Teenagers and Diving

[NJMike]

KBLee, congrats dude (dudette?)! If I could give you just one piece of fatherly advice, it would be to not rush yourself into anything you don't feel you are quite ready for.

You have a lot of dive time ahead...take your time.

 

[jimclarke]

over a year ago on another thread i was saying that we discovered that my then 12yr old neice could not read and had shattered confidence & self asteem (we had broken hearts over it)

to work with her we got her a tutor and we put her on the padi program... snorkling, bubble makers, reading OW manual together every weekend plus the tutor and in almost no time we turned her around 100%.

she still diving with us (accepted to a selective highschool!), has her own gear and blossomed as a young person with leadership confidence now

im not for all kids learning to scuba... each child has to be judged on their own merit but im so glad we had the faith in her and she showed herself to be a person we know she could be

cheers

Our son Tom is dyslexic. On our last holiday he took the PADI OW. He was buried in the book for hours and scored 90% in the test. It did wonders for our confidence as well as his!

 

[jpsexton]

I got my son certified right before he turned 15. He loved it at first and truly was a natural. After about 15-20 dives he just kinda lost intrest. I don't push him so he dos'nt dive much. Maybe when he's older he will come back to it. I agree though it is great for teaching them responsibility and confedence.

 

[dive_lover88]

I'm 18.I got certified 2 yrs back and I'm thankful that my parents allowed me to learn diving and was fully supportive of me.Now they are thinking that it's a mistake coz of the $$$ going out of their pocket and they only paid for my OW and AOW and my 1st set of gear,the rest of the cost like trips and new gears is bore by me(*Big ouch)

 

[Thalassamania]

As the Father of 3 diving kids, 15, 17 and 20, I just want to relay to every one of you divers out there with kids, get them into to diving.

I couldn't agree more.

 

[dive_lover88]

im not for all kids learning to scuba

I agree too. Though i may not have much exp and yes,i'm young...But being in a dive club allows me to see the different kinds of teenagers. Some come in just to get a card for bragging rights and is a danger to any diver. Some are interested and take to diving like a fish in water.

 

[Scuba Brad]

I have five children and all are certified. We have enjoyed trips together and apart and I can tell you its always better with them. There is "no other sucess that can compensate for failure in the home".....David O. McKay

Happy Diving

 

[beach89]

Teenagers are notorious for impulsive, poor choices and excessive risk taking.

What the hell.

My dad and all of my uncles are all certified and most of them are instructors. It's always kinda been a given that I would at least get a basic certification. Especially since my sisters won't put their face underwater.

 

[KBLee]

KBLee, congrats dude (dudette?)! If I could give you just one piece of fatherly advice, it would be to not rush yourself into anything you don't feel you are quite ready for.

You have a lot of dive time ahead...take your time.

Thanks! Me and my dad got certified together. We'll be taking it slow for sure. We have agreed to do so after reading a post that was found on this site which was explaining how the diver certification period is too short for new divers to have all of the important skills down.

 

[Cheekymonkey]

I found diving to be quite helpful for me when I was little, gave me a good social experience where people in middleschool werent normally as kind.