The family that dives together

[freewillie]

I've been certified for nearly 4 years and have accumulated almost 80 dives in that time, mostly on vacation. My oldest daughter is now 17 and certified when she was 13 and is my vacation dive buddy. Long story short we recently went back to Turks & Caicos where she originally certified and tried to get the two younger kids exposed to scuba.

My middle daughter age 12 was going to do discover scuba course mainly because her two friends were going to try. But then she says that she is only going to do the pool and was going to skip the ocean dive. At that point I told her she should try PADI Seal Team since they only do pool sessions and no ocean dives.

At this point my 10 year old also gets enrolled in Seal Team. My wife who originally set us up for a Discover Scuba in Australia didn't enjoy diving at all. But now she is thinking that she may try it again since in the warm Caribbean waters she won't have to use a wetsuit.

My daughter disliked her experience. Didn't like the dry air. My son liked scuba but is only 0 and still a little afraid and does not want to try the ocean. Yet. I suspect when he is a little older he may want to try it for real. But there is no hurry for him and I can wait a few more years until he is ready. Until then I have his older sister as my buddy.

It does seem though that my wife and middle daughter can keep each other company while the rest of us go diving. More importantly with kids be patient. Let them determine their own pace.

---------- Post added August 10th, 2015 at 03:45 PM ----------

Oops. My son is 10. Maybe when he is a little older he will want to go for his Boy Scout merit badge for scuba.

 

[Frosty]

freewillie--I can tell you for certain you are right.-let them ask you to go diving. -present them the opportunities but don't push em.

 

[scubadada]

Hi freewillie,

You need to make sure that your wife and 2 younger children are at least as interested in diving as you are in them joining you. I'm very lucky, I've been diving with my son for 18 years and with my wife and daughter for 13 years. We even all dived to together 2 years ago, it gets harder and harder as the "kids" get older. I just returned from a Florida Keys wreck trek with my son aboard the Spree, we had a great time, best of all, we were together.

Good family diving, Craig

My wife was no more than casually interested in diving until my daughter wanted to get certified. They got certified together, it worked out extremely well

 

[Keith.M]

Yes, let them come around, or not, on their own.

When I was first certified in 2012, I did not know anything and tried very hard to talk my 14 year old son in to doing it with me. He was adamant that he had no interest.

So I left him alone and I got my certification and started diving, a lot. He would see me come and go. See pictures I partaking and 2 years later at 16, he told me he was thinking about it.

I said great, but nothing else. Several months later, he told me he wanted to do it. So I immediately set him up in classes and he we certified in the cold Monterey waters.

Now at 18, he goes with me as often as he can and has 27 dives. I know this is something we can do together for many years.

Always let the person come around on their own and never talk someone in to it.

 

[freewillie]

Hi freewillie,

You need to make sure that your wife and 2 younger children are at least as interested in diving as you are in them joining you. I'm very lucky, I've been diving with my son for 18 years and with my wife and daughter for 13 years. We even all dived to together 2 years ago, it gets harder and harder as the "kids" get older. I just returned from a Florida Keys wreck trek with my son aboard the Spree, we had a great time, best of all, we were together.

Good family diving, Craig

My wife was no more than casually interested in diving until my daughter wanted to get certified. They got certified together, it worked out extremely well

The wife has tried a Discover Scuba but didn't like the experience. Gear was too heavy and she felt to restricted in the wetsuit. But with the kids getting in the pool for PADI seal she made the comment maybe she would like to try it again in warmer tropical waters.

The 10 y.o. boy has also done snuba while on vacation in Hawaii which he did like but did get chilled even in a wetsuit. He really enjoyed using the scuba gear but is still a little hesitant in wanting to go into the ocean. And at 10 we have plenty of time to wait. Personally I'm going to wait until he is at least 12 or 14 years and a little more mature.

The middle child probably won't certify at all. She really didn't like her experience. She thought it was fun at first but doesn't like the dry air and then the dry mouth. Unless my wife also tries scuba again they will keep each other company on vacation when we have an opportunity to dive.

 

[fjpatrum]

I'm using snorkeling at BHB and the opportunity to see the lemon shark migration as incentive for my 6 year old to actually learn how to swim properly. He's finally swimming on his own (though not well yet) with mask and snorkel. Maybe by next year he'll actually be ready to do some snorkeling somewhere other than a pool.

