Eight Year Old Diver

[CMAN]

My son got certified at 10 ( he is 14 now). One problem that I found was that when I dove with him I was so busy watching him that my enjoyment level suffered (must be a parent thing). Now that he has gotten older and has more dives I think I can "backoff" a little. Now my daughter will be 10 this summer and she wants to get certified. We snorkle alot together and she is very comfortable in the water but I'm a little apprehensive because she is small for her age and I don't think she can handle the gear (heavy tank) but she is quick to remind me that her " brother got certified at 10" so it looks like I will be buying some small tanks that she can handle.

 

[Beej1123]

My son got certified at 10 ( he is 14 now). One problem that I found was that when I dove with him I was so busy watching him that my enjoyment level suffered (must be a parent thing). Now that he has gotten older and has more dives I think I can "backoff" a little. Now my daughter will be 10 this summer and she wants to get certified. We snorkle alot together and she is very comfortable in the water but I'm a little apprehensive because she is small for her age and I don't think she can handle the gear (heavy tank) but she is quick to remind me that her " brother got certified at 10" so it looks like I will be buying some small tanks that she can handle.

My daughter is 9 and started "Jr. Seals" with PADI in September. She will complete her 5 "aqua mission" in March and then move on to Master Seals. She handles the gear just fine and you can't keep her out of the water. The only problem she is now encountering is going deeper in the pool. Our training pool is 16 ft deep and she can make it to the shelf which is 10ft and then after that she can't clear her ears. Did your son have any problems with that when he was younger? Her instructor is taking it very slow with her but she wants to go deeper and gets frustrated that she can't clear them.
I think it's GREAT for these kids to be interested in scuba at a young age.

 

[CMAN]

My son never had any problem with equalizing which surprised me because it seem that he had ear infections (and colds) constantly through the winter months when he was younger (4 thru 7 yrs. old). My sons friend (he is one of my boy scouts too) is also certfied and he had no problems with his ears either.

 

[hardin]

After following this for a while, I put in my 2 cents. I don't remember these points being covered.
There have been recorded incidents causing injuries breathing air under pressure at depths of 4 feet.
There are recorded incidents causing death breathing air under pressure at depths of 15 feet.
The GREATEST pressure differential in scuba happens between 0 feet & 15 feet. Review your diving physics laws.
There are medical papers on the maturity (or lack of) in the lungs of children. Some of these papers relate that there may be a marked difference between boys & girls with the progression of lung maturity, with the boys lungs being more prone to injury as thier lungs "lag" behind those of girls. Case in point, the noticable body "thinness" of boys may be a sign of Marfan's syndrome.
I have noticed on multiple medical forms of diving teenagers whom were released to dive with asthma being noted & most were being treated with asthma medication including inhalers. ASTHMA IS A CONDITION THAT COMPLETELY PRECLUDES DIVING ON COMPRESSED AIR!!!! But it happens regularly. If you take the time to study the disease of Asthma you will find it absolutley precludes that person to diving because it can lead to lung overexpansion injuries, even microscopicaly, such as pneumothorax, subcutaneous eymphasema, & gas embolism (not a complete list). I have a sick feeling the doctors releasing these children to dive are NOT familiar with the sport of Scuba & the physics laws governing those breathing air at pressure.
Another factor for children diving is PADI has "rules" on just who these children may dive with as a diving buddy.
In my years of diving I have seen cases where a ten year old had more diving savvy than a 40 year old & was more capable of diving safely than the adult. Many times these children are better prepared than the adults. But then I have seen adults dive that are 50 to 75 pounds over weight, smokers for over 30 years, & somewhat more than "social" drinkers, if you know what I mean! Is it safe for this person to dive? I think not, but it happens all the time.
Conclusion: A frank talk with the childs doctor about the doctors experience level in dealing with children's diseases, & they must be familiar with SCUBA & all assorted facets of SCUBA, points that should be on the short list when deciding on your childs physical ability to Scuba. If the child's doctor is NOT extensively familiar with & trained in hyperbarics, find one that is!!! I get somewhat "uneasy" when I review medical records of children showing up at camp ready to scuba. Especially when I see "ASTHMA & THE LIST OF MEDS THEY ARE TAKING AND ARE SUPPLIED WITH ONE OR MORE INHALERS FOR ACUTE EXACERBATIONS OF THE DISEASE PROCESS!"
Is the chance of death or severe life altering injuries worth a day on scuba? I don't think so!
My 2 cents.....
Grady
PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor 1978
Paramedic since 1973
Remote Environment Medical Care Specialist 1983

