I had an expereince this weekend that had me very concerned. Would like to hear opinion from some of the board members of what they think of this situation.
I had a mother who brought thier twelve year old son for a junior dive certification early this spring as they were heading on a dive vacation to the islands over the summer. The son completed his certification and did fairly well, but left our shop with a warning that he should get more experience before diving ocean and would be better off snorkling on the dive trip. I over-emphasized certain portions of the saftey rules for diving during the training where I even requested the mother to sit in on the classes. After questioning the mother, she presented her logbook with over 100 dives and was sure confident of her skills. I'm always concerned with younger divers and to ensure their safety.
Well, the mother shows up with her son and husband for a holiday weekend dive gathering open to person who completed certifications with our shop and any other guests. She tells us that her husband decided to do a quick padi course while on their dive vacation as her wasnt originally interested, and goes on to explain how she was proud of her son hitting 120ft on his first wall dive, despite having to be "rescued" by the dive guide as he got tired swimming aginst the current, how his dad lost him on a night dive and the captain eventually found him, and how she thinks he's ready for possible nitrox use when they go diving the next time. In addition, when diving with myself and other instructors, I must say that the young diver is better trained than both of his parents. In fact, I must say the parents were down right dangerous and many fellow diver refused to dive with them after only one dive. I found myself lecuturing them on multiple issues which wasnt my place, but OMG, they are going to kill someone. I wish I could pull the child's certification card although he met all the qualifications and when diving with other junior divers under the watch of adults other than his parents, did very well. Im proud to say I trained the kid, but the parents are going to kill this kid by placing him in situations he is way too young too deal with much less being trained to complete. (He never had night/limited vis training, or deep dovong course). Although he is now his parents repsonsibilty, and I made my self very clear how they have violated just about every safety rule we teach, (I would not permit them to dive with our group again until they complete a refresher/saftey course), they just answered that I was just being overprotective and that is why her husband wanted to do a PADI course rather than an SSI. Now I dont care who is the certifying agency is, but there must be some common sense used by parents.
My question for my fellow scuba boarders is: What would you do, or how would you address this situation?
I had a mother who brought thier twelve year old son for a junior dive certification early this spring as they were heading on a dive vacation to the islands over the summer. The son completed his certification and did fairly well, but left our shop with a warning that he should get more experience before diving ocean and would be better off snorkling on the dive trip. I over-emphasized certain portions of the saftey rules for diving during the training where I even requested the mother to sit in on the classes. After questioning the mother, she presented her logbook with over 100 dives and was sure confident of her skills. I'm always concerned with younger divers and to ensure their safety.
Well, the mother shows up with her son and husband for a holiday weekend dive gathering open to person who completed certifications with our shop and any other guests. She tells us that her husband decided to do a quick padi course while on their dive vacation as her wasnt originally interested, and goes on to explain how she was proud of her son hitting 120ft on his first wall dive, despite having to be "rescued" by the dive guide as he got tired swimming aginst the current, how his dad lost him on a night dive and the captain eventually found him, and how she thinks he's ready for possible nitrox use when they go diving the next time. In addition, when diving with myself and other instructors, I must say that the young diver is better trained than both of his parents. In fact, I must say the parents were down right dangerous and many fellow diver refused to dive with them after only one dive. I found myself lecuturing them on multiple issues which wasnt my place, but OMG, they are going to kill someone. I wish I could pull the child's certification card although he met all the qualifications and when diving with other junior divers under the watch of adults other than his parents, did very well. Im proud to say I trained the kid, but the parents are going to kill this kid by placing him in situations he is way too young too deal with much less being trained to complete. (He never had night/limited vis training, or deep dovong course). Although he is now his parents repsonsibilty, and I made my self very clear how they have violated just about every safety rule we teach, (I would not permit them to dive with our group again until they complete a refresher/saftey course), they just answered that I was just being overprotective and that is why her husband wanted to do a PADI course rather than an SSI. Now I dont care who is the certifying agency is, but there must be some common sense used by parents.
My question for my fellow scuba boarders is: What would you do, or how would you address this situation?
