diving with kids...

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Becca65

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So, have a friend who is interested in learning to dive - wants his daughter to learn as well but she has a few years before she is old enough for certification....his question is this:
is it better for him to get certified before she is old enough and have some dives under his belt - or is it better for him to wait until his daughter is old enough and them take classes together?
 
So, have a friend who is interested in learning to dive - wants his daughter to learn as well but she has a few years before she is old enough for certification....his question is this:
is it better for him to get certified before she is old enough and have some dives under his belt - or is it better for him to wait until his daughter is old enough and them take classes together?


Taking young children scuba diving takes a good bit of attention from the diver. If he is not already reasonably skilled, he will not be able to deliver the level of attention that I think is required when diving with a 10 yr old child. In addition, few 10 yr old girls (or boys) are really strong enough to provide a lot of assistance should that be needed at the surface for example.. So the adult should be comfortable diving alone before they set off with a 10 yr old..
 
What he said 100% ^^
 
+ plenty

He needs more than "some dives under his belt" to dive with a kid. He needs to be a knowledgeable, competent, confident diver.
 
It would be a good idea if he progressed right on up to take the Rescue Diver course, which has content to development how you mindfully think about diving in such a way as to prevent & deal with problems.

He could also hit some destinations she will likely go in advance, so he'll 'know the ropes' there a bit. If she certified at age 10 (and it's been discussed in other threads that not all 10 year olds have the maturity to justify such a move), and they stuck with the depth limit recommendations, starting out with a trip or more to Key Largo for the shallow reef diving would be a fine idea. At trip or two by him beforehand could build useful familiarity.

Richard.
 
I also think learning to dive and having some experience would help him to judge better when his daughter is actually ready to learn. (And of course it should be her that wants to dive, not just him wanting her to.)
 
I agree with everything said above that he should have some experience but also you said he wants his daughter to learn does she want to learn? My son said he wanted to learn to dive at 10 I made him wait a few years to make sure and in the mean time we snorkeled and free dove as much as we could so he was comfortable in the ocean and when he did go through his OW class it was a breeze.
 
It would be a good idea if he progressed right on up to take the Rescue Diver course, which has content to development how you mindfully think about diving in such a way as to prevent & deal with problems.

He could also hit some destinations she will likely go in advance, so he'll 'know the ropes' there a bit. If she certified at age 10 (and it's been discussed in other threads that [-]not all[/-] it's the rare 10 year old that will have not just the maturity to justify such a movebut the physical strength if there were to be an issue ), and they stuck with the depth limit recommendations, starting out with a trip or more to Key Largo for the shallow reef diving would be a fine idea. At trip or two by him beforehand could build useful familiarity.

Richard.

Fixed it for you.
 
I started diving 10 years ago and my daughter who is 14 started diving 4 years ago when she was 10. By that point I was what I would consider a solid intermediate/advanced recreational diver with 6 years under the belt. Nonetheless we hired and have continued to hire a private DM to join us on each dive. It is an added cost but well worth the peace of mind. This year she will be 15 and for the first time we will forgo the private DM.
 
Becca65:
Please have your friend read DivemasterDennis' blog entry for parents of Junior Open Water Divers at http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/blogs/divemasterdennis/65-parents-junior-open-water-divers.html

My daughter earned her Junior OW certification this year, and I cannot recommend that blog entry enough! Some additional insights from our experience:

a) As others here have said, your friend should not only be certified before his daughter, but be as experienced as possible as well. I was first certified in 2001, but took my time with additional training. When my daughter started asking about diving, I made it a priority to have my Rescue Diver before she started anything. If your friend is serious about diving with their child someday, your friend's training needs to start ASAP.

b) Before investing in an OW course for my child, she did PADI's BubbleMaker program at age 8, and the Seal Team and Master Seal Team courses at age 9. These were extremely valuable for a couple of reasons. First, it established whether she was likely to enjoy the sport before paying for a full OW course. Second, it gave me the opportunity to watch from poolside and see her comfort level with basic skills, and to speak with her instructors on her readiness to progress. All three kids programs gave her a taste of what to expect in an OW class and what kind of skills she would be expected to master along the way (including navigation and using an SMB in the Master Seal class).

DiveMasterDennis' blog talks about parents staying out of the water during their child's certification to avoid being a distraction. This should include being in the same class as the child, and not just shadowing the child's class. Too much risk that each will be a distraction to the other. In a group class, this will take away from everyone else's learning experience, and make a private class extremely inefficient.

Also... when my daughter went for her OW checkout dives, she completed the first two dives on Day 1 fine, but had some sinus issues on the second day that made her decide to call her dives that day and wait for another weekend to finish. While the idea of getting certified together may sound great, remember that stuff happens that could prevent certifying together. Avoid potential disappointment be keeping it separate and getting as much experience as possible first.

After saying all of that, I had a blast diving with my daughter last summer once she was certified, and on trip to the Bahamas this past November. She loves it, and I love watching her discover the underwater world. Already planning dives for this year. It has been a great experience, but frankly, it did involve two or three years of planning to be sure that we were both ready for it. With your friend not yet certified, that planning horizon should be longer, just so he can develop as a diver himself.
 
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