Success teaching younger divers????

[Kim]

This thread has sent shivers down my spine. I have a daughter of nearly 4 who is already asking far too many questions about diving. She practises putting her face underwater in the bath everyday. I had already decided that she won't dive until she is at least 14/15 - now I'm beginning to wonder if I'll really stand a chance.

 

[Lightning Fish]

IIRC correctly there is a thread about a 14 year old girl who died waiting for her father to come out of a cavern. She ran out of air.

After reading this it sounds like the girl and her father were separated. Were they both cave diving and she exited first and he never followed or did he run off to explore? I couldn't find the thread and would like a few more details before commenting further. i.e., why was she waiting outside a cavern by herself?

Cheers,
Bill.

 

[jbd]

After reading this it sounds like the girl and her father were separated. Were they both cave diving and she exited first and he never followed or did he run off to explore? I couldn't find the thread and would like a few more details before commenting further. i.e., why was she waiting outside a cavern by herself?

Cheers,
Bill.

Best I can recall she was told to wait at the entrance to a cave or cavern. The Dad went in. When he came back out he found her lying on the bottom. No one knows for sure exactly what happened but as I recall she was out of air. I remember thinking that she had sone exactly as she was told--waited until her Dad returned. My guess is that she was unaware that she was running out of air until she did run out. What I don't understand is why she didn't bolt to the surface out of pure survival instinct :06: Maybe she did and then passed out and sank due to overweighting.

Finding the particular thread it was in would be difficult as it was close to three years ago and was probaly part of an ongoing conversation.

Diving is not really hard to learn how to do but too many people seem to forget that part of diving is knowing what to do when the fecal material hits the fan, and keep the prescence of mind to what needs to be done. That is asking alot of a child and is something that needs to be considered thoroughly before letting a child learn to dive.

 

[jbd]

would you leave your wife to die?

In all honesty I might since we have children and if it meant one of us survived to take of them, just as I would at some point have her abandon me for the same reason if I was the one in dire circumstances. My wife sky dives(I don't ) I scuba dive(she doesn't) We don't both go diving on the same day since we both know that there is some chance we might not come back from our respective dives.

diving experience is soo different from life experience.

Not really IMHO. Live long enough and you will have some really scary experiences in life. Dive long enough and you will have some really scary experiences. In both cases some of those experiences might have been near death or life threatening experiences. Each one of these experiences that we have and survive we learn something from. This gives us some perspective on dealing with future similar situations.

you gotta start somewhere and wouldn't it be better to start early? (early is a relative thing, that could of course be whenever).

The earlier one starts, the simpler the mechansim can be that creates a tragedy.

 

[Gary D.]

Hello all, You have all given me alot to think both for and against letting my daughter take a class. Just to clear things up I was SSI certified by my Fire Dept. 10 years ago. I am currently certified in Stress Rescue, Limited Vis, Search and Recovery and also an Equipment specialty. I have "offically logged" almost 50 dives and will obtain my "Master Diver" c=card this month. I actually have more dives than that I just don't log alot of the puddle dives we are required to do at work. My main job at work while diving is Search and recovery so I am super aware of all the safety issues that we are talking about. Safety for my daughter in a dive situation would be of the upmost priority; and you can bet she wouldn't be more than 1 kick away from me under water. You have all brought out some very interesting and thoughtful issues most definatly. I have untill her 11th b-day in March to ponder the idea. Like I said in my earlier post I will train with her and see how she handles situations. I am torn both ways; don't let her do it because she is too young, or let her do it to get a lifetime of enjoyment out of it keeping in mind of course the safety issue at all times. I am greatly appreciative of the ideas you all have sent me. I look forward to keeping you updated about this issue as well as ask questions of you. please feel free to post more comments about this
Your Friend
Wydoin

Is your department letting you do PSD work with a sport S&R cert.?

If your not logging your department "Puddle" dives you and your department might be looking at some serious problems down the road.

I hope you don't think that getting your Master Card with only 50 dives is going to make you a Master Diver.

Gary D.

 

[Ks Bob]

Best I can recall she was told to wait at the entrance to a cave or cavern. The Dad went in. When he came back out he found her lying on the bottom.

