with a few adults as well.

I have a few kids in my YMCA Snorkeling/Skin Diving program that I would have no reservations about certing at 12 which is the min age for SEI. But then these kids are doing simulated rescues of me now on the surface and from the bottom of a 12 ft deep pool.This is part of the program that I developed for them. Now there are others who I would not consider certing. But it's not an arbitrary decision. Over the course of several months I get to see what they have in the way of maturity, dedication, skills, and intelligence. That is how the decision should be made. And done the same way for adults.

 

[RJP]

Starting young is how you get to be good at stuff. Skiing, motorcycle racing, shooting, gymnastics......and water sports. Once you're in your late teens it's too late...

Yeah, I started diving when I was 40... and I'm just terrible at it.