How do I know if my son is ready for OW?

[freewillie]

Just a few thoughts having a daughter who dives as well but she certified at 13 years of age. She is considerably more mature than my son who is now 9 years old. I doubt that I would allow him to certify at 10 even if he begged and pleaded. Having an older sibling go at an older age help too, since I can always say "Your sister didn't do scuba until 13, you have to wait too."

Our friends have two girls and the older one went through with my daughter in the same class also at 13 y.o. but the younger one will certify at 11 as she is chomping at the bit to get certified. In the end it depends on how comfortable the parent is with their child and how they asses the child's capabilities.

For me it's not as much can the child learn to scuba. It's really not that difficult a skill to learn if you are comfortable in the water. Some of the problems are usually with people getting anxious underwater and having a difficult time with skills especially clearing the mask. But, once you have learned to do the minimum it's not that complicated.

The real difficulty is in dealing with problems. Can a 10 y.o. deal with any number of conditions underwater compare to an adult? Can the child remain calm if something goes wrong underwater? What if his mask floods, or gets knocked off, or he accidentally kicks off a fin by mistake? Or worse, what if something happens to you? Can he remain calm, tow you behind him like the tired diver tow we learn in OW class?


To me as a parent it's not about what happens when conditions are good, it's what happens when conditions change. You are the best person to make that assessment but it's up to your judgment. In the meantime there is always diving alternatives like SNUBA, or instead of actual certification there is discover scuba. You can assess his competence in the water for a single dive then determine if it's something you wish to continue for certification or wait until later. Be careful, when my daughter did her discover scuba she was hooked. She begged and pleaded to get certified after that dive. But, I was fortunate enough to have watched her on that dive and I did feel that she was ready.

Good luck and safe diving.

 

[fjpatrum]

As a parent who has no "authority" in any way to certify anyone, I would say if you have to ask, you should wait. Only you know whether your child is mentally prepared for the task and responsibility of diving safely. The rest of us can only guess. The physical aspects, while not trivial, aren't the hard part of diving, especially for kids.

 

[TMHeimer]

I have no experience at all with 10 year olds and scuba. I have no doubt some can handle it OK. I doubt I could've at that age, had something gone sideways. I probably would've been ready for scuba at 15, maybe even 14. You can disregard this post due to my lack of experience, but I always have to add when this question comes up: What's the rush? How about just a lot of snorkelling?

 

[GrayL]

PADI Junior open water limits the divers to 40 feet. Can your kid carry his own gear? Swim well? Could he rescue/tow you?

 

[James R]

I am not making an assumption, but I read your original post as if you were going to train/observe him in the pool yourself. If so, I think that's the worst thing you can do at your level.

 

[FM1520]

I do not agree with the statement "You are the only one that really knows your son and the maturity level that he possesses" in my experience and observation its hard for parents to be objective about their kids. I have three and they surprise me all the time - both good and not so good. In my opinion, I think 10 is too young and with only 15 dives under your belt you probably don't have the experience to make that determination.

 

[koozemani]

My 10yr old was certified this past summer. He spent two summers in The Scuba Rangers Program. Can a child at that age have the maturity for everything that Scuba Diving can throw at him? Maybe, but probably not. Like Adurso said, when we dive together, I'm essentially diving solo. Most of my attention is on him. What convinced me to let him proceed with the ow course was his comfort and ease with the skills. We would chat about what ifs, he would ask pertinent questions, and demonstrated an understanding of what to do and why. He breezed through both the academic and skills portion prior to his checkout dives. During his mask removal, he knocked his reg out of his mouth, without missing a beat, he located his reg, replaced it, and finished replacing and clearing it.

On our dives together, he is always off one of my shoulders. On the occasion that something shiny catches his eye, he'll wander off 20 feet (in 50-80ft vis) or so to investigate, but in a matter of seconds he would be checking to make sure that I'm following or am at least aware of his position. His biggest challenge is checking to make sure that he's adhering to his 40' floor rather than counting on me to keep track of it for him.

