Wow, I thought that I would be flamed (more). I can assure everyone that the very slow progression of training a young child to first freedive, then to do mask clearing skills (without scuba) and other skills like removal and recovery of mask fins and snorkel from "the deep end" all serve to provide the child with good watermanship skills and confidence in their abilities and the ability to function well underwater when slightly stressed. Taking then snorkeling many times in the open ocean also provides skills and confidence that is just not available in a typical scuba class.
I went through all these steps before the scuba gear comes in play. The issue about ensuring that the child understands the consequences of holding their breath is vital, but it is not a whole lot more abstract than ensuring that they understand that riding their bike down the driveway and into the street without looking for traffic is also potentially fatal. Of course kids get run over by cars all the time, but this is a risk that SOME parents are willing to expose their children to.
I do not condone this type of training, and there are relatively few 8 yr olds that can probably do it, but my two boys were able to. For open water, we started off with a 6 ft hose and I kept the kid pretty much under my arm. He was NOT going up unless I allowed it and I needed to see bubbles before we moved up. After a few dives like that (in say 8-10 ft), then I put the kid on his own 30 cu-ft pony bottle mounted on a simple backpack. We then alternate back and forth from the long hose and to the pony bottle, which allows an extension of the dive time. Regulator removal , mask removal, true buddy breathing are all mastered early on. If the water is warm, the exposure suit can be minimal and the bouyancy swing is negligible, so a BC is not really needed.
If weighted well, kids learn bouyancy control well using only their lungs and when they do finally tranistion to a BC, they are not prone to fidgeting with their BC constantly like many OW students (and cetified divers) do. Their freedive training also allows them to comfortable do headfirst descents, clear ears quickly and also be able to swim and use fins well.
I've been diving now for over a year with my son who recently turned 10. He dives with a full compliment of dive gear including a knife, weight belt, BC, 6 cu-ft pony bottle, 63 cu-ft primary tank, light etc. He has done a couple of night dives and the last one we had fairly high current and visibility was bad (around 8 feet). He has a great time at night! I'm not inclined to pursue certification for him anytime in the near future.
I find it funny that so many people were so critical of the video. FWIW, the kids trim and bouyancy looked pretty damn good to me.