Tether to my son

[pasley]

... I think this has more to do with me than with him ...

I agree with the others , the fact that you are considering a tether says he should not be diving. The question in your mind about the tether is your inner voice of common sense, or instinct if you will, telling you there is a risk here you should avoid. Listen to the voice. In addition, do you really think you could hold down your son in a pannic trying to get to the surface swimming as hard as he can, and maybe even inflating his BC? Is diving now worth the risk of his life?

...he wants to show that he is better than her in everything. I was just concerned that he might want to show off that he can handle it just to be competitive with his sis....

At his age that is normal and life threating in the SCUBA environment! :11:

Now I must also discuss my bias. I don't believe children under 17 or so should be diving at all. At 10, even intelligent children, have not yet developed all of their mental capacities yet. Example, his competivness with his sister. Children of that age also do not have the alacrity of mind to calmly stop and think there way out of a situation and may panic and bolt for the surface. This is a common problem of kids in their teens. You can point to things like smoking and how addictive it is, but they say “it won’t happen to me” but never have a reason as to why not to them but everyone else. In their world, if they do something and do not see an immediate result or consequence, then it is not an issue. Blowing off a safety stop or ascending too fast is such an event.

Bottom line, for some reason, you are thinking of a tether. At some level you know there is an issue or potential for there to be one. Is your sons life worth the risk? He should IMHO wait several more years before diving.

 

[MSilvia]

Only thing is his older sis (1yr apart) got certifed before him and he wants to show that he is better than her in everything. I was just concerned that he might want to show off that he can handle it just to be competitive with his sis.

Points well taken. I will stay close to him and observe his movement closely.
Thanks.

Nothing wrong with wanting to be a better diver than his sister, but make sure he understands that a good diver is one who dives safely, not one who goes darting away from his buddy and taking risks. Put the idea in his mind that being responsible, safe, and skillful is the mark of a great diver, and then let him do his best to impress you.

Conversely, if he swims away or otherwise scare the crap out of you, you could always play to that desire when talking to him afterward, by saying something like, "If you're going to continue diving, I need to know that if I have a problem I can rely on you to help, like I can with your sister."

 

[webjr]

Everyones covered the tether idea pretty well .
One thing I would like to add .
When diving with kids , I allways recommend having 2 adults with the child . Thats not for the kids safety , it's for the adult . If the kid has a problem , the adult should be able to handle it well . If its the adult that needs assistance , thats an awfull big responcibility to put on a child .

 

[Desa]

Skip the tether. If you want a little "comfort" and you are a profecient (sp?) diver, try some easy diving while using your left hand to hold your childs right hand. Or gently hold on to the bc strap. This worked well with both of my children. They soon proved to me that they were as competent as many adults and more so than some.

I totatly disagree with Pasley about children under 17 not being able to handle situations. Don't sterotype all children as being incapable. We all know there are a lot of so called "adults" who would freak out in a situation. It has as much to do with compentent training as age. My son who is now almost 18 and has ben certified since he was 12, has been invited on some very challenging dives mainly do to his mature attitude demonstrated in the past. He has experienced an equipment failure at 80 feet on the Spiegle Grove and even though I was right at his side, he handled it like a pro. (All those redundant safety practices payed off) I took it as a compliment when the LDS invited him to travel to Fl with them even though I couldn't go. The LDS owner was more than comfortable taking him with her when he was only 15. To me that says alot, that I am not just a bragging parent.

One more thought on the tether. I know of a few parents who tried it. They used short (3-4') small dog leashes. In these instances it was not an entaglement hazard since it is a well known quarry with no mono or other lines to be concerned with. Max depth was about 25'. They felt like it allowed the child to demonstrate his/her abilities while still within reach of the parent.

Just my opinion/experience.

 

[Firebrand]

Keeping with the agreement of all the other posts, a tether is a bad idea. I won't bog this message down with the diver safety reasons as that has already been established. However, my natural resources management degree is kicking in, and the tether could get caught and damage both hard and soft corals, marine plants, and other underwater life dependent on them. As divers, we have a responsibility to ensure our dive sites remain pristine for the health of the ecosystems, and the enjoyment of the divers that follow us. DSAO.

 

[htn123]

Again,
Thanks so much for all the responses . I love this site, so many helpful divers out there .
Anyhow, MSilvia, that's exactly what I affraided off, him, darting out and try some stunts to show off that he is better than my daughter. But I am pretty sure I can handle him if he is right next to my side.
For Pasley, thanks for the advice. My daughter got certifed a year ago when she was 10. Been diving in lakes, Florida, you name it, she did it. Awesome little girl, and she did it much better than my own 30 yrs old sister who got certified 5 yrs ago.
Not saying my sis is awful, just that my daughter is great and she is loving every minutes of the sport and can't wait to get back into the water. That is why I am getting my son certified so he can enjoy it too.

