My 12 Year Old Nephew wants to dive with me.

[iluvtheocean]

i do agree, you have to assess the kid individually. Is he mature enough? I love my nephews to death and have no problems snorkeling with them, but until they are older and more mature i wouldn't want them as dive buddies (they are currently 13). attention spans these days yup 30 seconds if you're lucky.

i think it comes down to how mature you think your nephew is. have him try a discover scuba and go from there..

 

[freewillie]

It depends on the mindset of your nephew. As many others have alluded to, the maturity of the child is the biggest question of whether or not they should be allowed to certify. Do they understand the nature of scuba? Do they understand if not done correctly they can suffer serious injury or even death? Are they mature enough (especially for boys) to respect the sport and not try to do stupid things - like see how deep they can dive on a tank.

My daughter certified at 13 while we were on vacation. She was introduced to diving through a discover scuba course at the resort. I was already a certified diver at the time. During the orientation video they kept mentioning the #1 rule for scuba was never to hold your breath. Always blow small bubbles etc. The DM was nice enough to allow me to follow the group since I was already certified. When their dive finished and she and her friend were going up the ascent line I saw my daughter make this sweeping motion in front of her face to her friend. She was signalling her friend to remember to breath. I knew then as a parent that she understood the inherent dangers of scuba.

Along my diving career I only recently felt comfortable in my own diving skills to dive with my daughter without supervision. For the first few dives I always hired a DM to accompany us on the dive. Now, as I've gained more experience I do feel comfortable taking her with me for local shore dives without a DM. For new locations and on vacation we do have a DM.

I will tell you as a parent nothing helps with our relationship than sharing experiences together. She has already informed her mother any summer vacation must now include the opportunity to scuba. After a night dive in Maui she wrote in her dive log all in caps "BEST DIVE EVER WITH DADDY!" It is a very special moment for both of us. And that was before the manta ray night dive. For her 15th birthday she asked for and got AOW training. She now wants to dive a little deeper (with proper training and supervision of course.)

Talk to your nephew and sister. It might be appropriate to start now, or you might need to wait. Either way there is a big ocean out there and he can explore it when the time is right.

 

[lowviz]

...//... Seeing a 4 foot 85 lb 12 yr old girl bring her 6ft 200 lb dad up from the bottom, get his gear ready to dump, and have him at the side of the pool in an extraction position is so cool. I've trained 3 that met this description. ...//...

Very impressive, indeed. Were one (or two) of those divers deployed as safety divers in the no-viz 'Diver Rescue and Accident Management' course I took from you?

It depends on the mindset of your nephew. ...//...

And it very much depends on how the young diver reacts to real stress, but you have to take the course to find out. The onus is on the instructor...

 

[raftingtigger]

Certifying young divers is something I struggle with. I have certified several, and refused to certify several, some getting the Scuba Diver cert. The issue is not always with young diver being "good enough" to dive with a certified family member, one of the issues I think that is often overlooked is if that student has the skills or abilty to help their buddy. It is not always the jr diver who needs help, sometimes they need to be able to offer help. If they can't do that, I just can't certify them. It's not always about the diver, it's about the team or buddy pair.

Very good point, but... Do all buddy pairs have to be equal? How about the disabled diver? The very petite diver buddied up with a much heavier one? As long as the buddy pair knows and understands the limitations of that pairing -- and the risks involved -- these unequal buddy pairs shouldn't pose a problem. Instructors do it all the time. When they take out an uncertified diver they are solo diving with an impediment. What says a properly trained and capable parent can't take out a Jr. OW diver that can't rescue them. Jr. OW divers don't automatically become OW divers at age 15. They have to demonstrate appropriate skills.

 

[WheelsUSN]

Jr. OW divers don't automatically become OW divers at age 15. They have to demonstrate appropriate skills.

Not true, the only requirement to upgrade a Jr. OW diver to OW is to submit a PIC for a replacement card. It is recommended to have them complete a SCUBA review if its been more than a year since they got certified but not required.

 

[raftingtigger]

Not true, the only requirement to upgrade a Jr. OW diver to OW is to submit a PIC for a replacement card. It is recommended to have them complete a SCUBA review if its been more than a year since they got certified but not required.

Doesn't an instructor have to sign the PIC card? To me that isn't automatic. Why would a responsible instructor that didn't know the Jr. OW diver sign said PIC card without becoming familiar with them. If the responsible instructor was already familiar with the Jr. OW diver and didn't feel they had outgrown the limitations that such a card implies they why would they sign.

My error was "demonstrate skills". Anyhow I stand by the rest of my argument.

 

[WheelsUSN]

Doesn't an instructor have to sign the PIC card? To me that isn't automatic. Why would a responsible instructor that didn't know the Jr. OW diver sign said PIC card without becoming familiar with them. If the responsible instructor was already familiar with the Jr. OW diver and didn't feel they had outgrown the limitations that such a card implies they why would they sign.

My error was "demonstrate skills". Anyhow I stand by the rest of my argument.

No an instructor doesn't have to do anything. The diver can go straight to PADI's webpage and order a replacement card. When you get to the point of actually ordering the card it will tell you that if the original card was for Jr OW but you now meet the age requirement that the card will automatically be upgraded to a normal OW card. The only requirement is to pay for a new card.

 

[robertarak]

I never said equal, I said able. To answer your question, YES every certified diver should be able to provide aid and rescue if needed.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

[lowviz]

It gets complicated fast. I still maintain that it is "all about the instructor" for junior divers...

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I taught both of my sons to scuba when young. The oldest was diving with scuba and spearing fish (with his own gun) , in 60 feet, when he was 9. When he was old enough (10) he got certified.. They both had a ton of practice snorkeling before they got near a regulator.

In general, I think the minimum certification age of 10 is way too young for most kids. 12-13 is more reasonable, but it is still too young for probably most kids. If it were a kid in my family, I would make sure he is a good swimmer, can snorkel very well and should have absolutely ZERO trouble throwing his mask fins and snorkel in the pool, swimming down to the deep end and put all the gear on and then clear the mask and clear the snorkel when he gets to the surface... AND make it look easy. If a kid can do that and is motivated and not unreasonably immature.. he can probably learn.

I think teaching and learning scuba can be an incredibly positive experience for the kid. They have an excellent opportunity to learn about physics, physiology, biology and also self discipline and team work. My kid even got a 5-th grade science project out of it...

It has been a very positive influence on my kids. I personally think that if a child and an adult can really connect on ANY recreational activity or sport, the end result should be very positive. It takes a special kid to dive safely at that age, but the opportunity to make the connection with a child who is truly motivated should not be squandered.

I am a solo diver, so I have no delusions about relying on a 85-lb, 10-yr old kid to perform much of a rescue on me. It is a non-issue with me, but then again.. I made the kids dive with pony bottles almost immediately in their "home-school" training

This is a crappy video we made for his science project..

[video=youtube_share;fUQK9LZS_eg]http://youtu.be/fUQK9LZS_eg[/video]