Diving with children experiences

[dutch01527]

Hi

I am posting this experience in case anyone is concidering diving with their children.

I have just returned from a holiday in Thailand. I completed a Junior Open Water course (PADI) with my 2 sons aged 13 and 10. I was cautious about the ability of children of this age to dive safely and researched the Phuket dive training operations on the internet and via e-mail before we went on holiday.

I choose the Phuket Scuba Club in Kata Beach because they limited the number of students per instructor and we would dive with an instructor with just the three of us (They were a bit more expensive but what does that matter given the safety of my kids)

I was prepared to stop the course at anytime if I thought that the boys did not understand the course and/or were not safe.

As it turned out my fears were not justified, both boys proved to be mature enough to grasp the technical instruction. The instructor, Keith, did a great job of treating the kids like adults whilst making allowances for their age.

The pool training went very well; the kids were confident and understood all the instructions. The open water dives proved the value of the training. My 13 year old son had problems equalizing the pressure in his ears. He signaled the problem to the instructor went up a couple of meters and tried again. He was unable to solve the problem and signaled the continuing problem and calmly followed the Keith’s orders to return to the surface. He attempted a decent again under instruction but the problem remained so Keith aborted the dive. It was all very calm and controlled which was a testament to the training and my boy’s courage.

When my 13 year old was safely back on the boat, we continued the dive with me, the 10 year old and Keith. The two OW dives went without incident and the 10 year old completed all the training tasks perfectly.

My 10 year old is physically exceptionally strong and confident for his age and has been snorkeling off the beach and in open water since he was about seven. Therefore he may not be a typical example but our experience was entirely positive and I would recommend the PADI training for kids. I felt safe and secure at all times and it was a real pleasure to dive with my sons.

We will dive again, but only with a dedicated qualified instructor (as per the PADI certification) until the kids are older.

Regards
Steve

 

[ScubaSarus]

Attitude and awareness are a big key. It appears you had both in this case. I think its great have childeren diving as long as thier attitude is good. I am glad things went well.

 

[Doc]

Diving with children is always a joy... even in a swimming pool.

On a recent trip to the Philippines, I watched two similar aged children dive in the same conditions (small boat, and to a much lesser extent the current) as did we big kids.

All well and good, they performed well, technicaly.

The crucial difference is the critical maturity level and decision making ability of the diver under stress.

They simply do not have it.

Depending upon your abilities to assist, much less a swim along instructor is a calculated risk, much the same as taking a child to a third world country (or remote environ).

I am not saying that this as an absolute, it is just part of the equation. To expose a child to his universe is extremely important, and somehow we all survived riding bicycles (up until very recently) without a helmet.

Life is a calculated risk.

 

[ktrjc]

dutch01527, good job to you and your sons. Glad the 13 year old thumbed the dive and didn't risk any injury to himself, hopefully he will have the chance soon to dive again. Good job by the 10 year old completing all the tasks and getting two dives in.

 

[1RUSTYRIG]

The only time I have had a negative experience diving w/ kids was last week while diving in Belize. This jack *** gets on the boat with 4 kids (2 boys - 2 girls) and his kids are climbing all over the boat. Sliding down from the flybridge while the boat is in the open ocean, talking while the DM is doing the predive brief, you name it. If one of those kids had broke an ankle screwing around we would have scrubbed our Blue Hole trip.

But that was the first, and hopefully last, time I had a bad experience diving with kids. Most of them are mild mannered and not quick to panic.

 

[Walter]

As it turned out my fears were not justified

What went wrong during the course or during your diving after the course?

 

[dutch01527]

What went wrong during the course or during your diving after the course?

Walter

Nothing went wrong during or after the dive (except the inability of my 13 year old to equalise), my fears were in advance of the course, I was not sure if children of that age would be mature enough to cope with the technical education and also if they would remain calm if things went wrong.

regards

 

[Jarrett]

Dutch, I was in the exact same boat recently figuratively speaking. I took my 10yo for PADI ceritification kind of on a whim while in Cozumel. I had the same concerns and same surprise when she was able to not only handle learning all the techniques, but actually learned them better/quicker than I. We did 4 OW dives. Minor problems, but handled them. She got certified, we came back, bought a ton of gear for the two of us and quickly learned the lesson that RoatanMan was speaking of in his post.

She grasps all the technical concepts and does them well. What she has trouble with is really understanding the risks of diving. (None of which were really conveyed in our PADI course, but that's another topic) Also, being able to perform the required tasks in a stressful emergency situation is possibly a little beyond her at this point. This came quickly apparent after a visit to a local scuba park when the visability was about 6 feet in most places.

Since then, we've taken a step back and started just enjoying playing in the pool with the gear when she feels comfortable with it and I have continued to dive locally with others. I am hoping one day when she is a little older and more prepared for diving I will much more experienced and able to be a good diving buddy for her.

 

[dutch01527]

Dutch, I was in the exact same boat recently figuratively speaking. I took my 10yo for PADI ceritification kind of on a whim while in Cozumel. I had the same concerns and same surprise when she was able to not only handle learning all the techniques, but actually learned them better/quicker than I. We did 4 OW dives. Minor problems, but handled them. She got certified, we came back, bought a ton of gear for the two of us and quickly learned the lesson that RoatanMan was speaking of in his post.

She grasps all the technical concepts and does them well. What she has trouble with is really understanding the risks of diving. (None of which were really conveyed in our PADI course, but that's another topic) Also, being able to perform the required tasks in a stressful emergency situation is possibly a little beyond her at this point. This came quickly apparent after a visit to a local scuba park when the visability was about 6 feet in most places.

Since then, we've taken a step back and started just enjoying playing in the pool with the gear when she feels comfortable with it and I have continued to dive locally with others. I am hoping one day when she is a little older and more prepared for diving I will much more experienced and able to be a good diving buddy for her.

Jarret

Thanks for the responce - I agree with the analysis that a child of that age can not be relied on to handle an emergency situation safely (however I have dived with two adults who freaked out for no apparent reason and on balance I would trust my 10 year old more than them, but that is a different story).

I think that RoatanMan is right that any adventure activity is a balanced risk. I would only dive with the 10 year old in tightly controlled circumstances:

1) With a divemaster I trust, me and the child - not as part of a larger party
2) In good visibility
3) A max depth of about 10 metre
4) Moderate currents
5) Warm water
6) Following a pool session with the divemaster to refresh

I would be interested in the opinion of other divers but it seems to me that with those conditions the balanced risk is reasonable. I also allow my son to surf (with instructor), climb mountains ( with me) and play rugby all of which have risks but add greatly to the quality of his (and my) life.

regards

Steve

 

[Jarrett]

Steve, that sounds like a good plan. About risks, I don't know why I am so worried about Scuba, my daughter's other hobby is barrel racing!