Irresponsible parenting IMHO. Dad lets uncert. young son dive. (+link)

[Chad_Ordelheide]

Hmmmmm, this sounds about as stupid as a schoold in Spokane, WA banning tag because the kids might get hurt a sue the schools!! What happened to being a kid?

Can't kids just be raised by good parents with good judgement? If you think your kid is coherant enough to preform some task/sport let em! I'm guessing this kid is 10x's better than you average, overweight, weekend certified, resort diver that has to dragged around by some divemaster!!

 

[Thalassamania]

Yeah, I'm in the same boat. The abuse I suffered was so severe that I was forced at a young age to dive a second hand double-hose reg, steel 72, no weight belt or BC. And I dove uncertified like that for 20 years before trading a pony bottle and five bucks for my C-card. My dad, who was an irresponsible navy commander, fled overseas to get away from child protective services. He was last spotted somewhere in the Carribean.

Ditto

 

[MikeFerrara]

I do have some general concerns about young children diving but some of the agencies will certify them at ten so that's no help. Agencies and shops actively market the idea...so we get kids in the water who wouldn't be there sans the marketing and moms and dads who are inexperienced divers themselves taking jr diving with them...their decision largely based on the marketing propoganda that they've been fed. But, it's up to the parent and that's ok with me.

Personally I feel a lot better about a dad who is hopefully an experienced diver teaching his own than I do about some shlock agency teaching the dad and the kid and sending them out diving together.

I think we get way to hung up on this certification stuff. It's a good idea to know what your doing when you dive but certification is a racket and I doubt that certification level correlates well with skill level.

 

[Thalassamania]

I think we get way to hung up on this certification stuff. It's a good idea to know what your doing when you dive but certification is a racket and I doubt that certification level correlates well with skill level.

Hear, hear!

 

[craborn]

Heck my daughter is 9 months old. She is teething on her own regulator and pulls her bcd and fins around the room playing. When she takes her bottle at night we sit and talk about pressure changes and how peeing in our diaper is similar to wetsuit training. I agree there is a great danger area in the article but as parents we have to make decisions and live with them. Who are we to judge someone else!!!!!

 

[Ron Brandt]

The father stated his son was too young to understand the dive test at 12 years of age.....I know LOTS of 20,30,40 50...year olds that do not understand it either.

I have seen lots of parents "teach" their children to dive. You do not need a c-card to dive. I'm betting that the father who is a dm is a fine instructor......

Ron

 

[Thalassamania]

I'd much rather (and did) have a father looking out for me in the water than a c-card in my wallet.

 

[ScubaSarus]

Actually were we not all diving at some point with an umbilical cord as our regulator.

 

[Meister481]

In the article, there was no mention of the father asking for permission from the public.

He's a father, he loves his son enough to teach him to do something he loves. If you don't believe in doing this sort of thing, don't do it. I choose not to impose my will upon others, maybe others would do well to do the same.

 

[ScubaRev]

In the article, there was no mention of the father asking for permission from the public.

Amen to that! We'd be much better off as a society if we had more fathers as engaged in the lives of their sons and daughters as this guy. The last thing we need is for our children's lives to be governed by the village idiots.

I can't believe this thread is under the New England banner. I always thought New England was that "live free or die" place. Sounds more like the left coast where I live.