A compassionate instructor

This past weekend, my youngest son (11 years old) and I accompanied my oldest son to his OW SCUBA class. My little one had hoped to be able to take the class but, while he can snorkel quite well, he lacks the stamina needed for the swim test. We have been going to the city pool for him to practice, but he isn't quite ready yet.

Anyway, on Saturday, we sat by the pool and watched the class. Junior was obviously disappointed at seeing his big brother in the water and not being able to join in. This was not unnoticed by the instructor. When we arrived at the LDS on Sunday morning, there were two extra sets of equipment waiting by the pool. One set was a small BC with this little set of double 30s strapped to it. The instructor told me to help Junior into the doubles and for me to get into the other gear and then get into the pool with him. While the rest of the class went about their lessons, Junior and I swam around on the bottom and just had fun.

The experience hooked Junior on SCUBA and he is now even more determined than ever to get his C-card.

As a grandfather who really hopes my 8 year old grandson will want to do this in a couple of years, as a father who is sad my daughter never wanted to do this and as a husband who is very happy (most of the time!) that my wife agreed to scuba, I applaud the action by the instructor.

HOWEVER, as an instructor and as a former trial attorney and as someone who has helped spread the ashes of a new diver who had fatal issues, I'm appalled at the action. It is all about risk and "what if." You are an "old diver" but one who hasn't been doing this for a while -- nor, from your profile, is there any note that you've had any special training into how to introduce diving to kids. The "what ifs" here concern me -- both for the LDS/Instructor who set up the unsupervised diving and for you, the Dad had something actually gone wrong.

I must say, I'm really, honestly, very conflicted. It's great that your son got to feel the bubbles. I just can't help but have severe doubts as to the wisdom of the experience the way it was set up.

Paladin954:

This past weekend, my youngest son (11 years old) and I accompanied my oldest son to his OW SCUBA class. My little one had hoped to be able to take the class but, while he can snorkel quite well, he lacks the stamina needed for the swim test. We have been going to the city pool for him to practice, but he isn't quite ready yet.

Anyway, on Saturday, we sat by the pool and watched the class. Junior was obviously disappointed at seeing his big brother in the water and not being able to join in. This was not unnoticed by the instructor. When we arrived at the LDS on Sunday morning, there were two extra sets of equipment waiting by the pool. One set was a small BC with this little set of double 30s strapped to it. The instructor told me to help Junior into the doubles and for me to get into the other gear and then get into the pool with him. While the rest of the class went about their lessons, Junior and I swam around on the bottom and just had fun.

The experience hooked Junior on SCUBA and he is now even more determined than ever to get his C-card.

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I'd like to say this is an awesome, heartwarming story, but honestly-unless you haven't included all of the info, this is frightening and negligent on the Instructor's part. Did this Instructor let a child swim around in SCUBA with no instruction or professional supervision?

I have been working with both of my boys for the past several months, helping them to learn the science and safety rules of SCUBA. Junior did not just get into the water "cold turkey." He knows about the bends, safe ascent rates, the effect of pressure on gasses, etc. The instructor had him sit in on the classroom work with his big brother and he even passed the written test with a score of 90%.

I have made him very much aware of the safety rules and I was right next to him the entire time and never took my eyes off him for an instant. In addition, there was a DM in the pool whose only duty was to act as a second pair of eyes for the instructor. The class consisted of my older son and three other students. I assure you, precautions were taken all around.

As for myself, I started diving 44 years ago and was active in the sport until the early 90s. I started back into diving this past spring. Since then, I have made around two dozen dives in the river near my home, a quarry in Ohio, a couple of lakes in Ky and one in Virginia.

I will not repeat the story of how I got into SCUBA but, if anyone is interested, it is contained in my first post on this board.

Yes, there are risks involved in SCUBA, but there is very little in life that does not carry some measure of risk. The 40 mile drive from our home to the LDS was more dangerous than swimming around in a pool with a SCUBA tank.

I was not trolling when I submitted this post, nor will I back off my decision to share a taste of SCUBA diving with my son. Further, if I were offered the chance to go back in time to that moment, I would do exactly the same without reservation.

There is no time limit on the swim test. He can do it.

I don't think the intent of the other posters is to criticize you for wanting to share your underwater experience with your son. However, as dive professionals, they're aware of training standards and the need to follow them. To refer to it as negligence is a bit harsh, but despite the instructor's good intentions, he did violate some very fundamental standards.

Personally, I think it's awesome when parents and kids dive together. The part that concerns us as instructors is that your son's initial introduction to scuba wasn't done under the supervision of a trained instructor. Having DMs and instructors in the same pool is a very loose interpretation of the standard, especially if the instructor knows that your son isn't a strong swimmer yet.

There are ways to introduce an 11 year old to scuba that don't require mastery of the OW swim skills. The instructor could, for example, take him in the pool as a PADI Seal, and use that experience to count towards his OW certification once he's a stronger swimmer. The swim test really is a critical requirement, since the instructor needs to know that your son has the strength and stamina to handle himself in the water in the event of an emergency. Seam Team dives are very flexible, and leave a lot to the instructor's discretion (you'd be amazed how much mileage you can get from pool toys). Parents who dive are usually welcome to join in these pool sessions, space permitting.

By all means nurture his enthusiasm and give him a goal to reach towards. All we're suggesting is that training standards exist for a reason, and it's in everybody's interest (yours, your son's, the LDS's and the instructor's) not to jump the queue and just stick with the programs available to someone of his age and experience level. When he's ready to move on to OW, the ocean will still be there.

Let's consider an alternative view. The instructor is, in fact, an expert. He's been around long enough to be an effective judge of a Paladin954's knowledge, skill and capability. Paladin954 is an old time diver and, though not as active as he once once, has lost (or forgotten) very little. The Instructor knows him, has seen him, has talked with him and is perfectly comfortable with the level of risk.

Frankly, I suspect that given the alternative between sending my kid out for a pool dive with Paladin954 or a most newly certified Instructors, I suspect that I'd pick Paladin954.

Without knowing all the people involved I won't comment on the safety aspect of it. But I'm assuming it was probably okay.

But from a legal perspective (and I'm not a lawyer) this just seems idiotic on the instructor's part. He basically gave potentially dangerous scuba gear to an uncertified child who wasn't enrolled in any official program and without any official supervision by a dive professional. How competant Paladin is relevant in the informal safety discussion, but seems almost irrelevant from a legal point of view (he isn't trained in instruction and isn't a dive professional, period). Had something happened, it would certainly open him up to a civil suit, possibly even criminal (I wouldn't be shocked if this was considered manslaughter). Peter or other lawyers, am I wrong here?

Thalassamania:

Let's consider an alternative view. The instructor is, in fact, an expert. He's been around long enough to be an effective judge of a Paladin954's knowledge, skill and capability. Paladin954 is an old time diver and, though not as active as he once once, has lost (or forgotten) very little. The Instructor knows him, has seen him, has talked with him and is perfectly comfortable with the level of risk.

Frankly, I suspect that given the alternative between sending my kid out for a pool dive with Paladin954 or a most newly certified Instructors, I suspect that I'd pick Paladin954.

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I'm pretty sure I would agree with you if/when all the info was given, but based on what was provided, how can you make these conclusions? Based on the original post, I didn't even know the poster was certified until I read his profile...

I said, "Let's CONSIDER an alternative view." That's all. Nothing more, nothing less.