Help with my 11 yr old Jr OW cert

[gasgirl]

My 11 yr old daughter is starting her Jr OW certification course this week. What are the basic concepts my husband and I should try to reinforce? I would appreciate anyone who has had experience with young children to give me their 2 psi worth.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Tom Winters]

How motivated is she? My wife and her ex-idiot were both instructors, so they figured their kid would be a natural. She's 12 and has been a cert for ayear, but I have NO confidence in her scuba skills and have to watch her like a hawk when she dives with us.
She can take diving or leave it - and if it's not done for her, she won't do it. We have a dive boat, all teh gear in the world, and she HATES to go out on it - not when she could be on Neopets or Gaia.
When I was 9, I taught myself to dive and lived and breathed diving from then on no one had to watch me or worry if I knew what I was doing.
So if your kid is psyched, pumped, and ready to go, more power to you. There are a lot of similarities between teaching kids and adults scuba - they get it or they don't. If she gets it, great; if not, oh well.

 

[Marek K]

My 11 yr old daughter is starting her Jr OW certification course this week. What are the basic concepts my husband and I should try to reinforce? I would appreciate anyone who has had experience with young children to give me their 2 psi worth.

Our 12-year-old daughter (6th grade) is on the tail end of her JOWD course through SSI; though I'm more familiar personally with PADI. Wife is sitting on with her, partly to refresh herself after 13 years of no diving, and partly just to accompany our daughter.

Big thing is the reading. The appropriate chapter needs to be done before the class; the class is just a reinforcement and review, and a chance to ask the instructor questions. We found the SSI book to be a little bit of a stretch for our daughter, but she's doing fine. I do encourage her to ask about and discuss things out of each chapter that she's not understanding; from certain words, to certain concepts. I've also had to coach her a bit through the short-answer review questions at the end of each chapter; made sure she either knew the answers, or found the answers on her own.

I'm still not sure how much stress SSI is going to put on knowing dive tables on the exam... understanding what you're doing, and why, is pretty complex for an 11- or 12-year-old.

Like with everything, you're going to find yourself walking that fine line between encouraging your kid, and not pushing to the frustration point.

Good luck!

--Marek

 

[diverkristi]

I sure hope my girls really want to do it (3 and 5). They are undergoing aggressive brainwashing on my end (buying the scuba clothes (Cutest Scubagirl dress for the 3 year old by Zoodles), and 5 year old is mezmerized by the "Blue Planet" documentaries). Seriously, I really want them to have the interest, but only if THEY truely have an interest. Too dangerous a sport if they aren't really "there".

The 5 year old is fascinated by my gear, and is really into swimming lessons this year so that she'll be ready for scuba when she's old enough.....I think it shows promise.....

 

[boomx5]

My 12 year old son has been certified since he was 10 and absolutely loves to dive. The one thing I've done with him is take things very, very slow and spend plenty of time real shallow (10'-15'). Another thing I like to do is let him plan and lead the dives that way I can watch the way he makes decisions; which allows him to grow at his own pace and build his confidence.

 

[kent_1848]

Make sure your daughter is doing this because she wants to, not because you want her to. Ask yourself if your daughter asked to do this, or if you asked your daughter if she wanted to get certified? As long as she wanted to do this, you won't have any worries. Kids can pick up on anything that they really want to do.

 

[redrover]

My 11 yr old daughter is starting her Jr OW certification course this week. What are the basic concepts my husband and I should try to reinforce? I would appreciate anyone who has had experience with young children to give me their 2 psi worth. Thanks in advance!

Hi,

It looks like you have a good idea from your number of dives. I do not teach diving but will suggest three things from other exp. As a general education approach, I use positive reinforcement, neutral response to negatives as close in time as possible and seek opportunities to tie one concept to another.
Examples:
She cleans her room with out being reminded (demonstrating responsibility) and wants a new bathing suit that is no big deal to provide so she gets it.
She packs her things for class but forgets her mask. You notice (you obviously being an attentive parent) and ask if she has remembered her mask.
She packs her gear bag and asks where she should put it in the car (ie full gear vs a backpack size). She finds out it is hard to carry and thinks of other ways to manage her own gear that work for her size and physical limitations. Let her know she is such a joy to be around and can be trusted to pick a movie the whole family will enjoy watching.

For me the biggest is for her to understand diving allows her to experience an extraordinary environment many people do not get to. It also is alien and requires respect for the principals and the environment, extremely dangerous to disregard them, Diving is a fun activity that must be undertaken seriously, I would like anyone diving to feel privileged and worthy of respect.

Second, back up her class training by going over the lessons and course work with her. Ask different questions than the book and think of ways to apply one knowledge to another as if you have no clue, prompting for further grasp of how that applies to her, why she needs to understand it.
Use general time like in the car together to go back over previous lessons and encourage her to work things out herself as she will be depending on her ability to stop and think when something new crops up underwater. Address any concept point she has difficulty with until the answers are quick and correct. When something is not understood, table it for the moment until you can address it fully without distractions, strive for perfect practice.

Third, to trust her inner gut feelings, that (due to the attention of you and her instructor in training or class) she should trust herself. If the other kids or people do something she thinks is incorrect she should not feel it must be ok to do it. Never hesitate to ask for help, there are no stupid questions. And it is always ok to bag a dive.

 

[mcmickenj]

Talk to her instructor and make sure she practices mask flood/clear, mask removal/replacement, regulator recovery many times over until she is very comfortable with all these skills. Some certification programs only devote a limited amount of time to the pool and to practicing skills. Panic is what gets the majority of divers hurt, especially younger children. Training and experience is the best way to help prevent panic.

 

[Jade]

We certified our 11 and 13 year old last summer. I wouldn't have done it unless they really wanted to. The dive tables were hard for the youngest and he had a hard time with those on the written test, although he got most of them correct. It just took him a little longer. This weekend we took them diving at a scuba park which I feel much more comfortable because the environment is much more controlled. They both did pretty good, they have no problem with taking their masks off but need a lot of work on their bouyancy so we still are not going to let them dive in the ocean yet. Maybe next year after another season of diving.

 

[paolov]

she has to be very comfortable in water and she would like to take the course. you may have her try it first or train her for a limited certification; PADI SCUBA DIVER certification