My 12 Year Old Nephew wants to dive with me.

[mikeycanuk]

All three of us got certified together when our son turned 10. He had taken the 5 Seal team lessons prior and had many hours and several years of snorkeling, not to mention going to Red Cross level 10 in swimming. As he turned 10 days before our 2 week Mexico trip we decided to get certified down there. Bad Move!!!!!! First open water dive our instructor took off and we followed until he (and we) turned around to find him gone. There was no pre dive planning or teaching of the buddy system. We quickly ended up at the surface and our instructor went to look for him. Man in the ocean a BIG place when you are looking for your one and only son. He kept checking his air and at 700 he came up a long way from the boat. My wife was a MESS and put yourself in that position and imagine whats going through your mind. He was OK and figured since he had air he might as well look around until 700psi. We did one more dive and got our Scuba cert minus mom. We re-did all 4 OPW dives 2 months later in Barbados and got properly certified.

Our son is an only child and very mature for his age. I look at his class in school and there would be a few who could get certified but a LOT I wouldn't let near the water. He's 12 now with 50 dives and we are going to do our Advanced and rescue class this summer. Our son loves diving and wouldn't give it up for anything. The day after the separation in Mexico we decided to stop and not continue our wish to dive. He became VERY upset and in the end all turned out ok. Get certified at home!!!!

 

[Frosty]

My Nephew has been watching my dive videos for a few years now and yesterday he asked me how old he needs to be to become a diver, and that he wants to go diving with me. My first thought was WOW, this kid is interested at such a young age and it would be a great feeling for me to introduce him to the underwater world. My second thought was, would I feel comfortable being responsible for him; my sister would shoot me dead on the spot if something bad was to happen to him while underwater. I was just wondering if some of you can give me some advice / thoughts and experiences you may have had with introducing young kids to diving. The thought of diving together and teaching him about the ocean gives me a sense that it will bond us in a very special way. Is 12 really old enough; I have a hard time thinking that he’ll understand all of the academics involved with certification. Should I wait until he’s older, or just go for it? I got certified 18 years ago and I'm sure things have changed in the learning process.

Thanks,Adam

I feel pretty qualified to answer this question. My reason being that I have 5 kids who are divers.
ALL of my kids mastered the SKILLS required pretty easilly. Kids that age are sponges for information. They ALL know the theory even if they explain it in kid speak.
BUT they have not been allowed to progress beyond DSD untill they have shown the maturity to realise this is "serious" fun. Mr 10 for all his ability to be a psudo fish hasn't shown that maturity. His older brother was the same the year before last.
My advice to you would be to get the lad into doing the first pool session with a decent instructor. Once he's in the water with the instructor GO AWAY. let the instructor tell you if he's mature enough to carry on or not at this age.