People do the darnedest things

[TechDeep]

The thing that stuck out to me was the quote from the grandfather.

From the article, "He (the 7 year old Grand Son) was on my secondary respirator (regulator)

Made me wonder if he was even certified. When was the last time you heard a certified diver call it a respirator? For me I would say never. I was waiting for the mention of the "oxygen tank". A reporter never prints a story about a diving incident without mentioning the oxygen tank. Obviously grandpa's not overly concerned about certs.

---------- Post added September 24th, 2013 at 08:50 AM ----------

When I started with my first son, I pulled out a 5 ft long octo hose from the garage and put that on my reg for his use. I had him wear a 30 cu-ft pony bottle in a backpack (no BC) and I kept him under my arm, then let him explore a little while using the long hose and then he would use the pony bottle. We also used the long hose to allow him to extend the dive in depths of 8-15'. He was 7 or 8 yrs old.. OH MY GOD!

Somehow I feel a bit better about an instructor with his son than with grandpa who may or may not be a certified diver.

 

[tajkd]

Say what you want, I started my son at 6 years old in our 4ft pool. He started on a long hose with me. Eventually I had him on a pony bottle with his own reg. It really depends how you do it and how fast you go with them. I didn't ever allow him in open water until he was certified. Directly after his certification, since he must have had 100 dives (to 4 feet) or so, we went to Florida and dove the caverns. His first certified dive was to 100 feet at the back of Blue Grotto which was done only with myself and a DM watching him all the way. Those early training sessions made him comfortable in the water and gave us plenty of discussion on dive safety prior to his certification. IMHO better than jumping into the OW with no training and immediately going to 60 feet.

 

[CurtSchu]

Having an 11 JOW diver of my own I can relate to this thread. I too have let her play in the pool even though it is only 5 ft deep in the middle, I have stressed to her to NEVER hold her breath. We practiced many of the skills in the pool, make off breathing, reg recovery, clearing a mask etc. She did very well in her OW class Doff and Don was the one that worried me most. but no problem. What I do see with the youngster is it is very difficult to convey the concept of ear clearing. At first she blinked he eyes like Jennie thinking that was what you did. It takes a long time to get down at this point so drift diving is not in the cards but we live in Florida Lots of springs to slowly work down and get her ears trained. Get started early and you have a fish for life.

 

[Shasta_man]

<<His first certified dive was to 100 feet at the back of Blue Grotto>> Having no idea what Blue Grotto actually is, but sounding like some sort of an overhead environment however gentle, you have to admit this sounds amazingly... sketchy. Agreed that he has been in the water more than most people, but first dive being a dive first to 100 feet AND in a cave seems a leap that would usually attract some flames. If you told me you did that with an adult, I'd be concerned, let alone your kid. Good on you, of course, for teaching them to respect water.

 

[dive_turkey]

I can't believe not one person here is concerned about the archeological aspects of this story. Two untrained folks just digging for two weeks with no regard for observation of the context. The artifact is practically worthless if not properly excavated and documented.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Having an 11 JOW diver of my own I can relate to this thread. I too have let her play in the pool even though it is only 5 ft deep in the middle, I have stressed to her to NEVER hold her breath. We practiced many of the skills in the pool, make off breathing, reg recovery, clearing a mask etc. She did very well in her OW class Doff and Don was the one that worried me most. but no problem. What I do see with the youngster is it is very difficult to convey the concept of ear clearing. At first she blinked he eyes like Jennie thinking that was what you did. It takes a long time to get down at this point so drift diving is not in the cards but we live in Florida Lots of springs to slowly work down and get her ears trained. Get started early and you have a fish for life.

Do your ears squeak? If so, this is sorta cool to do with your kid. In a quiet room, have them press their ear against yours, Clear your ears, they can usually hear the air going through your ear pretty well. It teaches them a lot.

Another trick.. I am teaching my daughter. I tell her to shut her eyes and then use her finger to push in on her eyeball. I don't tell her to be careful or "don't push too hard". Just shut your eye lid and push in on your won eyeball for 5 seconds..

This is exactly like teaching them to clear their ears. they need to understand that their ear drum is delicate, maybe more delicate than their eye and they know to protect their own eyes and also that YOU can NOT feel her eye for her. If she is going to poke her eye out, you really can't stop her. Similarly, if she is going to blast away like a maniac on her ears, she WILL damage them and there is no way you can tell or stop her.

She needs to learn that ear damage is the most common diving injury and takes many people out of diving. So she needs to be careful, never feel pain, never push it and most of all, it is HER responsibility to tell you if her ear is not working properly. you will assume her ears are clearing unless she tells you otherwise.. just like you were able to assume she won't poke her eye out of her skull.... That's what I do anyway..

 

[DivemasterDennis]

Not a good idea, but I will confess I have done this in a pool, with a 9 year old nephew many years ago, and the pool was 5 feet deep. He was jazzed and is now a certified diver. I will not do it again, I promise.
DivemasterDennis

 

[tajkd]

<<His first certified dive was to 100 feet at the back of Blue Grotto>> Having no idea what Blue Grotto actually is, but sounding like some sort of an overhead environment however gentle, you have to admit this sounds amazingly... sketchy. Agreed that he has been in the water more than most people, but first dive being a dive first to 100 feet AND in a cave seems a leap that would usually attract some flames. If you told me you did that with an adult, I'd be concerned, let alone your kid. Good on you, of course, for teaching them to respect water.

Blue Grotto cavern in Florida

Waiting for the flames...

 

[charlesml3]

Jeez, I put my nephew on a wakeboard with me just before he turned three. He just stood on the board between the bindings and wrapped his arms around my front leg. Same thing when his sister turned three.

Relax. Kids are tougher than you think.

-Charles

 

[GrumpyBoz]

I think there is a big difference in an instructor diving with his son and a Grandfather diving with his Grandson on his "2nd respirator" (Octo).