Diving for 9 & 11 year old children

[lmparr]

I have two sons, ages 9 & 11, that I would like to get certified to go diving with me. Does anyone have recommendations on whether or not diving with children is a good/bad idea?

[Sounder]

Well, as a parent it's ultimately your call. I don't think most 11yo's have the maturity to be in a life-threatening environment where they may have an emergency, or be responsible for saving another diver in an emergency, with only 11 years of life experience under their belt. Some 11yo's sure, but they're VERY few and far between... and if it were my son, he'd have to demonstrate a strong drive to learn and do things correctly and he'd have to be an exceedingly mature child.

In my opinion, that's too young but there are many people who will tell you stories of their successful diving child. Just remember, it's not the days where everything goes beautifully and you have a great dive that you need to be concerned about. It's the day where you're seperated in a freak current and then your 9yo or 11yo blows an o-ring and is alone, mid-water, OOA, and on their own.

Underwater, you're only 1 breath away from death... I don't think the reward is worth the risk of putting a child underwater. BUT, this is just my personal opinion.

[CLaFong]

SSI has something called Scuba Rangers for 8 to 12 year olds at some of their shops

But they only scuba/snorkel/play inside a pool where they learn different skills. Gets them ready for later in life when the are old enough to get certified

[cmburch]

Here is a PADI Link
Diver Dan's Online Scuba Store - You adventurous but to young to get scuba certified? The PADI Seal Team Adventure program is for you!

It looks like after the pool certification, the OW is available to 10 year olds.

So probably pool for both. Then when youngest 10 OW for both if pool works out.

My daughter 8 freedives to 15' on one breath and will go Abalone diving with me and possibly spearfishing this year or next. We also fish and go crabbing together.

My dad took me spearfishing when I was a kid. I was swimming in the Pacific Ocean when I was 4-5 and have old film of me backstroking Waikiki.

As for SCUBA though, it depends on the child. Dive instructors would be the best. Try SCUBABoard for professional information on children and SCUBA or calling the LDS directly.

[cmburch]

Ab Lesson - Ralphthehalibut shows how it's done - Spearboard Spearfishing Community

[MSilvia]

If they're really interested, I see no reason to start them on training, but I'd want them to start slow. Start them out with a snorkeling class, and you'll not only get a chance to assess their comfort and enthusiasm in the water, but also start with a relatively small initial outlay of funds. Masks, fins, snorkles, etc.

Once they can demonstrate proficiency with those fundamental skills, comfort in the water, and enthusiasm for continuing training, try out a discover diving class with them, and if it goes well, sign them up for diving.

Rather than make it seem like a prerequisite to satisfy you, help them to see it as a first step in their training.

[ChrisA]

Originally Posted by lmparr

I have two sons, ages 9 & 11, that I would like to get certified to go diving with me. Does anyone have recommendations on whether or not diving with children is a good/bad idea?

I've got kids. My youngest is 9. Nine is just to young. The other is 17 and took the class some time ago.

First off even 11 is quite yong and I'm told by instructors the most kids that age will not pass the OW class. The PADI text book is written at about the level of a middle school science class. Could your 11 year old do 7th or 8th grade science? Many can. many can't so it's a reasonable question. Next problem is just plain physical size. Can they lift the equipment. If an adult has to help them set up and get in and out of the water then they have not passed the OW class because some of the required skills are setting up equipment and getting in and out of the water. But some 11 year olds can do all the adult level skills without help and some can read the book and pass the written test.

Many instructors would only teach an 11 year old as a private student. One problem is simply that the 11 YO can not really act as a buddy for the other adult students so you'd need a DM as stand in as a buddy for all the share air drills and so on.

But,... OK say the 11 year old passed OW and has a c-card. At that age he will have to dive with a buddy who is either a parent or a "profesional" (DM or instructor) If you are the parent and buddy are YOU qualified to supervise a new diver? Have you had any training in diver supervision and know what to look for and what to do?

Now reverse the viewpoint: There is just no way an 11 year old is going to be all that helpful in an emergency situation or as a rescuer. If you dive with him you are actually at greater risk than if your were diving solo. Would you solo dive? (many divers do) If you dive with a newly certified kid you are going to be one "way task loaded" solor diver. Nothing wrong with this if you are up to it.

