Should or would you have your children dive with you?

[Missdirected]

ScubaPolly brought this up another thread and I felt it a very important issue - one worth some serious discussion.

When I was first certified, I had my children certified with me. One son hasn't cared to dive while the other initially dived often with me. The beginning of our diving was mostly on vacations to Costa Rica, where we always had a DM. Looking back, I am thankful for that. We were NOT trained well enough to be on our own, this I have learned over time.

Knowing what I know now, I would never have taken my son diving with me whilst I was so new w/o a DM or another capable person. Granted we were vacation diving and the DM was always there but he was only there as a given, which is oft the case when vacation diving.

I don't think I am the only parent who didn't realize in the beginning just how dangerous this sport can be. So I guess I just want other parent to really stop and think this through.

Note: I purposely put this in new divers and those considering

 

[Cacia]

One of my children dived at eleven, and is like a self-righting boat, no worries. The other breaks his arm regularly skateboarding.....It is tough to say, they are so individually different.

My biggest challenge is how to handle that within the same family without telling the boy he is a bumbler. The truth is, he could probably find a way to kill himself in the pool. They flip off metal chairs, tie my weights to things, and I can see the heads passing the edge by two inches...I have to be vigilant at all times...constantly explaining to him how people get killed, how they break their necks, etc, it is exhausting. The other kid just naturally "gets it", 24 months apart, mainstream kids.

The parent has to know, the operator cannot possibly know the child.

I think having a guide in a new location is pretty advisable, no matter who you are. I wouldn't jump in with my kids in....say even Coz...without a local. And an extra set of hands.

 

[ce4jesus]

As long as you don't force them, or overly encourage them to get into the sport I say go fo it. Kids will tell you when they're ready to dive. I've got a 13 year old who is not interested, so I let her be. I've got a 5 year old whose like (as in the word of the Late Steve Irwin) a lizard drinkin'. She won't take a bath without her snorkel and loved every moment she went with us on snorkelling adventures. She tells me all the time...I can't wait to go diving. Haha.
I've said this on other threads and I don't mean to be insensitive to people who have lost loved ones. Its just my personal belief that when your time is up on the Earth, you're going home. So live life to its fullest and treasure each day. In short, that means don't deny the opportunity to your kids to dive if they want too. They'll treasure the time spent diving with you for a lfietime.

 

[Bspurr13]

I got both my kids certified this year - 13 y/o girl and 11 y/o boy. They are both fish; basically grew up in and around the water. Needless to say, they are both very comfortable in the water and are great divers. In fact on a recent boat trip in Hawaii the DM said that she was going to say what great divers they were for such limited experience (about 20 dives), but they were actually better than most experienced divers she sees. This was after watching both of them cruise through the wheel house of a wreck with perfect buoyancy and no silt and seeing my daughter hover @ 15' during her safety stop without touching the anchor line...

It just depends on the kids - and like Catherine pointed out, there maybe be some kids that take right to it and some that don't, even within the same family.

I absolutely love diving with my kids - but I also take it very seriously and realize what a great responsibility I have as far as safety goes.

Just be smart, objective and realistic and getting your kids certified can be a great experience.

Brett

 

[scuba2sue]

I have 3 boys and they all want to be like mom "a diver". I can't wait to take them, but I am afraid they won't listen, of course I have some time my oldest is only 7. However, with that being said, I think the parent needs to be competent and have some dives under their belt before trying to look after a young one.
Of course there is the financial aspect of it also. I could go on several dive trips for what it will cost me to take a family of 5 on one

 

[Cacia]

Money spent can add a layer of pressure too....

 

[Jeff Toorish]

Both my children dive with me.

My son is 19 now, got certified when he was 17. I would consider him the rodeo clown of diving --always has a reg in upside down or something askew. He won't dive with anyone else and we only dive occasionally, never deep, so far at least always shore dives.

I wasn't around when he was certified --while he was away at school. I wish I had been because there were a dozen students in the class and I don't think he got the best instruction.

He is also not interested in diving all that much so I doubt he will ever hit the water without me there. He is, however, a good swimmer and reasonably careful for a teenaged male.

My daughter was certified at 10, got her AOW at 11 and is 12 now. She is one of the best divers I know and I feel very confident with her in the water. Of course, she also only dives with me --at least so far. She is a fish and one of those kids who is very detail oriented. I've done shore and boat dives with her, as well as harbor clean-up dives. She wants to be a dive-master and she'll start her stress-rescue course as soon as she can.

Overall, I am very happy my kids dive. I'm reasonably comfortable with them in the water but --you know-- they are my children so I always stick very close to them and we keep the dives simple and relatively shallow.

Jeff

 

[njd3rph]

I have three children who were all certified divers at an early age at their own request as they wanted to hang out with mom and dad (mom's a divemaster and I'm a tech diver). None of the three were allowed to take cert classes until they appeared to demonstrate a level of maturity equal to the task of diving. I see nothing at all wrong with children diving if they posses the appropriate maturity to do so, which can vary greatly among siblings at is not necessarly age dependent. Out of the three, my oldest daughter, (now 20, certified at 16) no longer dives as she is afraid of fish (no, really, she is), my youngest daughter (now 16, certified at 13 and an excellent diver) would love to dive with my wife and I; however, she refuses to practice her basic skills regularly (she just wants to dive to have fun), and due to the danger involved in diving we no longer permit her to dive and will refrain from doing so untill she learns to take it seriously. My son (certified at 15, now 19) dives with me every chance he gets and has been an exceptional diver from the start.

 

[Missdirected]

I think I missed what I was trying to get at. Let me try again, we all know the 14 yr old that is capable and then the other, same age, who is far from capable.

I wanted to give newly certed parents some things to think about before getting their children certed and the bunch of them heading out diving with no DM or any other assistance. Perhaps that newly certed family that says, "Hey we have our OW cards now lets the four of us go diving off on our own".

So many come with their certs clueless, not knowing that they are in fact way under certified.

I hope I am making some sense. I'd just like the parents to have all the plusses and minus's so that they might make an informed decision. This can be a dangerous sport.

 

[do it easy]

I think what you are trying to say is that what the parents don't know can actually harm their children, right? Are the parents competent enough to recognize when conditions are unsafe? How do they know?

One way to look at is that when the family gets certified together for the first time, the parents know only as much as a 12 year old.