GlennL
Contributor
My PADI material shows depth restrictions for 10-11 year olds at 40’. At 12 it goes to 60’. Are these restrictions based upon physiological concerns, or simply additional arbitrary restrictions because of age and mental capacity?
Diving ages
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The standards don't mention the reasons but in other materials PADI mentions a lack of hard science with respect to the risks to growing children.
Aside from that there is the issue of cognitive development. With respect to problem solving skills, the ages are set to correspond to Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development. I don't think this is a coincidence.
At roughly the age of 12 most children reach an age (a phase Piaget called the "formal operational stage") at which time their problem solving skills become more sophisticated and children reach a point at which they can plan a systematic solution to solving a problem using logic. At this age the capacity for abstract thinking also increases by a lot. That's kind of important for divers because the young divers become more context aware and better able to understand the risks.
Prior to that, much of problem solving in children is characterized by "trial and error" and most children are still struggling with abstract thinking. This clearly creates challenges for learning the theory required for diving and may make children less conscious of the risks involved with their actions while they are diving. Piaget pins this age to about the age of 11.
I can give you some concrete examples of how the above phase of cognitive development can show up as an issue in a diving course if you want but I won't for now. For now I'm going to say that this is the reason why the age limitations are not arbitrary.
R..
Maybe arbitrary because restrictions are based on calendar age, not individual development.
Othewise I think that PADI restrictions are not conservative at all. Many 12 year old children are not mature enough to handle problem solving needed in diving.
Othewise I think that PADI restrictions are not conservative at all. Many 12 year old children are not mature enough to handle problem solving needed in diving.
With respect to individual development, the standards are to be taken as the minimum ages but specifically mandates that the instructor should make a judgement call. If a particular individual (child or not) can't handle it then the instructor is under no obligation to accept them into a diving course.
R..
Exactly.
Flush 2.0 is 10 now and as flighty as anything. I will be surprised in two years if she is ready for certification.
Flush 2.1 is 8 now and is the most detailed intensive child I have ever seen. More so than many adults.
drrich2
Contributor
In the past I believe it's been mentioned that the epiphyseal growth plates in long bones were a theoretical concern. Did a quick search; DAN has a blurb on the alleged issue.
Since you asked about physiological concerns, figured I'd mention it.
Richard.
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Agree. I have often said that no one that young should take up scuba. Not based on any experience teaching them diving. Based on 19 years of teaching Band. I would not advise the most "mature" 12 year olds I taught to take scuba. 15 may be a reasonable age IMHO. MAYBE. I taught a lot of them too. But I am in the tiny minority in my thinking.
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By far the most immature scuba students I ever had were a couple of twenty-something males ... the only time I ever had to stop class and tell my students to go home, because they weren't taking it seriously enough. Never felt the need to do that with my "underage" students ...
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
... Bob (Grateful Diver)
I don't have your experience with teaching large numbers of children but what I can say from my experience of teaching scuba is that I agree that 12 is too young. Personally I'm not happy teaching any student under the age of 14.
Case in point. My own daughter. She wanted to learn to dive from the time she was old enough to tell me. Around the time she turned 12 I started taking her into the pool with me and did that for quite a while. She dove in the pool regularly but I didn't start "training" her in a formal sense until she was 14. I took my time with it and finally certified her just after she turned 16, IIRC.
Obviously you can't go through that for every student but it was formative for me as an instructor. If I wasn't willing -- in the LEAST -- to start formally training my own child at the age of 12 then I would be a 5 star idiot to agree to train someone else's kid at that age. My comfort zone is 14.
R..
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