Success teaching younger divers????

[Wydoin]

Hello all, Thank you all for the continuing posts to this thread. I have enjoyed reading all of them whether you agree in letting my daughter dive or not. Then there was even one who said I wasn't experienced enough to dive with my daughter That was an eye opener. Guess I better hit the lottery and dive more huh. Well just wanted wanted to tell you all TY :10:

 

[DelightedDiver]

MattiamMike,

It sounds like you may be from Virginia as well, based on the place your kids did their OW dives. My two neices 11 and 13 want to get certified. Is there a certification program here that works well with kids?

 

[The Chairman]

I mostly teach kids... I am the advisor and instructor for the Mighty Scuba Ducks. My son learned at the age of 11 just before I became a divemaster.

I must say though, that I agree with the Boy Scouts on this. They won't let any boy or girl under the age of 14 participate in a Scuba Activity.

Can younger kids learn? It depends on the kid. My son is in the gifted program at school (scored 1310 on his SAT in the 7th grade). He is unusually mature for his age. If I had to do it all over again, I would have made him wait until he was 14. Really.

Technically, he is very talented. However, as my buddy, he would have a hard time rescuing me... especially at 11. If you want t true buddy situation, you should treat them as "incapacitated" and use a three person buddy team. But that's not the whole story.

Their bones are still growing. We have no clue what these hyperbaric episodes do to their growth areas. The speculation is that it may stunt them. Personally, I don't think it's worth the chance at that age.

Finally, they do not have the ability to truly appreciate the underwater environment. My son was excited about diving at the beginning. It was cool and he got to tell his friends about it. Now it merely bores him... it's old hat. Will your child be the same? I hope not. His friends kid him that he doesn't go diving with me more. Like me, they just don't understand his reluctance. Did I spoil it for him for life by letting him learn so early? I hope not.

 

[devilfish]

Some kids may be able to learn, some not. It all depands on the child. That's not the point. Kids are not little adults. Besides the fact that kids have no fear, there is another factor. So the kid does well and get's a card to dive with a parent or a guardian. Well, there's a little kid wearing equipment almost equal to their body weight. The kid and a parent or a guardian are send off with a blessing as a buddy team to enjoy themselves because they did well in the course. So who is the parents or the guardians buddy? According to the largest agency statistics, there is less than 4% that took a rescue course. Even less have a clue about rescue. Can we expect an 80 lb kid wearing 40 lb of gear to rescue an adult if the guardian is in trouble? So who is the adults buddy? How many "guardians" are qualified to supervise, and rescue the kid and themselves if needed? It sounds so very cute, it's a family activity. It turns my stomach every time I hear of a fatality. Oh yeah, the statistics are very low. But in the name of a "famility" activity, one is too many.

 

[ChrisA]

We should just number these objections. So people can save time be just says "I agree with objection number two". ;-)

The two most common and valid objections are
1) Young children can't be reliable buddies and,
2) The parent may not be qualified to supervise the child.

But also there are common and valid counters to the above.

1) An instructor with four students is in effect solo diving
with four uncertified divers. A perent might has experiance
and training suchthat a parent/child team would be about as
safe as an instructor/student team.

2) The parent/child buddy team might only be interrested in
and will to be limited to only easy dives led by a professional
at a resort.

The above are exceptions.

There is a woman and her 12 year old son who live down the street
from me who both want to be certified. Her idea was that they
take the class together. I'd say "don't do it." except that the mother
is a former competive swimmer who once qualified for a US Olympic
team and has done many miles of open ocean swimming.
On top of that the main interrest is in organized resort type
diving. Soit's hard to advise "no."

There are some cases where it makes sense. but I'd hate to see
some guy and his 10 year old daughter both out in the ocean by
themselves diving
the day after they both finished OW training. But then if we assume
the instructor is on the ball he"d strongly suggest they don't
try something so dumb.

Some kids may be able to learn, some not. It all depands on the child. That's not the point. Kids are not little adults. Besides the fact that kids have no fear, there is another factor. So the kid does well and get's a card to dive with a parent or a guardian. Well, there's a little kid wearing equipment almost equal to their body weight. The kid and a parent or a guardian are send off with a blessing as a buddy team to enjoy themselves because they did well in the course. So who is the parents or the guardians buddy? According to the largest agency statistics, there is less than 4% that took a rescue course. Even less have a clue about rescue. Can we expect an 80 lb kid wearing 40 lb of gear to rescue an adult if the guardian is in trouble? So who is the adults buddy? How many "guardians" are qualified to supervise, and rescue the kid and themselves if needed? It sounds so very cute, it's a family activity. It turns my stomach every time I hear of a fatality. Oh yeah, the statistics are very low. But in the name of a "famility" activity, one is too many.

 

[Squalus]

This thread has had some interesting pro's and con's to it. However, the final decission is to the parent if they want to allow their child to be certified in scuba. As divers they understand the inherent risk that encompasses our sport. As a parent, my youngest has displayed a remarked interest in my dive gear and photo's that I have taken on my excurssions, I will support him when he decides that the time is right for him to be certified. From my experience in the military there is one thing that I will always use, it's a risk analysis. This tells me if I need to add safety factors when accomplishing what is set out. So, when I am diving with my son then maybe have more than one dive buddy with us for that "Murphy's Law" factor.

 

[mattiamike]

Delighted Diver, we are from southern MD. I know an instructor at Adventure Scuba in Chantilly. The manager Henry was very good with the kids and very safety conscious. My girls took a class with 6 Boy Scouts and believe me age has nothing to do with learning the material. My girls basically aced the tests and these boys, well let just say they needed much help to even get past the tests. One of the kids even had to take the written part all over as he failed every single test.

The boys did great in the water but they were still boys. They were wrestling and playing and my girls are intently listening to the instructor. I've seen the same thing in coed sports. Thank god I had girls at least until they get to 14 or so and then I'll have my hands full.

 

[The Chairman]

Young girls are ALWAYS easier to teach than young boys. They are far more mature and attentive. That does not ameliorate the effects of the hyperbaric environment on their growing bodies. There is no downside asking them to wait until they are 14-16 before they learn to dive. There is no race to be the youngest.

 

[jbd]

Thank god I had girls at least until they get to 14 or so and then I'll have my hands full.

:rofl: I have 5 daughters. The last one is now 14. If I can just make it through the next couple of years with some semblance of sanity left

 

[The Chairman]

Let me rephrase that...

Girls are easier IF you are not related to them. I simply can't get my daughter to listen to anything. My son on the other hand is getting more and more hard headed as well. And their dad was such a nice, humble and reasonable fellow. (Good looking too!)