Kids diving? No way!

[MikeFerrara]

I'm only 13 but i think if a kid is mature enough to handle it let them, Ive been to 100 feet and I would say that is a good limit to not go under, as for equipment im 5 8 and weigh 145 so its not a big problem

gosh i hope the PADI police dont come and get me

Why do you say 100 ft is a good limit? How much gas to you need to reserve to get both you and your buddy up should your buddy suffer a total gas loss and how dod you arive at that number? Did you and your buddy plan your gas that way for your 100 ft dive?

If nothing goe wrong 100 ft isn't any different than ten feet. It's whene things go wrong that you'll notice the 90 ft difference.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I had a customer who wanted me to train his 11 year old daughter. We had dived with the guy and he was a menace in the water. I wouldn't do it and it wasn't his daughters ability that I was worried about. A while later he told me about his daughters class that she did in the tropics somewhere. He told me that I missed out and that she had no trouble at all. I told him that I was never worried about her having trouble...unless of course she qwas going to have to dive with him.

My wife and I were buzzing around Gilboa when we saw some divers wrestling or something on the wing of the plane. Eventually they slipped off the wing and sunk into the silt even though it looked like they were trying to go up. They finally started to ascend with their death grip on eachother and the third diver was left behind. When they did start going up the looked like a moon shot. We followed them up and when they all reached the surface we went off to continue our dive.

When we were getting out there was a pile of gear on the dock and a small boy asking if I needed any help. I thanked him and said no but then he started to tell me about his mother being carried from the water screaming. He was that third diver. Had I realized it was a child when I was watching, I would have seen him all the way to shore because his parents sure weren't going to do him any good.

As it turned out, his mother didn't have any real problem. She just got feeling uncomfortable and freaked. Way to go Mom. I'll bet some dive shop made a bundle off them. Ok, the parents are supposed to watch the kids but who's going to be there to watch the parents? Of course that's the parents responsibility but when I was teaching I just decided that I wasn't going to have anything to do with it.

 

[Whatgoesdown]

Should a ten year old be allowed to ride a bike, play football or hockey, swim or surf in the ocean etc? All of these activities carry a significant risk and lack the fail-safes and backups of correctly conducted diving. At some point, children have to be introduced to risk. Why not do it in a controlled manner, with structured training? I'm not suggesting that we try to certify every child out there but those with the aptitude, intelligence and desire to learn should not be denied. By the age of ten I had already swum a mile, could swim 50 yards underwater on one breath ...and had to wait another four years before I got an opportunity to dive! I personally wish that I had started earlier and would not deny someone in the same position. It is not easy to put yourself in the position of a child but you can try and remember yourself at that age. As an instructor, I preferred the 12 limit but I have the choice to accept or deny a student, regardless of age (and have done so across the board).

 

[adurso]

The topic of children diving seems to come up every few months and many times there are those who state that they would not dive with a kid, what makes people think a kid will dive with them?

 

[Tavi]

While in the Bahamas, I got to observe a 10 yr old boy and an 11 yr old girl getting their training. After certification I dived with the girl a couple of times. These kids were better buddies than a lot of adults I have seen!!

 

[PaulSmithTek]

OK as a parent I cannot wait until my son and twin daughters can dive. But, what do i think is the right limit maybe 15-16 nothing younger. I am torn, I would love to do it sooner but who knows I guess I will have to wait.

 

[CIMI Diver]

Excellent. If you were trained at CIMI you are already ahead of the game vs. your contemporaries in the public sector. Mr.X


p.s. Catalina SEACAMP runs an excellent NAUI program that certifies the greatest number of certs. during a three month training period.

I have to agree. Catalina Sea Camp runs an EXCELLENT program. They do approx 3 hours of instruction a day spread over 3 weeks. They have a great safety record and I am guessing that they certify between 150 to 200 kids a year. They have been doing this since the early 1980ies. One of the best ways to keep kids safe is to limit the number of rep dives you let them do. It's hard to run into DCI problems when you are only doing one or 2 days a day on an AL 80.

I think it would be interesting research project to track down a good sample of divers that have been certified at Sea Camp over the last 25 years to see if there really is an increased risk of DCI because of the growth plate on the long bones.

 

[all4scuba05]

sure I would dive with a child...as long as its not mine...

 

[Greg D.]

all this controversy over a thread 2 years old

 

[jrv]

Why do you say 100 ft is a good limit? How much gas to you need to reserve to get both you and your buddy up should your buddy suffer a total gas loss and how dod you arive at that number? Did you and your buddy plan your gas that way for your 100 ft dive?

If nothing goe wrong 100 ft isn't any different than ten feet. It's whene things go wrong that you'll notice the 90 ft difference.

Well, if I begin ascent with about 25 cubic feet and make a 2 minute ascent to 15 and then a 3 minute safety stop i think your right that that is not really enough but I am diving non decrompession dives with most of the dive at about 60 feet it would work fine,

i guess its really about comfort level, and as i am a ne diver that is my limit until i get more experience