How young/old for kids

[Jethroish]

My 11 year old daughter told us this week that she want to learn to dive. Probably because she is tired of staying with grandma while we go off.
Wife and I both certified SSI. SSI has the ranger progam and I am sure others (PADI, NAUI) has similar programs for kids. We were told a while back that 12 and under are (supposed to be) limited to no deeper than 25 feet and with a certified adult. Makes sense to me. I ain't letting her go without one of us anyhow.
Now I realize that there is no law aboutthe age or depth thing, but what is the norm? She would like to go in the gulf with us this summer.
She has donned her mother's gear and sat with me in 5 feet of water (I did not let go of her BC) and she was just fine. She did admit to being a little nervous, but so was I my first time.
I would like for her to get certified so that we can make it more of a family activity.
She is in good physical health and is a good student as long as it is not one of us teaching her. Which it will not be.
I don't really know what questions to ask here, but am looking more for input from those who have/had a similar situation AND instructors that deal with children.
Thanks

 

[RadRob]

I am torn on the subject... On one hand, what is so magical about the age in which she can dive? Do they magically become more mature on their birthday that night? No. I think that the level of maturity has a lot to do with it. However, if their weren't rules that have a set standard, discrimination would be claimed when one child was allowed to dive and another wasn't. Most parents think that their child is the next Einstein even if they aren't the sharpest tool in the shed. So, to cut that off, they figure that 12 and under is a pretty good standard.

On the other hand... you should also remember that this IS your CHILD. Do you think that she would be able to cope with anything thrown her way? Would she be ok if she lost her mask? Would she know what to do if she ran out of air or the reg malfunctioned? You have to think of her safety first. I know you would love to have her enjoy the activity with you. It is good that you are that type of family. However, there will be plenty of dive time later. Why take a chance of her not reaching the 13 year birthday?

 

[WPBdiver]

I got my neice certified last June. She is a very mature 14 and is a competitive swimmer. She is a natural in the water. For her OW class, she studied hard and performed all her skills flawlessly. I will get her younger sisters and my daughter certified, if they want, when and if I feel they are ready. I don't think that age matters. Some maybe ready at 11 and some will never be ready. It is a judgement call that the parent and instructor has to make. I think it is also imparative that the instructor that is chosen has a proven record with kids.

 

[laurelgsc]

I work with kids for a living. 9-16 year old girls and I can tell you that the previous poster is correct. Some are ready at 10 and some will never be ready. We do a NAUI certification clinic at the camp I run in the summer. We work with a very experienced, conservative, cautious instructor. She will absolutely not put kids in open water that she does not feel can handle it. If they don't have the attention span to pay attention during the classroom and pool instruction we call their parents and let them know it is not going to happen. All parents think their kids are the best and brightest and for whatever reason they want them to achieve certain milestones younger and younger. If my son/daughter wanted to get certified I would have them earn the right ie pay for the class, I think it means more to them and they are less likely to do it on a whim. If I had a nickle for every parent that had a VERY MATURE 2nd grader. Just my 2 cents>

 

[Diver0001]

My 11 year old daughter told us this week that she want to learn to dive. Probably because she is tired of staying with grandma while we go off.
Wife and I both certified SSI. SSI has the ranger progam and I am sure others (PADI, NAUI) has similar programs for kids. We were told a while back that 12 and under are (supposed to be) limited to no deeper than 25 feet and with a certified adult. Makes sense to me. I ain't letting her go without one of us anyhow.
Now I realize that there is no law aboutthe age or depth thing, but what is the norm? She would like to go in the gulf with us this summer.
She has donned her mother's gear and sat with me in 5 feet of water (I did not let go of her BC) and she was just fine. She did admit to being a little nervous, but so was I my first time.
I would like for her to get certified so that we can make it more of a family activity.
She is in good physical health and is a good student as long as it is not one of us teaching her. Which it will not be.
I don't really know what questions to ask here, but am looking more for input from those who have/had a similar situation AND instructors that deal with children.
Thanks

Well.... I'm not an instructor but I've helped train and dive with divers from 12 and up and what I notice is that they take to the diving part fairly readily, in many cases quite a bit better than adults. If they do start to struggle, however, then it will take patience and practice to make the click. Somehow if the chips don't fall into place right away it's somewhere between hard and hopeless to "explain" to them what they're doing wrong. You need to "show" them how to do it right..... It's a little killer detail that can frustrate the instructor as much as the student. In that sense, finding an instructor with a lot of experience training kids will help a lot.