My younger son who is 2 years behind, him will be another matter. Whether he demonstrates the desire, comfort, and ability to follow in his brothers tracks has yet to be seen. He has also spent time with the Scuba Rangers, but we'll see where he is in a couple of years.

the bottom line is that all children are different, and it's up to you to determine if he's ready. Try not to let your desire to dive with him influence your or his decision.

 

[jal102]

Hello there,

I recently posted a similar question about my daughter who is also 10. She has completed her confined dives, and her written exam already. Her 4 lake dives are this weekend and I will let you know how it goes. She has been swimming competitively for 4.5 years and has done SNUBA, snorkeling, etc for years already. Many people on here pointed things out like her size maybe being an issue since she is small, strength for gear, level of comfort, etc…..thus far she has been amazing and is in love with the sport. Heck she eve washed and dealt with her own gear afterwards. I am very going this weekend goes well because then her 1st official dive as my dive buddy will be in 7 days in Jamaica

Jacky

---------- Post added December 13th, 2013 at 10:03 PM ----------

Hello Diversteve…my kiddo is doing her open water dives this weekend and so far I am uber proud. I can't wait to come back and tell everyone how it went. A barely 60 degree gross lake in a 7mm will make Jamaica look like paradise to her!!

Take care,
Jacky

One point I brought up in a thread about this recently was gear sizing. Does the shop have smaller kid-sized rental gear? Or are you going to buy it for the trip? And do they rent 60's or smaller tanks?

Here's the thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ne...t%85-few-questions-because-her-young-age.html

We did find options for kids BCD's like:

Oceanic Explorer Youth BC 08.3003 with reviews at scuba.com
or
Zeagle Ranger Jr BCD discounts on sale Zeagle - you might be able to get more use out of since with their Personal Fit System you can change components as he grows. 24 lbs. of lift in warm water might be functional for a while.

Scuba.com also had a couple of lesser known models. As well as other kids gear - wetsuits etc.

Copied this from Akumal Diveshop's website:

 

[dytis-sm]

I just noticed the thread and wanted to share my experience with certifying your 10 year old... First let me add that in anticipation of my son wanting to dive when he reaches the age limit, I made sure that I accumulate as much training and diving myself ahead of it. After all you are his lifeline if anything goes wrong and must be comfortable with being practically solo yourself. Before training him I made sure that I get as much experience in the cold water of Southern California and complete the Rescue course. When my son turned 10 and announced he wants to get certified as his birthday gift, I did not rush to the certification but had him do a discovery session and had the instructor determine how comfortable he would be in the water. As expected from his comfort in the ocean, he did great and he is now certified as Junior OW with 12 open ocean dives under his belt. But diving with him is a different experience and this is what I want to share with you the parent.

My experience as an adult when I completed 15 dives is that you are still learning a lot of critical skills such as buoyancy, and navigation. By that time I had not even thought how to help a diver in distress or with equipment malfunction, let alone a child who typically will react with instinct and rush to the surface with the first problem. When you dive with your child even under normal conditions you will need to ensure that he can maintain depth at around 40ft, and then complete a safety stop in open water (unless you can guarantee an anchor line). Then you have to ensure that you start and stop your dive close to the boat (I have not taken him beach diving yet since navigating surf is another experience in itself) so that you do not have a long swim to the boat. These are two basic elements that I had not mastered at 15 dives. Then you need to add unexpected situations such as currents, surge, technical problems, etc.

My advice is to wait until you are ready. As someone correctly stated, if you have to ask you are probably not ready. Taking a 10 year old even at 40ft is a critical diving task that can wait for when you have mastered the basics. With 15 dives I think that there is still room for learning and even if you go alone, I would recommend having a buddy with more experience than you if not a divemaster...

 

[Tony387]

I agree with the last poster. Are you sufficiently prepared to help your child in the event something goes wrong? In addition, and as has already been mentioned, you're diving solo. I would wait and get some more experience before I would even consider diving with a child.

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