Love you post, freewillie. You definitely have it right, let them ask you when they're ready and neither of you will regret the decision. My oldest (almost 20) still isn't certified but seems to get closer and closer to the idea every time I come back from diving with good video/pictures.

 

[KDAD]

My wife abd I both did discovery dives. This is after snorkeling for years mostly from the beach. I later got certified and dive as often as I can. She will probably get certified but won't make the commitment yet. Her comfort level is improving.

Yesterday she and my 7 yo snorkeled while I dove below. Having them watch me with a closer interaction with the sea life may motivate them to do it. My 7 yo was very interested in the gear and later snorkeled in the pool with my bp/w on on her own initiative. She is a fish and very comfortable in the water. I have been gently encouraging her from an early age in anticipation.

I suspect that my wife will get certified soon and then the only challenge is when to get my daughter certified and finding appropriate dive trips and sites.

 

[JarrodS]

Among all the "reasons" given for not liking diving, I didn't hear "fear/disinterest of the water and/or marine life". In that case, there may be hope.

My approach all along was as the others said - present opportunities and cultivate interest/appreciation but don't force. My dad pushed me into do things I wasn't ready for as a young kid and to this day I resent it. It probably spoiled my enjoyment of things that I quite possibly would enjoy today as an adult. I was determined not to repeat this mistake.

I started by giving my kids snorkeling opportunities in 2' deep waters when they were 7-8 years old, and visiting aquariums whenever possible. As they got older, we graduated them to deeper snorkeling opportunities, but only when they expressed interest when we presented the option. At one point, my youngest developed panic-type fear when he was put into water (no matter how shallow) where he couldn't see the bottom. After much discussion he realized that it was unfounded fear but we still expressed to him that we would still respect it, and so we avoided putting him in that situation. A few years later, when they were 13 and 15 we did a couple of snorkeling trips in clear tropical waters. During one of those trips they encountered divers from another boat at the same reef we were on. That was it, they starting asking to be certified after that. Even though their mother and I had not been active scuba divers since either one had been born, I think it helped that they knew Mom and Dad had been divers "back in the day".

Another thing that can be helpful is emphasizing that other interests they might have can be combined with scuba. My eldest loves photography, so we made sure to have a cheap waterproof camera for him to use whenever we went out in the ocean. That almost immediately hooked him - he wanted to be able to stay down longer to get "the shot". My youngest likes guns, knives, and hunting so I regaled him with stories of spearfishing, collecting scallops and crab when I was younger. We let him buy a dive knife some two years before he expressed a specific interest in being certified on scuba.

They were just certified last month at 15 and 17. We gave them a small taste of photography and lobster diving (they need more DIVING experience before adding much of this type of task loading) and had an absolute ball. Hopefully this is something we can now do together for a long time to come.

---------- Post added August 11th, 2015 at 01:39 PM ----------

The 10 y.o. boy has also done snuba while on vacation in Hawaii which he did like but did get chilled even in a wetsuit. He really enjoyed using the scuba gear but is still a little hesitant in wanting to go into the ocean. And at 10 we have plenty of time to wait. Personally I'm going to wait until he is at least 12 or 14 years and a little more mature.

That was around the age that my youngest developed fear of not being able to see the bottom. He's 15 now and we still have not put him in that situation again. But he ASKED to go wreck diving after he'd completed about 10 dives at 20-30'. So he may be ready now. I think the testosterone helps ;-)

 

[jbomb001]

My gf will not ever dive has no interest at all. That's fine. Enjoy the muggy surface lol. My son is 1 so I have at least 10 years of diving b4 he has an opportunity to try. I'm hopefull he will dig the scuba stuff more then TV Facebook or whatever the in thing is at the time.

Sent from my galaxy S5 Active.

 

[scubasaif]

Hi Freewillie,

I to hope to have something similar soon. My daughter has been asking to get certified since she was 8. She will be 10 in December and next March I hope to bring her to a resort to get certified.

My wife is certified, but not that keen on diving. I should say not keen on scuba diving. She prefers sky diving.

Saif