Another difficulty I've noticed is in the theory. The 12 year olds I've seen seem to have quite a bit more difficulty grasping the theory than 14 year olds. This is a point you'll have to pay a lot of attention to. There are some principles involved that a kid from 12 just hasn't been exposed to yet. To prove it to yourself, just try explaining to your daughter how a boat made from 38,000 tons of steel can float. You can explain this to an adult in 5 minutes but unless your kid is exceptionally bright I'd bet a buck that after an hour you're still not 100% sure that she got it.... That's the difference and it's not just this one thing; everything about the theory goes in slow like this. Again, having an instructor with a lot of experience with kids will help.

My personal conclusion from seeing a variety of kids learning to dive is that, aside from individual differences, 12 is the absolute minimum age you should try. 14 is better. At 16 they can be taught more or less like adults.

In either case I wouldn't sign her up for a "normal" course with a more or less fixed tempo and timeframe. Stay involved, make sure that you keep some control over the tempo (you can slow it down if need be) and spend a lot of time together with your daughter on the theory. It will cost you more to slow down the tempo but you'll need to do this if you want her to understand it and become a safe diver. I don't know anything about scuba rangers and such but explore these "made for kids" programmes if they're available to you.

There are quite a few threads about kids and diving if you use the search function. It's worth your time to look at a few of them.

R..

 

[Lightning Fish]

My daughter is 4, she keeps saying she wants to go diving with me now. My response is always "maybe in 10 years".

Here is a thread that discussed several different viewpoints on the topic, http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=71131

Posts 82 and 93 are worth reading.

Bill.

 

[UWupnorth]

My daughter got certified when she was 12 and did it in a dry suit in Alaska. When we go on vacation to someplace warm I would put her up against any new adult diver in the skills department and she would meet or beat them. Some people are just a natural when it comes to diving. I think it just depends on their comfort and confidence level. As far as maturity level, I dont know? she has never been faced with any real emergency under water.

 

[Lightning Fish]

...As far as maturity level, I dont know? she has never been faced with any real emergency under water.

What about above water? Do you have any reference point that you can extrapolate from?

Bill.

 

[Mr.X]

I'm of the opinion that it's a matter of physical strength, endurance, reasonable intelligence and maturity. These are variable in all ages. Given that, what's the urge to certify someone if they are young (12)?

I've trained a lot of teens. My feeling is that kids in the age range of 14 (this is just an average out of hundreds that I've certified) do OK. Younger ones, smaller ones, thinner ones, spacey ones etc. need some time to catch up in physical/mental areas which are all so crucial when underwater. If the rush is to certify a very young kid so that they can go diving with mom and dad on vacation...I would certainly have a counseling session with the parents.

 

[pasley]

The issues as I see them:
1. Medical - SCUBA Diving Magazine January/February 2006 edition page 89 "The Long-Term Risk of Diving" makes a passing mention of age as a factor. Diving does affect the body. What and how that effect is on younger children is not known. DAN also does not recommend diving for the younger set.

2. FUTURE Maturity - yes future maturity. My darling, level headed, clear thinking daughter of 13 became a total can't think straight immature creature who actually said: "I know it is a dumb decision Daddy, but it is something I just have to do anyway" teenager at 14. Fortunately at 17 she grew out of it, but those 3 years were one wild ride. I am told this is "normal'. Moral of story, a mature 11 year old, may become a risk taking, nothing can happen to me 14-15 year old as the hormones kick in at puberty.

3. Physical Mental Ability – the brain develops over time. Some mental functions are just not yet developed. When the child says they don’t know why they did something, they really don’t’. At that age tomorrow is a lifetime away and if it has no instant effect (see fire, touch fire, feel pain) then it must not have any effect. I also love the 99 out of 99 people who do “X” have “Y” happen to them, “Yes, daddy, but that will not happen to me”. They can’t explain why they will be the exception, they just know it.

I would recommend waiting. If you were wrong about her, or if somthing just happened, you would never forgive yourself. Snorkling is a great thing to do as a family.

That is MHO and my 2,000 post.