The Diving Lifestyle (for Parents)

[b1gcountry]

You get the idea. Boy meets girl. Boy Marries Girl. Nine months later Boy and Girl are Mommy and Daddy

My wife and I are about to celebrate my son's first birthday this weekend. Diving was our thing. Now I practically have to schedule time for a haircut three weeks in advance. Our dive count in '09 was around 125 dives. This year, I think I just hit 10.

So to all the experienced Parent Divers out there, what works? How do you make time, and arrangements to go out diving when you have little ones? Who watches the kids? How did the birth of your kids affect your diving, and when did it get better?

We have gotten to do some neat dives. We had a nice wreck trip planned to Lake Michigan, but we got weathered out. Also made a nice little family trip out to San Diego. Gone are the spur of the moment trips out to the local caves, and heading out to catch a boat out of Wisconsin and driving all the way up the night before. Gone are the two week non stop diving trips to Bonaire. Now they have become family trips, and if you can get diving in, that's a bonus...

So tell me, what's your parental diving lifestyle like?

Tom

 

[Pauly854]

I took my class when I had 3 kids, and did not do much diving for many years. It was difficult because I was the only one in the family with any interest in it. My diving has picked up recently, but only because the youngest kiddo has taken an interest. In a nutshell: get the kids involved, and you will have a great excuse to go diving!

 

[blackvans1234]

You might have to wait until the kid is 18, and can fend for itself (used "ITSELF" on purpose). If you can't wait nearly 17 years, you could try when he's a little older, but then you'll have to trust him.


Find a babysitter, who could spend a weekend at your house. You'd be better off with one who is around 18 because they won't be as expensive.

This advice is coming from a 20 year old with no children.

 

[freewillie]

Congrats on the little one. I've got three and just love being a dad. To be honest, they are now 13, 9, and 6. I'm doing things now we couldn't really do before so hang in.

My advice, grandparents !!!!!!! You and the wife won't be able to do the spur of the moment thing, but with a little planning can get at least a day maybe two. Pick a weekend all parties are free. Arrange for grandparents watch kid for the day. If they are comfortable maybe even the night. Take your wife out diving for the day, and if lucky you can spend the night and have nice quiet evening alone. Then dive next day and rescue the grandparents from the little one by end of the day.

I've done this a few times when the wife and I wanted a short weekend getaway. Not necessarily for diving but just little break.

PS. Don't forget bring something home for the grandparents to say thanks.

 

[freewillie]

Forgot to add, now oldest is girl is 13 she just certified as Jr OW diver! I just got back from weekend trip Catalina where we went diving together.

Once little ones get older take them along. My 6 year son is now practicing in the bath tub with the snorkel gear. He can't wait to try bubble makers when he's 8 !!!

 

[ScubaBB]

Get friends that are in the same position. Father, mother and small kid(s). Then you can go on holiday together and dive in couples, so there always be two parents to watch the children. You can dive only half of what you were used to in prekid time. But that's better then not at all. And you'll always have 3 buddies.

 

[ajduplessis]

Sell the kids while they are still young and prices are good

Our first one is 6 months old and as you mentioned diving is far and few. I am fortunate that my wife allows me to dive at least once a month. The down side is that she has not been in the water for more than 14 months.

It’s nice if granny can look after them, but not always possible. We are planning on going back to the Red Sea next year and leave baby with granny, will have to see how that one flies!!

The best option is to share the baby sitting role and dive every other day; at least both of you are diving and getting time away from chores and baby stress.

 

[b1gcountry]

I've had some OW classes with young kids. None of the 12 year olds were really ready for independent diving. I don't know if I would have passed them if I was the certifying instructor in the class. All the 16-18 year olds did pretty good with the skills, although they did tend to get competitive with each other. Especially the boys.

I know every parent grows up to think their kid is special, but I'm going to do my best to keep the kid from getting certified until they are 16+

RE: Blackvans
I've been surprised how much parenting advice I get from single folks with no kids. I can honestly say that your's has been the best of the lot hands down Most of the time I wind up leaving saying "No wonder you don't have kids..."

Unfortunately, the grandparent route isn't open to us. My Dad is out of state, and my in laws told us there is a 12 hour limit to their babysitting duties. We do have a reliable babysitter. We asked about doing a weekend, and she said yes. She is a grown, married woman though. Leaving the kid with an 18 year old for a whole weekend is still scary to us. We do have a great aunt and godmother that came along with us to San Diego and watched JT for our two charters. That was really nice.

ScubaBB:
So where did you go to on vacation with your friends? How did it work out with the other couple?

Tom

 

[tddfleming]

I have no advise for the diving with a young one, however, what I have found to work for us as far as keeping the kid involved, and teaching them to behave in different places, is to take them with you where ever you go and teach them how to behave in those situations. Like you,
when we had our youngest, there was no family around, we moved too often to trust anyone with our kid, she went and still does go pretty much everywhere with us. She is 13 now, and is welcome pretty much where ever we go, meetings, party's, out to dinner, I think only because she does not act like a brat. Most people that meet her think she is in high school rather than middle school. It was never tolerated to misbehave in these places. Side note, we did not tolerate her acting up at home either. No whining or crying to get your way.

Just a side note: I have 2 older girls, and they were raised very different, with family around and helping. What I have found, is that with the family around and feeling they can send the kid home at any time they could also spoil the kid and send them home and us parents would have to deal with it. That did not make for a very welcomed kid in the end, for anyone involved. She is OW jr. certified and with 40 dives under her belt, we have never had any issues with her not being welcomed for any diving activities.

Good Luck and congrats!

Edit: A comparison, my husbands sister kids, ugh!!!! The three of them are totally different, I think of them as the devils spawn. But they were raised very different, allowed to run around in restaurants and such. They are very hard to be around even for a second.

 

[rhwestfall]

That is the reason I have just returned from a 8 year surface interval (my daughter is 9). This year was a major disappointment in the number of dives, but I was able to teach her some snorkeling in the river, and did this:



This fall, we will hopefully be enrolling her in certification classes.

I think it will get better.