 

[Tao of the Dive]

My seven year old is counting the days until he can learn to do what daddy does. He's a straight A student, the most mature 7 year old I've ever seen (nope, not bias talking either). He has breathed from a regulator at the surface while following my instructions, and performing surface drills. Flawlessly I might add. Would I feel safe with him at depth? Not yet. I'd feel better about him diving at my side when he turns 12-14. As has been said before, there are concepts at work here well beyond the grasp of the casual or even exceptional 8-12 year old child. There are maturity levels at work here as well that could be detrimenal. As smart as my child is, he can be as silly as any other kid, and it's those silly little moments that can catch up to you at depth. The one thing you have to ask yourself is, how do you correct your child when they are doing soemthing wrong? You communicate the error to them. When you are in a place where communciation is severely diminished, and mistakes turn fatal, it changes the equation.

SCUBA rangers, or the like for my child? absolutely. I know what it was like at his age, reading about Jacques Cousteau, watching the TV shows, seeing the underwater pictures an films, and knowing there was a world of wonder merely a few waves away. Looking forward to the day when I'd see it all first hand. Feeling as though my age was the stumbling block, but thinking I was ready. In my case, I didn't get certified until I was well into my twenties. I don't want that for him if diving is what he wants to do. But as a responsible parent, I'm bound to make sure that his exposure to it is safe, well thought out, and leaves him with that same sense of wonder and desire. Even if we dont get to dive together i nthe way I'm used to, so long as we dive together, I'll be hapy, becuase I'll be sharing soemthing that my dad and I never got to do together. (This too I plan to change if possible, but would be more apropriate for a Diving Seniors thread)

 

[spudusaf]

To all:

I am almost 34 and I got certified at the age of 14. It was the best present my parents gave me for my bday. I loved it and I would recommend it to any teen that the parent feels is responsible enough to handle it. However, the only draw back that I had was that since I was a junior diver and had to dive with someone until I was 18 (I always dive with someone). I did not dive for many years because I did not know anyone else that dove. If you the parent are a diver or the child has friends that are and are of the right age, then YES LET THENM DIVE!

Hope they like it as much as I did at that age..

Spudusaf

 

[Scuba_Dad]

My daughter turns 8 next month :11: (I'm getting old). Although I am PADI certified I have already enrolled her in SSI's Scuba Rangers (8-10 yr olds). However, I should point out that I looked at ALL the schools (PADI, NAUI, etc) here in the Houston area. The shop I am going through has a large, established Scuba Rangers program. The class (which a sort of club from the kids point of view) start with five hours of one on one PRIVATE instruction and then continues to meet twice a month all year long to practice in the pool. Parents are welcome to dive with the kids in the pool which is suprisingly fun. Upon the instructors approval the kids are allowed to go on open water (lake) dives but only with an instructor as a buddy. Depth is strictly limited to 15 feet. I think the main thing to do is to find a school that specializes in young divers and has an established program. Additionally, I am taking the rescue class for my own peace of mind. Just my two cents.

Thoughts??

Time to add my 2 cents worth into the topic of Kids & Scuba.

All three of my kids dive. The first thing I learned with my oldest was diving with a kid is like diving without a buddy. You're on your own. Therefore, when I take my kids out, I always go with a group.

My oldest was certified when he was 12. I signed him up for his O/W class for his 12th birthday. He did great in the class, and he's a pretty good diver. One of the first dives I took him on... beach dive for lobster... when we surfaced, both of my calves cramped up. I tried to pull the cramp on the surface to no avail, so I told him I was going to sit on the bottom (10-12 ft) and pull it. When I resurfaced, he was already in the surf on his way to the beach. Needless to say, he received a severe chewing about leaving his buddy in the water. My mistake was leaving him on the surface alone.

