My daughter, Sammi, was certified at 10 and received her advanced certification at 11. She is now 12 and a truly excellent diver. There is noone I would prefer diving with. She is cool, has perfect buoyancy and uses less air than anyone I know.
As an Jr. AOW, she is "certified" to 75' --which is about as deep as I would take her. On most dives, we pretty much limit her depth to about 60 feet. I do believe she can mentally and emotionally handle deeper depths, and as she gets older we'll work toward deeper dives (as they are called for), but we will do that in a methodical manner. I've never really understood the desire to go deep just to go deep.
By the same token, Sammi and I always review safety procedures before every dive and normally practice at least one procedure on most dives. As has been mentioned, one real problem with a child as a buddy is an emergency that involves me. I know I can help Sammi, as much as I can help any diver I am with. But just how much can she help me? More imprortantly, if something serious did happen, and she was not able to help, I fear that may be something she would never recover from. Staying shallow mitigates that concern to some degree --I realize not completely and I understand the statistical data about accidents at the surface.
I've done as much research on the questions regarding growth, depth and nitrogen and find the data inconclusive at best. I do believe Nitrox should be available for young diver, although to date it is not.
Diving is not for every child, or adult. The talents, strengths and weaknesses of each diver play a crucial role in determing their comfort level and that should dictate their diving profile; that is doubly true for young divers.
I firmly believe that diving can be a spectacular family activity, but moreso than many other activities, not one to push a child into and never to push a child to exceed their own comfort level. That may work on the basketball court of soccer pitch, but not in a hostile environment.
And just so you don't think that I am one of those parents who believes my kids can do no wrong; I have a 19 year old son who is also certified. He is very comfortable in the water, but I would not take him much deeper than 45 feet without a lot more training and commitment on his part.
Jeff
As an Jr. AOW, she is "certified" to 75' --which is about as deep as I would take her. On most dives, we pretty much limit her depth to about 60 feet. I do believe she can mentally and emotionally handle deeper depths, and as she gets older we'll work toward deeper dives (as they are called for), but we will do that in a methodical manner. I've never really understood the desire to go deep just to go deep.
By the same token, Sammi and I always review safety procedures before every dive and normally practice at least one procedure on most dives. As has been mentioned, one real problem with a child as a buddy is an emergency that involves me. I know I can help Sammi, as much as I can help any diver I am with. But just how much can she help me? More imprortantly, if something serious did happen, and she was not able to help, I fear that may be something she would never recover from. Staying shallow mitigates that concern to some degree --I realize not completely and I understand the statistical data about accidents at the surface.
I've done as much research on the questions regarding growth, depth and nitrogen and find the data inconclusive at best. I do believe Nitrox should be available for young diver, although to date it is not.
Diving is not for every child, or adult. The talents, strengths and weaknesses of each diver play a crucial role in determing their comfort level and that should dictate their diving profile; that is doubly true for young divers.
I firmly believe that diving can be a spectacular family activity, but moreso than many other activities, not one to push a child into and never to push a child to exceed their own comfort level. That may work on the basketball court of soccer pitch, but not in a hostile environment.
And just so you don't think that I am one of those parents who believes my kids can do no wrong; I have a 19 year old son who is also certified. He is very comfortable in the water, but I would not take him much deeper than 45 feet without a lot more training and commitment on his part.
Jeff