Your thoughts wanted on getting a ten year old certified.

[hammet]

When my daughter turned 8, I enrolled her in the 'PADI Seal' course at a Caribbean resort where she really took a liking to diving in a private one-on-one pool session. She liked it so much that she did a another whole session the next day where she had a blast once again practicing basic scuba skills in the pool, throwing around a football underwater, swimming through obstacles, and other fun stuff. She also had a fantastic instructor who treated her very, very well and knew how to get her to feel comfortable and confident under water.

When we went back last year, I hooked her up with the same instructor who spent another hour in the pool with her and then the next day, took her for a treasure hunt in the resort's 'lazy river' ride at night! She loved every second of it and seemed really comfortable in the water.

Just to add, I got her swimming when she was just barely walking so she's a very competent swimmer... though she didn't want to do the swim team route that I took when I was young.

Anyway, she turns ten next month and she wants to get certified. I have made it clear that if she chooses to do it, it's because she wants to and not because she feels I would like her to.

She loves salt water. She loves swimming off the beaches in Florida and the carribean and bouncing in the waves. She even loves to dive into the (yucky) water off my boat in a bay off Long Island Sound. However, I've taken her snorkeling the caribbean a few times over the years but she didn't seem that comfortable using a mask and snorkel (though in the pool she's fine). I think she could use a little more practice in airway control with the snorkel.

I figured I would get her to do the online and confined pool stuff here in NY in September and then let her do the certification dives in the same Caribbean resort when we go this December. I'm in the middle of getting rescue diver certification... just in case.

Thoughts of those with prior experience with young divers are welcome.

 

[arew+4]

Personally, I would not certified at 10, got my kids certified when the youngest (twins) were 12.5 and the oldest was 15. They are very bright and reasonably mature. However at 10, I felt they were still too emotionally volatile, and impulsive. Being impulsive is really not a good thing when you are in an objectively dangerous environment.

 

[KenGordon]

My son is just old enough for me to teach. He did the PADI bubblemaker thing several years ago, along with my buddy’s son. He sometime comes along to club pool sessions and gets to dive in the pool. He was in a pool in mother and baby sessions, so essentially age 0. He has been snorkelling with seals, lobsters and other stuff of an exciting nature. He’d like to go diving.

However I am not attempting to teach him. His mother is a bit apprehensive and also he is only young. He can do this anytime in the next 10 years and the wrecks and some of the life might still be there. Meanwhile he can develop improved judgement, strength and ability dealing with the cold.

For children this age the diving skills are easy. They really are like fish. But when distracted will be off at high speed, up and down like an upper downy thing.

 

[seadweller]

Kids are like fish in the water . We sometimes have difficulty outfitting 10 year olds as they are
just so small . We have xxxxs Bc's which are still too big on some and if they come in the winter
wet suits are really tough as well . Academics are always a concern , some do better than others .
The key is that these little divers will be diving with their parents once certified , and in many cases
as a family . When booking instruction for young ones let the dive shop know as it does change
the Instructor to student ratios . Good luck and safe diving !
Sea Dwellers
www.seadwellers.com

 

[tbone1004]

so, being NAUI, this is within their confines, mainly under direct supervision of a parent/guardian and dives limited to 40ft. I've also been asked by some good friends to certify their kids.

The key to that to me is "under direct supervision of a parent/guardian". The kids you essentially have to teach what they can and can't touch, not to hold their breath, and make sure that they have general comfort in the water *i.e. if they can breathe comfortably without a mask on their face there isn't a whole lot you have to worry about*. Like @KenGordon said, the kids are usually not what you have to worry about. What you do have to worry about is making sure that the parents are actually qualified to supervise someone underwater and that is something most are not.

I firmly believe that the parents/guardians must at least be rescue divers, preferably also solo divers if the agency does that sort of thing since they're essentially diving solo, and most preferably have a certification that we call "training assistant" that I unfortunately don't believe any other agencies have. It's awesome because it isn't an official leadership certification, but gets you to the point that you are trained specifically to accompany other divers during training with you as direct supervision. It literally screams perfect for this and if I'm teaching that course, I require it as a prereq for the parents. Needless to say I don't teach Jr. OW outside of exceptional circumstances....
That combination ensures the parents are truly self-sufficient and are also able to take care of the kid.

Are these kids going to be able to pass my normal OW course? 0% chance due to the planning and decision making required that they just don't have at that age, but my OW course is to train divers to be able to independently plan and execute dives in just about any location either solo or ideally with a buddy, but you aren't certifying a 10yr old or even 14yr old to dive on their own.

 

[scubadada]

Hi Andrew,

Both my kids were certified at 12, 21 years ago for my son, and 16 years ago for my daughter. Both were strong swimmers, comfortable in the water, and had a fair amount of ocean snorkeling experience. Both became excellent divers and still dive with me today. They did some kid things underwater, flips, darting here and there, but generally dived responsibly. It's difficult to think back, but I think they may have been too young to dive at 10.

I guess it really depends on the individual kid, only you and daughter can make the decision.

Good diving, Craig

 

[hammet]

Good comments so far... very appreciated.
@scubadada .... I'm diving boynton week of august 20. Maybe you'll be around?

 

[scubadada]

Good comments so far... very appreciated.
@scubadada .... I'm diving boynton week of august 20. Maybe you'll be around?

My wife and I will be in Bonaire August 11-25. I'll be down in BB Sept 7-14 for GG aggregation on the Castor

 

[hammet]

My wife and I will be in Bonaire August 11-25. I'll be down in BB Sept 7-14 for GG aggregation on the Castor

Very nice! Adam from starfish was kind enough to call me to see if it was okay to do the castor that sunday since i was the first to book and knew I wanted to do some bug hunting. That was really nice of him to ask so I said sure. I'll give you an update on GGs when I'm down there.

 

[gr8jab]

I don't have an opinion about the age, but I do have some insight.

My son was like your daughter. SASY, Seal Team, and snorkeling in the Caribbean. We tried to certify him around 14yr old and had lots of trouble clearing his mask. Delayed until 16yr - same thing, but got it done. Open water dives at Blue Heron Bridge.

Then, a year later we went on vacation in Honduras. Before the trip we practiced many times in the pool and he did great. First shore dive in Honduras and he was extremely anxious, and thumbed the dive. We tried several more times, and by the end of the week he made one short dive out around the Prince Albert and back. He probably won't dive again.

So my thoughts are:

1. Keep going, don't take any breaks. Even if only doing more Seal Team or snorkeling, do it every year so it stays normal. My son took a few years break before certification, then again for a year afterward, and those might have killed his comfort during scuba.
2. See if she can flood/clear her mask without stress. That might be a good indicator that she is capable.
3. There is a huge difference between diving in a pool or 'confined' open water (like a spring or lake) and open ocean (even a shore dive along a reef). That first high-vis ocean dive can be shockingly different, so be prepared for some apprehension. The snorkeling really helps, but not totally.

Might I suggest, if it is within your means, Kids Sea Camp. They have an awesome week-long junior certification program, and the instructors are great! Plus, you can dive while she is in class having fun.