JKPAO
Contributor
Place him in a life vest or a snorkel vest so he can only submerge his face. Let him try breathing off a reg. no probs.
See you topside! John
See you topside! John
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Sorry, but I have to disagree.
I am a parent myself, and my youngest daughter certified at 10. Did I teach her? No. Why? Parents often have an inflated view of their child's abilities, as I see when they bring them and ask me to teach their children. I probably turn down more than I accept. Despite their parent's insistance, they just aren't ready.
Many posters on here will recognise that statement. How many times do you get frustrated with your own chilldren, as you believe they are capable of so much more, when the simple fact is, at that time, they may not be capable of so much more.
The best person to judge the child's abilities in this case is an instructor.
Take your youngest to a dive centre and let an instructor talk to you and the young one. Then see what can/cannot be done.
I could not disagree more. I had my oldest kid spearfishing to 60 feet on scuba at 9 yrs old, but the OP is ignorant. To be unaware of the potential for lung over expansion injury in a few feet of water, is indicative of some VERY serious deficits in diving skills. For this reason alone, the dive training should be left to a professional.
8 yrs old is very young. I tried to teach number 2 son too young in the pool and he took a breath, gagged or something and tried to shoot for the surface after spitting the reg..Not sure of his age.
Luckily, I was there holding him and physically held him underwater as he struggled and struggled to reach the surface, but I would not release him until he exhaled. Finally after both of us thought be might drown, he began crying underwater, and I immediately took him to the surface. It was a VERY uncomfortable situation for both of us, and he was not allowed to try again to use the tank in the pool for a year.
He was too immature and it was a major error on my part to allow him to try the gear.
There are plenty of other things a kid at that age should be doing. Go fishing, grow a vegatable garden, work on those soccer skills, learn how to draw.
And, although we call it a sport, SCUBA isn't the same as a youngster getting on a basketball or baseball team.
SCUBA can wait for later. Let 'em have fun with kid stuff while they still are.
SNIP
Just because you're a dive instructor doesn't mean you are in the best position to make that evaluation ... not even, necessarily, in person. I've met way too many dive instructors who are incompetent ... or just not good with kids.
SNIP
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
A child's natural reaction is not to choke on a popcorn kernel.
We must understand that the natural reaction to an emergency underwater is to take a great big inhalation, plant our feet securely on the bottom and push off and shoot for the surface as fast as humanly possible... holding our air until we are safely on the surface....
I completely disagree that an over expansion injury is of "negligible risk".
A child is NOT going to drown in a pool on scuba gear if someone is watching them. Prevention of this occurance is entirely under the adults control. The same can not be said for being 100% sure that you can control an instantaneous bolt for the surface. It takes 2 seconds to pop a lung, it is going to take more than 2 minutes to drown a kid... no comparison...if you are vigilant.
Explaining the concept of not holding your breath is easy, so is not locking up the brakes in a car when we start to skid.....Now we all have anti-lock brakes...
I respect your views and your opinion - I just disagree with you. However, I am not going to change your mind, so I won't argue with you.
Right that's it, the questioning of an instructor is just too much to take
I don't disagree ... necessarily ... but it mustn't just be "an instructor". There's instructors out there with less practical experience than some of my AOW students ... and far less common sense. There's instructors out there who will sell a class to anybody ... regardless of qualifications. There's instructors out there who may be superbly qualified to train adults, but wouldn't have a clue how to approach training a child. The parent's job isn't just to evaluate their child's readiness, but also to assure that the instructor chosen for their child's training is up to the task.Seriously, I did read your statement, which is why I said for the OP to take his child to meet an instructor.
Then you don't disagree with me at all ... because that's really all I said.I haven't said that the child is or isn't ready, as you say, no way to do that off the internet.
But ... given the circumstances ... the OP is in a far better position than you or I are ... and we're both instructors ...I have said however, that the OP is not necessarily the best person to judge as to whether or not the child is ready.
And why is SCUBA not "kid stuff"? Is it not "fun"?
Having had the same experience, my daughter became a diver through an instructor (who was very keen in me not being present !).
However, once certified, I treated her as any other buddy, going, every so often, through all the drills together. I think that treating her as equal was positive.