My 12 Year Old Nephew wants to dive with me.

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I am all about getting the kids in the water sooner than later. My daughter was twelve and did her pool and book work in the cold and her check out dive with Cobalt Coast. After that, shipped her to CIMI camp for two summers, where she dove everyday around Catalina Island. The camp is geared for young people and it was one of the best investments ever. Check it out. I don't have any issues with her buddy skills.
Cheers
 
My takeaway from the vid: The first time he fills the bottle he drops the reg and swats around for it while still filling the bottle by mouth. (I swear I heard you tell him to fill it by mouth) Like "no big deal, it has to be here somewhere". Next two shots, he keeps the primary in his hand. Situational awareness and learning. He's ready...
 
My takeaway from the vid: The first time he fills the bottle he drops the reg and swats around for it while still filling the bottle by mouth. (I swear I heard you tell him to fill it by mouth) Like "no big deal, it has to be here somewhere". Next two shots, he keeps the primary in his hand. Situational awareness and learning. He's ready...

I don't think I ever told him how to fill the bottles.. He just figured it out on his own. I had to chase the bottle to the surface each time, leaving him solo on the bottom with the floatline. He was wearing his pony bottle (with the reg around his neck) .. I have no worries that he would be able to secure the second reg if he needed and if that didn't work, he could drop the belt and be on the surface in 10 seconds. He had done a lot of no-mask buddy breathing skills before he ever got to that stage... Neither of us are worried about him dropping his reg.
 
Fun to watch.

My kid certed in the Laguna Madre at the same age. Tim had him swimming compass squares in the wash while towing a flag. Did we lose something along the way?
 
To answer your question, YES every certified diver should be able to provide aid and rescue if needed.

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Please don't misunderstand, you have a very good point, it is the absoluteness that I question. Also "provide aid and rescue if needed" is a very fuzzy requirement. What kind of aid, what level of rescue?

IMHO there are times and circumstances where, with review and acceptance of the increased risks, diving with a 'dependent buddy', or an 'unlikely to be able to help you buddy' is acceptable. Some disabled divers come immediately to mind.

Without hijacking this thread too much further, I have accepted the role of mentoring several freshly certified divers. After mentoring at least 4, from at least 2 different shops and 3 different instructors, none gave me any confidence that they could provide ME more than rudimentary assistance if any at all when we started. I did feel that each of the 4 was able to take care of themselves, and each has since become a competent buddy.

Again IMHO newly minted OW divers may be able to take care of themselves, but often are not yet capable of providing any meaningful aid or rescue. Is this how things should be? NO, but it seems to be what IS (and this is a different thread). Based on this experience IMHO there are special circumstances where this dependent state is acceptable for extended periods, if not forever (again some disabled divers).

Lastly, my comments about disabled (or differently abled) divers are not meant as critisism. My hats are off to those divers that have more challenges than most and you all have my respect and support.
 
I think we can add to the discussion that age is just one factor in dive readiness. Overall body size and shape is a factor too, as is maturity , discussed so well by others already. There are plenty of teens and twenties and older people who lack the maturity or fitness to dive and we don't always single them out for the special training or supervision they should have. New divers, and especially young new divers, should dive with a local professional or very experienced divers, and they should be treated like everyone else as far as abilities and responsibilities, but not necessarily relied on as a stand alone beside you buddy, depending on their skill and physical ability level. That means you don't go off as a two some- be in a group, and stay with the group. Also, strictly observe a 40 foot limit for the first several dives, to increase you safety margin. What I want to add as a closing comment is the excellent discussion in this thread concerning evaluation and assessment of skills for a 12 year old are really a pretty good idea for assessment of anyone that you are going to dive with!
DivemasterDennis
 
Thanks for the thoughts and advice. This summer I am going to take him on an overnight white water canoe trip down the Colorado River. I’m going to test him on the river and see how much information he can absorb and how well he handles a stressful situation (that I will create in a safe controlled environment). Still, I think I’m going to wait another year or two before I get him into the SCUBA game. The thought of one day having him as a dive buddy (years down the road) would be priceless to me. Thanks againeveryone!
 
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My son and I certified together 3 years ago when he was 11. The total certification duration spanned across 6 months in order to get all 4 OW certification dives in. But that was due to weather and certification class logistics during the certification dives, complicated by the fact that we had to travel from home in Atlanta to dive sites. It took 2 separate trips to get those 4 dives in. He did well at the skills. While the multiple distant trips were a pain and an unexpected extra cost, in hindsight, I believe there was some benefit for him in not having the book skills, the pool skills, and then 4 OW dives crammed into him in a short duration. As others have said, the general maturity and alertness is important. If a tween or young teen has trouble focusing for a duration and really being present and calm in the moment, it it good to wait a bit and let maturity hone them some in these characteristics. Since certification, I have taken him for 4 easy short dives and 22 drift dives ranging from 30-60 feet... all carpet dives, rather than hanging him over an abyss. For every drift dive, I paid extra to hire a private DM so that we could dive my son's Junior Diver profile. This allowed everybody to be happy on the boat, because we happened to be diving in locations with wall dives, where the other adults could do deep dives, and our little private group would drift parallel to them but up on top of the wall. Worked really well for all. Each time we arrived to start the vacation week, we would do a couple of easy shore dives to review peak bouyancy, buddy skills, controlled ascent, hand signals, etc. For the past two years, my son and I have been diving with an advanced diver friend. This year, we signed on with a group with a similar skill level to dive together in Bonaire this summer. Before we head down there, my son and I are taking a custom-made skills private course at our local dive shop to review buddy skills, the decision scenarios around emergency ascents without the DM or even alone if a (God-this-should-never-happen) separation or lost scenario happened, and the use of all of our safety gear we carry on us including surface signalling. I think gradual skill practice with the help of good qualified instructors, as well as trying to locate a group of divers to dive with that are welcoming to a Junior diver, is a good way to go for diving with a Junior buddy. For my son and me, this has been a wonderful experience we have shared -- I value it very much.
 
My daughter is 11 and Junior OW Certified, diving is one of our greatest, rewarding time and experience together. We dive almost weekly down here in sunny Fla.
Responsible kids are sometimes easier to teach then adults. I make sure on a weekly base she keeps her knowledge up and to expand her knowledge beyond OW with books, pool time and reviews. She cant wait for her Birthday in June to get her Advanced Cert in the Caymen.

It is a tremendous responsibility and yet such an great lesson about self discipline, responsibility and fun for a child growing up. There are limitations such as 40 ft max depth, etc.
My 2 cents: No problem at all go for it as long the child enjoys and shows adequate responsibility (also goes for the adult which accompanies a child).
Contact your LDS, most likely these professionals have great experience and will guide you in the right direction.
 

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