My daughter was certified as a 10 year old. During her open water class, she scored higher on her test and out performed almost everyone in the water. She was the only kid in the class. Her problem in the water is the fact that she's over confident. She's very relaxed. One time we were diving in West Palm, and I noticed her regulator wasn't in her mouth. So, I calmly grabbed her regulator, crammed it into her mouth, and asked if she was OK... yup! She was. After the dive I asked her what happened... She said her regulator fell out of her mouth. So of course I asked the next logical question... why didn't you put it back in... she said she did, and it fell out again. Come to find out, her regulator wasn't configured correctly. My LDS had her AAS coming out of the LP port on the top of her 1st stage, so it was pulling on her primary. We fixed that, and we haven't had the problem again. Lesson learned: Don't take your eyes off of your kids. They're unpredictable. Now, my main problem with my daughter is that she'll swim off without me. I need a leash... I'm always chewing on her about swimming off without her buddy.

My youngest (10) is a PADI SEAL and he's slowly working on his Open Water certification. He's completed all the pool sessions and OW dive #1. He's currently working on (procrastinating) on Chapter 5 in the book. He is no where near as mature or as confident as my daughter. I'm not pushing him to get certified. When he's ready, he'll get it done.

Diving with my kids is what encouraged me to continue my SCUBA education. I was already an expired AI and DM. After my daughter was certified, I took the rescue course and renewed my DM. I started assisting my LDS to improve my knowledge and skills. Finally, my daughter talked me into going to IDC and becoming an instructor.

Diving with my kids is very rewarding. Every dive is a training session for them, and we're all having a blast. But... they're also very unpredictable, and I have to be on my toes (fins) all the time.

As far as SSI taking their Scuba Rangers in O/W... I think that's great! After a PADI Seal completes all 5 sessions, they're ready for a supervised dive in shallow O/W.

Al

 

[todive4]

Cool stuff... I started my naui open water course as soon as I heard about scuba, which was when I was eleven, then I just waited till my 12th b-day to do the OW dives. best thing my dad ever did for me (but then again I wasnt 8 at the time). even so, I think its great to get her involved as early as possible as long as its safe and she's mature enough.

 

[leo311]

"There are no conclusive epidemiologic studies that examine diving and the effects of bone growth among pediatric divers. Many physicians trained in diving medicine feel it may be prudent for adolescents to wait until an age when long-bone growth is complete before considering diving.

In general, the concern is focused on the possible formation of micro-bubbles in the bloodstream of all scuba divers. We often call these ‘silent bubbles’, which fail to produce any detectable symptoms, but are known to be present in the bloodstream of many divers. No one knows to what extent these bubbles could form in younger divers. Theoretically, these bubbles may obstruct blood flow in nutrient vessels to the epiphyseal plates, also called growth plates. This process may cause focal areas of avascular necrosis or angular deformity to the developing weight bearing long bones, particularly the femoral head, distal femur, and proximal tibia

Young divers should stay within the guidelines of the junior divers program. This will limit their exposure to nitrogen, by restricting depth, time and number of dives as well as allowing for maximum surface intervals to promote nitrogen off gasing. Although the concern is theoretical, conservative dive practices are recommended for junior divers. "-Divers Alert Network

"Use common sense"-Leo.

 

[akscubainst]

My 8 y/o has been diving in the pool since he was 4 (4' only) and was diving with me last November in Bonaire 2 weeks prior to his 8th B-day.

Granted he has grown up in a dive shop (literally) and knows more about diving than most certified divers. He did 4 dives in Bonaire all less than 30', and less than 20 minutes, and only 1 per day, on all of them, I had my hands on him the entire dive and on the night dive he had an instructor on either side of him (myself and my buddy) and my wife was right there as well.

He won't be able to dive here until he's probably at least 13 just because of the amount of gear, and I'm not buying him a custom drysuit. But on vacations he's diving with me. Of course having parents who own a dive shop helps his cause.

I started diving at 17 and my brother was 14 we've been going steady every since.

Dave