OP
psychocabbage
Contributor
Sorry, can't resist going down this road just a bit. Won't go as far as to make the blanket statement that 10yr olds shouldn't be diving. However I will say that you may be focusing on the wrong thing when determining whether your particular 10yr old should be diving:
It's not just about whether they "get" the material. It's about deciding whether you're putting a 10yr old into a situation they can't handle. This is true of ANYONE regardless of age.
Most parents figure that if they are the 10yr old's buddy they will be able to bail their kid out if the ***** hits the fan. Probably true relative to any other person the parent would buddy with. However those same parents usually fail to recognize the corollary that if the 10yr old is YOUR buddy then THEY need to be able to bail YOU out if the stuff hits the fan.
If your 10yr old doesn't have the intelligence, skills, situational awareness, and possibly physical strength to come to your aid in an emergency you are diving solo, and your kid is on a "trust me" dive. If that's the case you need to ask yourself why you are willingly putting your child in that situation.
I have a 10yr old daughter who could probably teach her 5th grade math class, and I wouldn't even think about certifying her until she was about 14 or so. And even then I wouldn't suggest it, but would wait until she begged and pleaded to get certified. And then I would make sure she completed Rescue Diver before I would dive with her 1-on-1 without another DM or instructor with us.
granted..
but we are a family of 5.. and all of us will be diving together.. when we dive.. we dont sit at arms reach but we are all mindful of eachother the entire time..
When I dive with my family, and thats the only way I dive, I am everyones buddy and they are all mine.. get it? We dont just have 1 buddy.. we have a team if you will.
My wife and the two youngest are all absolute naturals under and on the water. The oldest does very well and excelled in class and has 0 issues.. When she does get any sense of panic, she lets me know and we cut the dive there. Get group up, get our consoles in hand and slowly go up.
I think whats important here is some underlying tones I read from others who resent when their buddy cuts their dive short.
I never hold it against them for cutting a dive when they are at the end of their comfort zone. Be it too cold, mask issue (constantly having to clear it because hair gets between the seal and water keeps leaking in and stinging their eyes), or what have you.. Its always done when they call it and we move on.
We all have our own gear minus tanks and look forward to when we get a deep pool so we can all just hang out at the bottom..