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what is a Venture Scout?
Kids & SCUBA Materials ????
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JamesK
Contributor
I wish I could find it, but I remember reading an article on kids and diving. It discussed joints, bone growth and dcs. It stated that the make up of a still growing childs joints and bones makes them more susceptible to DCS and permanent injury from it.
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I have also heard this regarding the bones. It makes perfect sense.
Tom
Tom
PA/NJdiver
Contributor
This particular child, I do believe, could handle an emergency. Could he lift a diver out of the water and onto a boat? I don't think so, but then again, some adults I know would probably have this problem as well. I would have absolutely no problem diving with this child and have offered to do such. My buddy and I would love to be his mentors.
Like I said, I swore I would never certify children, but he proved to me that he was capable and that he was serious and had the right attitude. Not all children should be certified just like not all adults should be.
Stacey
Like I said, I swore I would never certify children, but he proved to me that he was capable and that he was serious and had the right attitude. Not all children should be certified just like not all adults should be.
Stacey
Absolutely!!!! I would not hesitate. Let's keep in mind that we are trying to do more than keep from hurting a child's feelings. As easy as scuba is to some of us, I think we sometimes forget that it is fundamentally dangerous. I refuse to participate in PADI's new programs geared for younger children. I will not certify anyone under 12, and I am very selective in the young students I will certify. I for one, do not want it on my conscience of having a young former student going off and getting hurt or dying. No thanks. Maturity plays a huge part in our sport. I feel that sending a child off, that does not really have good understanding of mortality, to go diving is very irresponsible. I agree that there are certain kids out there that are possibly responsible to handle it, but for every one of those there are hundreds more that need to wait.
I feel that the dive industry has put a bad burden on parents by lowering the age for certification.
Of course these are just my two cents,
WW, I just wen thru this.. Mine are 11/14, certified in July. My position was and is "get the certification and then I will teach them to dive". They are better skills wise than any of the other grads (all adults) of their OW class.
To JamesK's points, I think he is right in his concerns. Therefore, my kids will dive with me and only me in private settings (no resort boats or the like). I will take them to places we can dive without interfering with anyone else or anyone else interfering with us, and confine our dives to warm, shallow, and short.
BTW, I have experienced a true life-threatening OOA situation. It is nothing like the nice neat drills that most OW students/grads can't execute in the pool - imagine a goat-roping gone bad. I did my best to simulate an OOA incident with my kids, individually and unexpectedly, and they made me proud - executed perfectly - albeit a little wide-eyed. Can they do heavy rescue operations? Probably, no, certainly not. But I don't believe the other grads of their class could either, and I like my chances a lot better with my kids vs the other grads of that class.
No, don't "age-correct" the curriculum, if anything, make it tougher, and if the kids can't hack it then fail them (and the adults that can't hack it, too).
Does anyone have any (real) knowledge of physiological reasons kids shouldn't dive? I'm no Doc, but I wonder....
Anyway, this is how I'm dealing with it. It's working for my family - we're having a great time together buying gear, planning trips, buying gear, traveling, buying gear, buying gear, buying.... How it goes, if it goes at all, for yours depends on your family.
To JamesK's points, I think he is right in his concerns. Therefore, my kids will dive with me and only me in private settings (no resort boats or the like). I will take them to places we can dive without interfering with anyone else or anyone else interfering with us, and confine our dives to warm, shallow, and short.
BTW, I have experienced a true life-threatening OOA situation. It is nothing like the nice neat drills that most OW students/grads can't execute in the pool - imagine a goat-roping gone bad. I did my best to simulate an OOA incident with my kids, individually and unexpectedly, and they made me proud - executed perfectly - albeit a little wide-eyed. Can they do heavy rescue operations? Probably, no, certainly not. But I don't believe the other grads of their class could either, and I like my chances a lot better with my kids vs the other grads of that class.
No, don't "age-correct" the curriculum, if anything, make it tougher, and if the kids can't hack it then fail them (and the adults that can't hack it, too).
Does anyone have any (real) knowledge of physiological reasons kids shouldn't dive? I'm no Doc, but I wonder....
Anyway, this is how I'm dealing with it. It's working for my family - we're having a great time together buying gear, planning trips, buying gear, traveling, buying gear, buying gear, buying.... How it goes, if it goes at all, for yours depends on your family.
OP
I know the article as well. I will go on the hunt for it.
I am not crazy about the idea of young children diving but for different reasons than most. Kids learn the phisical part of diving way faster than most adults. I get lots of adults who have wet nudles for legs and it takes many hours to teach them to kick their feet. I never knew people in the prime of life could be so uncoordinated until I started teaching scuba. Kids don't have this problem ever. In my experience kids are also way way less prone to panic, It isn't even a close race.
My reservations about certifying children is centered around the competance of their parents/supervision. I decide each case seperatly and the decision is based mostly on the attitude of the parent.
When we talk about kids diving we are talking about shallow recreational diving. I am not aware of any evedence (yes there have been theories) that there is any increased phisiological risk.
My reservations about certifying children is centered around the competance of their parents/supervision. I decide each case seperatly and the decision is based mostly on the attitude of the parent.
When we talk about kids diving we are talking about shallow recreational diving. I am not aware of any evedence (yes there have been theories) that there is any increased phisiological risk.
kelpmermaid
Contributor
I can confirm that it is possible as I was such a kid. Things may have shifted around a bit over the last 30 years, but I'm still the same overall size. This might be more common for girls, though...
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In my situation it may be a bit different from most. My son, in his first 4 years, grew up with me in the scuba industry and during the time I was researching my second book, constant wreck diving. Nowadays, I don't work in diving anymore so it's become fun again. Now I do strictly technical wreck diving. His formative view of diving has been of the type of diving that I do rather than Jacques Cousteau and such like most of us grew up with.
I know that he envisions himself in a set of doubles with a couple deco bottles slung under his arm punching down to 260 or so and exploring wrecks (double 40s with 6s for deco?????). That ain't gonna happen for a good few years.
My point is that when Joey gets certified the reality of what he can do is going to fall well short of his dreams.
Tom
I know that he envisions himself in a set of doubles with a couple deco bottles slung under his arm punching down to 260 or so and exploring wrecks (double 40s with 6s for deco?????). That ain't gonna happen for a good few years.
My point is that when Joey gets certified the reality of what he can do is going to fall well short of his dreams.
Tom
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