My Newest Diver

[TMHeimer]

It's important to know your child. One of my children was not mature enough at 13. This child is more than capable. In fact she is doing better than the 2 adults in the class!

Oh yeah for sure. I've known kids in Grade 6 (6th Grade for Americans) that were incredibly mature. And there's no doubt that kids at that age can easily do as well as a given adult academically and pool dive skills/wise. I don't think it's a matter of academic (or even physical in some cases) ability. I think it has to do with brain development. In my years in college training to be a band teacher I took an Ed. course which centered around the studies of Piaget. Can't recall much from 1975, but I know the brain has a long way to go at age 13-- a very long way. I have a nephew who is 13 now and very smart--no way I'd want him on scuba.
I'm sorry I didn't get certified until age 51, but that was due to my career location. So I don't think it's "sour grapes" to hear of kids at 13 having a lifetime ahead of them diving. Crap, I've done enough anyway... But I always wonder why it seems on SB we talk about 11-12-13 years olds in terms of "maturity". What about a real emergency? Well, how would any adult react is a logical question, let a lone a youngster.

Belzebub's daughter' situation was outstanding--showing someone extremely comfortable in water--certainly more so than some of the adult students I saw when I worked as a DM. She is 10 years old-- that's 3rd/4th grade......I didn't really know who the heck Kennedy was then let alone he'd been shot.

 

[Neilwood]

I have to say with regards to my experience of kids learning (and I speak from the view of a lapsed First Aid trainer rather than Scuba) I think it is more to do with common sense than class room smarts.

I have taught some kids that had common sense and picked up the skills straight away whereas some that had high grades would struggle with the practicalities. Part of it as well is realising that younger people learn differently to adults and that teaching the exact same course to both probably won't work too well.

 

[Belzelbub]

The problem with getting my daughter certified is that now I am a gear junkie for two! Yikes; it gets expensive!

GJS

Yeah. That was definitely a hit on the wallet. Luckily she was big enough that she could fit into an adult BC, though I'm sure in a few years I'll probably need to replace the shoulder section for a larger one. I got her gear before her class as I wanted to make sure she was comfortable in the gear she would be using. It's also laid out very similar to mine.

 

[Belzelbub]

Belzebub's daughter' situation was outstanding--showing someone extremely comfortable in water--certainly more so than some of the adult students I saw when I worked as a DM. She is 10 years old-- that's 3rd/4th grade

She's still 10 and actually in 5th grade now. When she took the course, she had just completed 4th grade.

It's pretty neat how much she remembers from the training. Early on, she had the bicycle kick thing going on, but corrected it. I also made comments on using her feet to swim, not her hands. She gave a buddy of mine a load of crap when she saw him using his hands a bit.

Just remembered. I have a couple of videos from her class.
This is from her first couple of pool sessions.

This is from Open Water dives 1 & 2. The regulator incident happened on dive 3, and I unfortunately didn't have video of that. Video card was full. She's the one with blue and black wetsuit, and silver/black fins.

And, yes. She's very comfortable in the water. We've had a pool since she was born, and I took the route of pool-proofing my kids rather than kid-proofing my pool. Both my daughters (youngest is 7)started emergency float/swim lessons when they were around 6 months old. Both have, at one point (while supervised) fallen in a pool. They did what they were taught, and had no fear of the water. Respect, yes, but they aren't afraid of it.

After the oldest got certified, the youngest expressed interest. So, in a few years, I'll be looking at 3 sets of gear.

 

[TMHeimer]

Pool proofing--great job. In looking back over my 4 years assisting with OW courses, I can probably think of a half dozen adults who should've been pool-proofed! Amazing that some people see an ad and just think "Gee, I'll do Scuba".