14yr old came up at end of 2nd open water dive and is now scared

[Stacelou]

Hello,

My 14 year old son was doing great in scuba classes with my husband and 16 year old son. He does want to dive, this is not a "forced" activity. Then on the 2nd dive he had to hold his mask off for one minute and put it back on. He had trouble getting it back on and headed for the surface. Now he says he is thinking too much about all that can happen. He says he does want to finish, but we hired an instructor for a private lesson and he told her after an hour of "surface" practice that he didn't want to dive below.... He told me he was thinking too much. He now says he wants to go again with his father there. Anyone else had this happen after once being comfortable then got scared?

I wish they would take him down 10ft, then 15... etc... but the platform they have is at 30ft so that's where they go.

If he wants to continue I want to support him, but I'm not sure how to do it. My husband who is certified and was taking a refresher to be there for him says it will just take time for him to get comfortable again.

Thanks for anything you can offer me

 

[*dave*]

I've had a few young students who did great in the pool, then suddenly had issues on checkouts. The 'issues' were all symptoms, with the root condition being apprehension over the new environment. In one case, after several attempts to do checkouts with the group proved futile, I started a game of tic tac toe with the girl in about 4' of water. I made sure she was comfortable before we started and after each game, we moved a little deeper. After a dozen or so games, we found ourselves bored with the game and at 30', so we did skills. Later, she admitted she had been apprehensive about the conditions, but learned there wasn't really anything to be concerned over.

Having your husband available might help with his confidence, but he needs an instructor with some patience and the time required to put your son at ease.

 

[tddfleming]

My 12 yr old was just cert in Sept. She had her issue on the first day in the pool. Our was not a forced diver either. She begged us to all get certified. When she began to feel uncomfortable, I told her she can set out, and so she did at the edge of the pool where we were all doing our class. During break her and I went into the shower to warm up and she broke down crying. On one hand this is something that she has been wanting to do and now she is scared. I told her that it was up to her, if she wanted to give it another try, then great, if she did not want to be certified that was fine with me also. Either way, it was her decision. After the break down, she did fine, we just moved a little slower. She never bolted to the surface, she was just uncomfortable. She said it felt unnatural. Once in quarry, she had ear clearing issues.

After we were cert. we went out and practiced. Her and I just finished our Nav course, and she did great. She did better on the compass than me, she was able to think ahead for when it was her turn. Vis are not great, and she got us there and back with no problems, when it was my turn I was so set on watching my compass, and we were heading into shallower water, I did not vent enough air and when she realized I was heading to the top, no big deal here, as we were going into 5' water and I was going up to 2', and not popping to the top, but she tried and miss to grab my dump valve. But she has proven to be ready and willing. It just took some time and back peddling. Our new inst for the Nav course was impressed with us, for being new and not shooting to the surface, he was ready to grab us but never had to. At the end the inst, said he had no worries with either one of us, and he would dive with either one of us anytime. My suggestion would be take it slow, allow him to make up his mind and let him own that whatever he decides, that it is fine with you. If he decides, to move forward, stay shallow and pratice with him. We enjoy taking cheese whiz down with us, that it made is not as stressful. If your quarry check outs are as crowded as ours, it is a sensory overload.

 

[diver 85]

Sorry to hear----remember, not everyone becomes a diver-------I'd let him sort this out.....


EDIT:-------43 degrees!!!!----some seals don't like it that cold....Slow down with him.....So what if he 'misses' the T&C trip(UW)???.....Reschedule the thing if it means that much to you & daddy(if YOU want him in the water)...& this is coming from someone who has 3 kids--all certified by age 14---the 1st one @ 14 with my wife & I & the next 2 certified @ age 12 , the youngest they could be back in the late 80's....Slow down, life is a marathon, not a sprint.....good luck---to everyone.....

 

[Stacelou]

Thank you for your posts.

Yes, we will let him sort it out, however, I like the idea you gave regarding games and going slowly a few feet at a time. He did tell us that he wanted to ask her if he could just go down a few feet for awhile, but he felt she was "in charge" and didn't feel comfortable asking. He is a young man of "few words" normally, so this didn't surprise me. This may also be a "maturity" thing, he needs to be comfortable speaking up and expressing what's goin on in his head. This is where I think my husband might be helpful, understanding that ultimately he needs to be able to dive on his own, but having someone there that he knows who can "suggest" going under a bit to see how he feels might be helpful.

