Kid divers?

[bgilbert5]

Hi all,

Just curious, how many of you have children who dive, and how old are they? I have three, two of which are older than ten, however neither of which would I allow to dive at this point. I guess it's a "dad-thing", and maybe I am too protective, but even the oldest (16 yo) is waaaaaay too aloof / forgetful, etc. to handle it in my opinion. I guess it depends on the individual, but I am curious as to how many of you have kids who dive, and how old they are.

BG

 

[RJTY]

My 13 yr old just got certified two weeks ago. I had made a deal with him two years ago. If he keeps his grades, straight A's, I will get him certified for his 13th birthday. He has a heart condition, but his cardiologist, who is also a diver, approved him. His certification dive was the best dive I ever did. We had a blast.

 

[bgilbert5]

That is too cool. Congrats to both of you!

 

[Scubachick76]

When i got certified.. one of the people doing their checkouts was a 12 year old kid. I believe there is a depth limitation at that age.

 

[reefugee]

I have a 17, 16, and 11 year old girls. The 17 and 16 have no interest in diving whatsoever. The 11 year old is a fish and atheletic. She is mature for her age. She really wants to dive. She has done some basic scuba skills (mask clearing, OOA, etc) in our pool with my gear. After a lot of discussion, we decided that for her 12th birthday (this month), we are getting her an OW certification.

BTW - I am more afraid of my 16 and 17 year old driving than I am of having my 12 year old diving.

Minh

 

[ChrisEdwards]

I'm blessed with a very smart, responsible, 13 year old. We completed our OW cert last weekend. I was concerned about the under water drills with him, but he did them better than most of the other folks in the class. He also embarassed a few folks by instantly figuring out the dive tables and computing 3 dive scenarios faster than all but one other person in the class and that wasn't me. The only thing he initially struggled with was the 60ft swim, underwater, in the pool. He got it on his 5th attempt.

We had a blast doing our check out dives in the lake and the ocean. He strugggled to equalize his ears on the first ocean dive descent, he just did exactly what he was supposed to do, indicated his problem, went up a few feet, tried again, repeated this going up and down about 4 times until they equalized and then we descended to 55fsw.

Although when we practiced the buddy surface tow, at the lake, he struggled a little pushing my 190lbs + gear through the water, even though he plays ice hockey and lacrosse.

Later this month we are going to do the "Living Seas" dive at Epcot.

My daugther is almost 12, I will get her certified next year in the spring. At that point we will do mainly shallow (30fsw) dives. There's plenty to see in the shallow reefs for us newbies.

 

[Guba]

This in no way answers your question, BG, since I don't have children who dive. However, I do see quite a few kids diving and that's good....AS LONG AS it's done in the proper format. What makes me uneasy is when I see parents "groom" their kids as potential dive partners WITHOUT taking other measures. Some of those measures are to realize that when a great, big adult (usually male) goes diving with a child, the adult is essentially diving solo but with a young "charge" that must be looked after (I have a tendency to call them "ramoras", and that's not derogatory). That means the adult must have certain gear, training, guidelines and the responsibility to dive as a solo with additional duties. This will raise a few folks' hackles, so let me interject this to qualify the point. Children may very well have the mental and psychological readiness to dive. That does not make them an adequate dive partner. There are simply some physical and mental "equipment" they may not have yet developed.
The easiest comparison could be to rock climbing. I have been a BSA scoutmaster and have witness many young people in a myriad of situations. Occassionally, we would sometimes take the guys rappelling. Certainly, we worked safely and each youngster knew how to belay, arrest their partner's falls, etc... Does that mean I would want every one of them to belay ME? While the equipment can and does give a person of slight build some advantage, it doesn't mean it's safe for an 80 pound child to hold the lifeline of a 200 pound dad. There is simply too much at stake. Physical limitations would jeopardize not only the adult on the line, but also the young person on the other end. It's the same way with diving.
You are wise to objectively scrutinize your children and evaluate their readiness to dive. You are correct in realizing that it is, indeed, dependent upon the individual child. When parents get into trouble is when they overestimate their child's abilities and limitations.

 

[Damselfish]

I think you know your kids best and should trust your instincts. It helps that you dive and know the issues better than a parent who doesn't dive. Some kids are ready to dive younger than others, and some adults shouldn't be allowed in the water.

 

[rico68]

My wife and two kids were all certified earlier this year.
The boys are 14 and 16. Both boys were more comfortable and confident in the water than my wife during OW classes.
Both boys have a pretty healthy respect for the diving world. The 16 year old especially has life all figured out (didn't we all at 16?). But when it comes to diving he's very cautious and safety minded. I watch them more closely than other dive buddies I have, I'm still the dad. But then, I watch my wife closer than my other dive buddies, also. Maybe it's because I know they're all new and has less to do with our relationship, I don't know. I'm not ready to cut them loose yet. If they're diving, they're diving with me. I wouldn't let the 16 year old go off on his own yet with another buddy. That day will come; but not yet. When I dive with them we dive shallow. All pretty uncomplicated dives at this point.

Yes, they're certified, but I'm viewing this initial 12-18 months as their learner permits. They can drive, but I'm in the passenger seat.

 

[idratherbedivin]

I am responding to this at a different angle then everyone else being that I am a 17 year old diver. My mom, sister (14), and I all got certified together last december. It was a great experience for all of us to dive together. We all had loved snorkeling so much and we wanted to be closer to the fish so we decided to try it. I am very happy with my mom not being overprotective of me when I am diving. She has let me go on a night dive with just my sister and I in Bonaire, she let me meet up with a couple people from scubaboard that i had never met and dive without her, and she let me take a drysuit class all without her. I don't really know how my mom feels when she dives but in my opinion I am usually the one who protective of my mom and sister when they dive. I am always the one coming and checking their gauges and telling them to come up a little. I once caught my mom at 110 feet 1 minute away from incurring deco because we were chasing a turtle. She would have been in real trouble if she had gone any deeper because i was on nitrox and she wasnt so I couldnt have gone much further down safely. I consider my sister to be a perfectly capable buddy that I would dive with but I don't know about her diving with a large man because I don't know if she would be able to rescue him. My 9 year old brother is going to get certified when he turns 10 for our trip to australia. We are not treating him like a buddy at all. I am planning to get my rescue so that I can watch over him when we are diving. I think that if your 16 year old is interested in it then you should let him try it out. It will be a really fun way for you to spend time with him/her which I am sure there aren't that many other things to do because most parents are boring No offense to anyone. If your kid likes diving then I think that he/she will learn quickly and learn how to be a safe dive buddy and diver. If he/she doesn't like it then oh well, you tried, you don't have to worry about that anymore.

And BTW, I do have life figured out