 

[Firebrand]

I'm sure I speak for all of us that we wish you many happy dive trips with your family and stay safe! What a great thing to have in common with your children! I hope that when I have kids and they're old enough to dive, they'll be willing and I can do it with them.

 

[Diver0001]

Hi all,
My 10yrs old son is going to get certifed in May. Since he is new to scuba, I was thinking about tether him to me when we go diving, say 10 ft cord until he is comfortable then we will go with no tether.

1. make him feel comfortable that he has me near.
2. if he happened to bolt for the surface, I can keep him down

Wonder if that's a good idea or not? any entanglement issues?

Thanks

Don't do it (I'll get to what you need to do in a minute).

I have experience with tethered divers and there are too many complications. I've seen tethers wrapped around tank valves, I've seen tethers get fouled up in lights, I've seen tethered divers get wrapped up with other divers. I know of several stories about tethered divers in this area getting in serious situations where both divers where injured where it would otherwise have been one and I personally know one diver who was bent by his buddy dragging him to the surface with an uncontrolled ascent due to an equipment problem. I've seen tethers complicate otherwise uncomplicated situations and I've seen them further complicate already complicated situations.

Diving tethered isn't something you just do. You need to take the time to learn how to do it correctly and practice it. It takes surprising good dive skills to make tethered diving look easy. It has a place in *really* poor conditions but you probably won't be diving in *really* poor conditions with your 10 year old son.

So.

What should you do then?

1) Until you're both feeling more secure, simply hold his hand. All of the advantages of being tethered and none of the disadvantages.

2) work on buddy skills. Swim shoulder to shoulder. Learn to move as a unit and learn to stop and sign to your buddy when you want to change directions or depths.

3) make easy dives. Straight out/back (or left to right/right to left) navigation. Shore dives. Keep the control. Avoid drift diving and diving in poor viz to start.

4) work on skills an buoyancy control, especially buoyancy control. Most incidents with new divers, about 60% IIRC, have roots in buoyancy issues.

5) dive slow. If you think you're diving slow then slow your tempo by another 50%. Now you're diving slow.

6) And, of course, keep it shallow. Your son is only allowed to dive to 12 meters (that's something like 35ft). Make sure you keep well within those limits. I remember when I first had my OW. I was amazed at the incredible dives you can make in 3-5 meters of water just along the shore. Some of those dives still rank among the best I can remember. It doesn't need to be deep to be cool.

7) make clear, one-size-fits-all rules with your son about separation. Your instructor might have told you to search for one min and then make a normal ascent, but maybe you feel more comfortable at first with looking around and ascending directly. Make a rule with your son.

And have fun.

As for some of the comments about your son being potentially too immature to dive. I concur with the opinion that if your desire to tether him really has to do with an inner voice saying that you don't think you can trust him to dive the plan that you have issues you can't solve with a tether. On the other hand, if he's just competitive then you can easily channel that. Make it a competition to see who can follow the dive plan more precicely..... or who can dive the plan the slowest, or with the least number of adjustments with the inflator..... Or who can find the most number of crabs..... or that getting separated means you buy the post-dive ice cream from your allowance money.... Your imagination is the limit.

R..

 

[wedivebc]

I didn't have time to read all the posts so sorry if this has been covered.
As an instructor I have never been too keen on certifying anyone younger than 14 uless they posses a great deal of maturity. My son was certified at 12 and he has been a great dive buddy over the years.
Tethers or buddy lines as they are often called are still used by the navy but IMHO they are a bad idea. I personally know of 2 fatalities and several near drownings as a result of mis-communication and entanglement.
Buddyline, don't do it.
Certifying a 10yo? If he needs a buddy line probably not yet.

 

[teknitroxdiver]

I totally disagree with Pasley. There is a large percentage of people under 17 who are quite capable of acting with the matureness and good judgement of a 20+ year old. This is like saying that a 14 year old shouldn't get a permit to drive because they can't reach the gas pedal. Just because the past 3 or 4 14 year olds you talked to couldn't reach the pedals doesn't mean that every 14 year old is too short to drive.

Each person is a different case, each person has a different maturity level, and thus each person should be fairly and sperately evaluated as to whether they are mature enough to dive. Sure, some people should wait until they are well past 17, but that would be an unnecessary restriction on many of those under 17 who are very mature for their age.