 

[scadreau]

Hello,

My 14 year old son was doing great in scuba classes with my husband and 16 year old son. He does want to dive, this is not a "forced" activity. Then on the 2nd dive he had to hold his mask off for one minute and put it back on. He had trouble getting it back on and headed for the surface. Now he says he is thinking too much about all that can happen. He says he does want to finish, but we hired an instructor for a private lesson and he told her after an hour of "surface" practice that he didn't want to dive below.... He told me he was thinking too much. He now says he wants to go again with his father there. Anyone else had this happen after once being comfortable then got scared?

I wish they would take him down 10ft, then 15... etc... but the platform they have is at 30ft so that's where they go.

If he wants to continue I want to support him, but I'm not sure how to do it. My husband who is certified and was taking a refresher to be there for him says it will just take time for him to get comfortable again.

Thanks for anything you can offer me

You can. The instructor can drop with him to a few feet then get him neutral. Have him hang there for a bit. He could even do the mask remove and replace there. If not, just swim around some and keep stepping deeper. If the instructor is not willing to do this with him, find a new instructor. Doing the skills can get into people's head. So just a "dive" with him swimming around with his instructor (and father) to make him more comfortable, could do wonders.

I hope all works out because it is great to see kids getting certified.

 

[oly5050user]

Hello,

My 14 year old son was doing great in scuba classes with my husband and 16 year old son. He does want to dive, this is not a "forced" activity. Then on the 2nd dive he had to hold his mask off for one minute and put it back on. He had trouble getting it back on and headed for the surface. Now he says he is thinking too much about all that can happen. He says he does want to finish, but we hired an instructor for a private lesson and he told her after an hour of "surface" practice that he didn't want to dive below.... He told me he was thinking too much. He now says he wants to go again with his father there. Anyone else had this happen after once being comfortable then got scared?

I wish they would take him down 10ft, then 15... etc... but the platform they have is at 30ft so that's where they go.

If he wants to continue I want to support him, but I'm not sure how to do it. My husband who is certified and was taking a refresher to be there for him says it will just take time for him to get comfortable again.

Thanks for anything you can offer me

If he truly had no issues in the pool and was able to do skills in a comfortable,relaxed manner,repeatedly,then I would say that the water was too cold for the training dives.I see you are in PA,probably did the training dives at Dutch Springs..It is TOO COLD to take a kid, most likely in a poor fitting wet suit,in that water this time of year.
The freezing water hitting his face probably freaked him out.Can happen to anyone.
Have him do a pool session in a heated pool and complete a skill circuit review with an instructor and take him down south to complete training dives.Or wait till next year and have him again go to pool and do the dives in mid July/August locally.

 

[Stacelou]

Yes, he was fine until he had to remove his mask and keep it off for a full minute.

The water was 43 degrees. He wore his dads old 7mm wetsuit that actually fit him well (husband got it custom made in navy when he was 22yrs old).

I'm not sure what the water temp will be in May... that's the latest we could do it here if he wants to be certified before we go to Turds and Caicos in June. He could get certified there, but it would take 3 days, which would cut into his fishing time...deepsea fishing is a love of his so that won't work. But May probley would be a bit warmer than 42 degrees.

Thanks, this is all new to me, I'm one of those people who would need several shallow dives to get used to the water. I've thought of giving it a try, but I'm not sure PA is the place for me to learn.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

That 43 deg water is really cold. The old 7mm wetsuit is not going to offer more than 10-15 minutes of protection at best (even it it fits) and the cold bast on the face is a good way to demotivate any new diver. Youngsters will have even shorter term expectations than adults and simply may not have the will to muscle though adverse conditions.

Why not get a referral for the open water dives and have him do them in warm water. That should only take one day, not 3.

 

[j yaeger]

padi req. do not have the one minute mask off
it states:remove and repace mask for open water check out dive 4
pool is one minute
one minute at 43 is a bit sadistic