So if you put the kid in a private class and after then only dives with a "profesional buddy" then it would be safe. But talk about "expensive".

Bottom line is that in order to dive with your own very young chld both you and the kid have to be "exceptinal" the kid has to be bigger and stronger and way smarter than others his age and the parent must be a lot more experianced than the typical twice a year "vacation diver".

But it could work I took an AOW class years ago with a 12 year old girl who was very good and her dad was up to the task of supervision too. but most mostly I'd say "wait"

What I told my son who kept asking about scuba classes was
OK yes. we will sign you up for class as soon as you read the PADI Open Water manual and answer all the questions inside. Well for a long time he just could not do that. the book is, as I said written to a (approx.) 8th grade level. He was in middle school when he took the OW class. This works much better than saying "no you are to little" kids hate that. Telling them to read this big hard book puts in on them

The other thing is that they will need to dive frequently after OW class if they are to retain skils. can you take them diving every few weeks (at least) for the next few years. You will likely have to buy a new wetsuit every year as well as fins and boots nd other gear as they grow.

[cmburch]

I guess there are a number of ways to look at a 10 year old on SCUBA. The worst case scenario and the most probable. My daughter is bilingual with German the only language spoken at home and English/Spanish (Spanish Immersion School) at school. I think that multiple languages as a child can be a hindrance to reading comprehension. She is far advance from where I was with reading comprehension at her age.

I will buy the kit and see how she does. And if she is interested and her mother agrees then allow her to try the pool certification. As for future SCUBA diving with my daughter, I would assume that both parents not a single adult would dive together. Even freediving the ratio of adult to child is more than 2 to 1.

[ChrisA]

Originally Posted by MSilvia

If they're really interested, I see no reason to start them on training, but I'd want them to start slow. Start them out with a snorkeling class, and you'll not only get a chance to assess their comfort and enthusiasm in the water, but also start with a relatively small initial outlay of funds. Masks, fins, snorkles, etc.

Once they can demonstrate proficiency with those fundamental skills, comfort in the water, and enthusiasm for continuing training, try out a discover diving class with them, and if it goes well, sign them up for diving.

This is very good advice. and in retrospect is what we did. First off the kids have to be able to swim well. this means more than simply passing the PADI minimum 200 survival swim. while untill a 200 yeard swim is not a big deal and very easy.

I don't know if y even really need a snorkle class. even if they are not great swimmers yet you can have them use a PFD (a.k.a. "live vest") and they can paddle around on the top of the water while looking down with the mask and breathing with a snorkle. Some kids will never get past the point of screeming about water in the mask or snorkle. if that is the case scuba is years away at best. Eventually the kids will tell you they think the PFD the really stupid and they want it off. If they say that they are likely correct. But make sure they have on at least a shorty wetsuit wetsuits float almost as well as a PFD)

Hopefully you live some place were you can take the kids snorkleing frequently enough so they can learn and get comfortable with it. We live in So. califorina wit the ocen only 10 minutes from the house.

I did forget abot all this in my other post. My son was able to snorkle pretty well and could git down to 20 feet deth and swimm around almost a minute and di not panic in kelp nd knoew how to duck under surf and was comfortable in the ocean.

Now for a bad story. One not to be duplicated. Kids do not handle panic well. A local diver here in So. Cal. put his 13 year old in OW class. The kid was not really great in the water, not a swimmer and have not much experiance in the ocean. well the short story was the kid paniced in easy conditions, 20 foot of water over a sandy botton 10+ feet of vis. He held his breath all the way up and died on his fist after class dive. Kids need to feel at home in the ocean, they don't panic if the ocean is a comfortable place that they are used to. Not only did the kid panic but the dad did not know how to recognise the problen or how to prevent a runway acent.

[ChrisA]

Originally Posted by cmburch

It looks like after the pool certification, the OW is available to 10 year olds.

Ask a few instuctors about the chances of a 10 year old passing the class. The answers I get is the less than half will pass and all said they'd only take someone that age as a private student one on one.

The ones that do pass OW tend to be the exception. the ones who are straight "A" students who are also great swimmers maybe just getting into competive teams at the YMCA.