Why would a father tell his daughter to wait? It sounds like he let her down as a buddy and a father. If and when I decide to let my daughter get her cert, I can gaurantee she will always stay in reach.

 

[Lightning Fish]

Best I can recall she was told to wait at the entrance to a cave or cavern. The Dad went in. When he came back out he found her lying on the bottom. No one knows for sure exactly what happened but as I recall she was out of air. I remember thinking that she had sone exactly as she was told--waited until her Dad returned. My guess is that she was unaware that she was running out of air until she did run out. What I don't understand is why she didn't bolt to the surface out of pure survival instinct :06: Maybe she did and then passed out and sank due to overweighting.

I find it ironic that this thread is about kids' lack of maturity to make the right decision or to react correctly to a situation and an example is given where a kid's dad leaves his buddy alone. Who is the immature diver in this case?

Granted, the girl should have had the presence of mind to monitor her air and not wait for her dad to return. Sounds like she was relying too much on her dad, which is an issue that has also been raised.

Diving is not really hard to learn how to do but too many people seem to forget that part of diving is knowing what to do when the fecal material hits the fan, and keep the prescence of mind to what needs to be done. That is asking alot of a child and is something that needs to be considered thoroughly before letting a child learn to dive.

I agree. As you get into these situations and you see how you react (you can expand that to other experiences and not just diving), you can learn a lot about yourself and it prepares you for other, tougher situations. Like you said before, kids don't have these experiences.

I think a lot of peoplem, adults and kids, could find themselves in the same situation as the girl and make the wrong decision(s). Some people just don't think straight or don't respond well to stress. With kids, they don't have the life experiences to help them out.

Bill.

 

[underwater daphne]

The earlier one starts, the simpler the mechansim can be that creates a tragedy.

when you start has nothing to do with doing it wrong or right.

 

[Lightning Fish]

The earlier one starts, the simpler the mechansim can be that creates a tragedy.

when you start has nothing to do with doing it wrong or right.

There is a difference between doing it right or wrong, and reacting to a potentially dangerous situation. A young kid can be a great diver, good bouyancy, etc. But when things go sour, how are they going to respond?

In OW you are told to stop, breath, think, then act. From my experiences in life, a kid is more likely to panic.

As an extreme example, my daughter is learning how to ride a bike. She is doing okay, she knows how to pedal, steer, and stop the bike. The other day she was on the sidewalk with a slight decline, as she picked up speed she removed her feet from the pedals, which are also her brakes, and started to scream. Not a rational decision. A simple 'mechanism', a little bit of speed, that went sour. Everything she had learned was forgotten in a moment of panic. Granted, there is a big difference between 3 and 12 yrs, I don't think a 12 yrs old would panic in the same situation as my daughter. Likewise, there is a difference between 12 and 20, and for some people, you can compare 20 to 30 or even older.

Bill

 

[CuriousMe]

<snip> I am torn both ways; don't let her do it because she is too young, or let her do it to get a lifetime of enjoyment out of it <snip>

Do you really think that waiting a year or three will change her "lifetime enjoyment" in a negative way? Yeah, you'll have to listen to her for a couple years as she tries to convine you to let her.....but I don't think that starting at 15 or 16 will diminish her lifetime enjoyment.....it might actually enhance it.

If she wanted to drive a car now.....and I mean she realllllly wanted to, and you were sure she'd be able to handle it physically with a bit of a booster seat (and after all, she follows the rules of the road on her bicycle)....do you think she should?

The reason there's a minimum age for driving is not as much for physical reasons as it is for mental and emotional maturity. Driving gives you the ability to hurt yourself and others with just one "Oh Sh*t" moment. It doesn't even need to be your fault...could be someone else's or just plain dumb luck....but you need to be able to react to it. I just don't think that kids can....I don't they can diving either.

She sounds like she'll take to diving like a fish.....but I agree with what a bunch of posters have said. I wouldn't want to put the responsability of being a buddy on a child. They just don't have the life experience to deal with a bad situation.

My .02

Peace,
Cathie