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

[Aaron528]

Your tag says you're a "divemaster wannabe." Adherence to standards in principle is, in my very humble opinion, not good enough. Lots of people feel like they've had a positive experience, in spite of "technical violation" of the standards, and the failure to stand up and say HEY, THAT WAS NOT RIGHT makes it so when the poop hits the fan later in your diving career, you have not a single leg to stand on.

You, as a student, deserve the best your instructor and your agency has to offer. You didn't receive that level of service, and letting that behaviour slip by does us all a disservice. The standards are there to protect you. Rewarding poor behaviour on the part of an instructor or a shop by talking about this as a positive experience hurts us all.

kari

Point taken. I agree.

 

[mrbeast1414]

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.

I was 14 when i got certified. My checkouts were in Monterey with 50 degree or less water. The only part of my face that was exposed was the tip of my nose and my lips. If the coldness is a problem, have him put his face in the water at the surf so the moment he drops below he isn't surprised by it. Also, it is all about the mindset in which he enters the water. If he is apprehensive and scared, he will be. IF he is confident and excited , he will be. This is something you can help him with. Also, the mental strain of going in a freezing cold strange environment can be scary and if he can't cope, then maybe diving isn't for him. Then again, maybe tell him you are going to take him out of the class. This might urge him to try and prove you wrong. I know this is sort've a cruel tactic but it might work. Hope this helps.

 

[Stacelou]

OK, that was weird, I posted but my response didnt show up?? Probably operator error on my end. Anyway, if I end up double posting I apologize. Just wanted to tell everyone that my son passes his check out dives with flying colors when we were at the Turks and Caicos Islands. He also had to take a written test since it had been several months since his test. The lead diver there said it was his opinion that to dive in water as cold as they had my son in is not safe.... I don't know about that, but I do know it wasn't the best for him to take his check out dive in. It was great to see his smile when he walked back from the boat. He went by himself since his dad was diving with another group. It all worked out great. Thanks for all the support, sharing your thoughts on this matter gave him a different perspective. I only wish his original instructor would have had the insight to encourage him to dive in warmer water instead of having him go back to the same spot (which was colder since it was later in the year) for his second attempt.
Thanks again

 

[wcbdiver]

Hi

I am diving daily in cold water. 43 is cold, and an exercise that I always use before each dive is I shock my face before hand, getting it use to the cold water before removing my mask. Get him to stick his face into the water without the mask on, and without the stress of the exercise, then when he does the exercise, his face will be able to handle the shock. This gets your face use to the cold temp, and its not a shock, if you do this a few times before the exercise.

Also, its only money. If he is apprehensive about diving, then when he does have a problem, he won't have the skills to get himself out of it. And believe me, problems popup when you least expect it. You can do the course, and finish his course up at a later date with his open water dives. He doesn't have to complete everything at once location. Of course there will be an additional cost doing it this way, but if he is not ready, I won't continue to his open water dives at this time.

JJ

 

[boulderjohn]

Congratulations to your son! I am glad he stuck with it and succeeded. I hope he has many, many years of enjoyable diving ahead of him.

 

[lavachickie]

At some point in training, people can have their moments. I came home from my first pool class in my PADI OW class... and bawled my eyes out. I blubbered and cried that it had terrified me, I wasn't sure I could do it... WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

My husband, certified for some years, was supportive and, "You'll do fine! Just stick with it. It's okay!"

I did. And just look at me now. I'ma dive FREAK.

He did tell me after I lauched... "Man, I so totally thought you were going to flame out..."

THANKS, HON!

Sometimes it's hard. That's okay. Keep working on it.

 

[Frosty]

stacelou I work with kids in a different sport and one thing I found out was ya can't push kids beyond what they are prepared to do. Not if you want them to stick with and enjoy the sport concerned

 

[devildoc5]

OK, that was weird, I posted but my response didnt show up?? Probably operator error on my end. Anyway, if I end up double posting I apologize. Just wanted to tell everyone that my son passes his check out dives with flying colors when we were at the Turks and Caicos Islands. He also had to take a written test since it had been several months since his test. The lead diver there said it was his opinion that to dive in water as cold as they had my son in is not safe.... I don't know about that, but I do know it wasn't the best for him to take his check out dive in. It was great to see his smile when he walked back from the boat. He went by himself since his dad was diving with another group. It all worked out great. Thanks for all the support, sharing your thoughts on this matter gave him a different perspective. I only wish his original instructor would have had the insight to encourage him to dive in warmer water instead of having him go back to the same spot (which was colder since it was later in the year) for his second attempt.
Thanks again

Congratz to your son. Hopefully that means he got a few dives in with dad down in Turks as a "reward"

 

[scubadiveilat]

Practice in a pool!!! it's a skill that varies between people immediate to slow.

Time will conquer.

Enjoy the course!!!