son wants to scuba for his 8th birthday

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As usual you have already gotten some good advice from both sides of the thought process so I only post this to add my experience (thus far).

Saniflush 2.1 is about to be 12 and she is certifying over the next couple of months.
Saniflush 2.2 is about to be 10 and probably will not certify until next year.

Both have been in and around scuba for the past four years and in pools with the gear so there is already a comfort level there.

Saniflush 2.1 would absolutely have NOT been ready to certify at 10. Her head was all over the place but over the last 6 months she has become more focused about everything from household chores to school so I think she is ready.
Saniflush 2.2 is my detail orientated child and truth be told he probably certify with relative ease as soon as he turns 10 but because of when his birthday is we will probably wait until next Spring so we can have a full warm season for him to dive with us in and work on the basics he will learn in OW.

The elongated point that I am trying to make is that one size will not fit all on when to certify kids and just use your best judgement to decide. I would add this note though, get him a mask, fins, and snorkel. Snorkeling will give him a taste of diving and begin to develop some amount of skill set and solidify his comfort level in the water.
 
I am old school, 10 is too young for diving. Very few if any 10 year old would be capable of saving their dive buddy or making calm decisions under stress. Most 30 year old's fail that.

Get them really good mask fins and snorkel and teach them really good free diving skills (not deep stuff), get them on a swim team, make them completely comfortable in the water then, when they are 14 or 15 the hard stuff is done.
 
I think most here on SB are going to say "wait until he's 16" and that just seems to be the common mentality here. My advice to you....get him in the PADI Seal Team program and watch him grow. My son did Seal Team @ 8 and even then he looked better and more comfortable than some of the adults I've DM'd in OW classes. He's now 10 and got his OW back in Octrober (birthday present) and although I wouldn't trust him diving on his own, he's pretty proficient as long as he's with an adult buddy. Does that mean I'm going to turn him loose to dive with just anyone? Hell NO! He's not ready for that just yet. But I'm at least comfortable enough with his skills and maturity that I'd have no problem taking him myself or with someone I trust to look after him. So yeah....look into the PADI Seal Team. It basically teaches them the same basics you learn in an OW class, plus they have some advanced "specialties" once he gets that certification, like simulated night diving (in a pool with all the lights out and a flashlight), search & recovery, wreck, and a few others. It's a great segway for kids into the underwater world. And he'll be better off when it comes time for him to do his actual OW class.

And regarding the driving age being 16.....it may have changed now, but a 15 year old used to be able to get a private pilot's license. Actually, since I wanted to make sure I was accurate, it looks like now it's 16 for balloons and gliders and 17 for powered aircraft.
 
When I rant about waiting until age 15, I hope it is clear that I am concerned only about how a 10-12 year old (or 13-14) would be able to deal with a serious diving situation. I agree that many (maybe even a majority) that age are more than capable of thoroughly understanding the OW course concepts and able to do the physical skill requirements. I base saying that as well on my years of teaching 6th grade Band. Doing the OW course for many of those students would be far from rocket science. Maybe easier than learning an instrument, reading music and following a conductor. Wouldn't want to see even the most mature of them (including my step daughter) on Scuba. You can't die playing the trumpet.
 
You can't die playing the trumpet.

Maybe not but if I attempted to play one it would sound like someone was.
 
Don’t get me wrong. An 8 year old in a pool or pool like open water site with a hard bottom at less than 15 feet. Under direct instructor or dive master supervision is fine. Heck, my son was open water certified at 12, cavern at 14, intro to cave at 16 and full cave at 18. Note the progression with 2 years in between.
You DO realize, I hope, that if you fill your lungs from a regulator while at 15 ft and hold your breath and come to the surface, you are almost sure to embolize and possibly die. Is the 8-yr old ready for that?
 
The PADI Bubblemaker program has a maximum depth of 2 meters/6 feet.

The PADI Seal Team has a maximum depth of 2 meters/6 feet for aqua mission 1 and 4 meters/12 feet for after that. This is per the 2018 instructor manual.

SSI has similar programs.
 
Don’t get me wrong. An 8 year old in a pool or pool like open water site with a hard bottom at less than 15 feet. Under direct instructor or dive master supervision is fine. Heck, my son was open water certified at 12, cavern at 14, intro to cave at 16 and full cave at 18. Note the progression with 2 years in between.
The progression is everything. Sudden jumps are dangerous...
My sons started breathing from a regulator at 2 years, in a very small pool (60 cm depth).... When they first had a tank in the sea ( at 3-4 meters depth max, on a solid sand flat bottom) they were 5 years old, and they were using the scuba system in the pool since 3 years, at least once per week... They were already capable of evacuating the mask, equalizing ears and mask, breathing alternatively in two from a single reg, removing all the equipment underwater and getting it on again, emitting air when emerging with the reg in their mouth for preventing lung expansion, they did know the basic hand signals, and they were calm enough when I was closing their valve, or removing suddenly mask and regulator, solving the situation underwater instead of popping up...
So I was quite confident that, even if not anymore in the pool, they had already enough expertise and knowledge and self-control for not risking anything in the sea.
On the other side, if one did never breath from a regulator underwater until 8 years old, and you bring it underwater for the first time, there are significant risks. The boy will be super excited, as this activity for him is super-special, not normal. He will have to learn many things all at once. And the risk that something stupid causes some accident is entirely present.
I and my wife started with our sons since really early (the swimming pool here accepts children at 6 months age, and both my sons did learn swimming with fins and inflatable tubes on their arms before being one year old, and hence before walking). With children you must go very, very slowly. They can make "extreme" sport as skiing on black tracks, making jumps with a motocross bike, scuba diving, climbing mountains, etc.
But they must be trained properly, by instructors qualified for teaching small children (my wife is qualified for this, I am qualified only for teaching to youngsters).
But the rule is: slowly, one small step after the other, it takes years, many years for teaching children diving safely.
 
Maybe not but if I attempted to play one it would sound like someone was.
Was gunna conclude with a comment like that about a few of my Band students but you beat me to it.

Only problem I may have with the Bubblemaker program is it may get kids excited about something the can't yet (and shouldn't) do. That may be worse than disappointing them by saying no to scuba. Then again, it may lead to several years of (much safer) snorkelling fun until they get certified.
 
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