The experts allow you to start kids diving at as young as 10... and while its not a full blown certification...they can get started. Do you have kids? Do they dive? How old were they when you let them get certified?
Any docs out there that know the affects of pressure on the development of kid's bones?
They say 10...
Started by
WreckWench
, Apr 27 2012 07:56 AM
4 replies to this topic
#1
WreckWench
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Posted 27 April 2012 - 07:56 AM
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#2
shadragon
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Posted 27 April 2012 - 08:03 AM
Way too early.
I thought 14 was too early as well. IMHO 16 should be the minimum age for learning how to dive. Regardless of the age, a parent should be beside them the entire time they are submerged. I would prefer that parent to have a Rescue qualification as well, but this is not a perfect world.
I thought 14 was too early as well. IMHO 16 should be the minimum age for learning how to dive. Regardless of the age, a parent should be beside them the entire time they are submerged. I would prefer that parent to have a Rescue qualification as well, but this is not a perfect world.
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#3
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Posted 27 April 2012 - 10:12 AM
This was a topic brought up during one organization's DEMA meeting last November.
IIRC, there was a vocal challenge to the agency's stance on the training of 10-year-olds (10YO), which was itself a response to another agency taking on 10YOs for training. There has been at least one recent article written from a professional standpoint on how to do a proper evaluation of a 10YO as a student*.
This is a hot topic for me, as I am in negotiations with a local organization to set up scuba programs with them and am wrestling with this. While I cannot be required to accept 10YO students, the agency approval is certainly there if someone wants to look it up--and attempt to pressure me on the subject.
In the past year, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of 10YO students that have made it completely through training, dropping (on their own) usually during the Open Water portion. One factor that seems to be consistent with those who drop the program was that taking the course was not the child's idea, but a parent(s). Those that did make it through were ALL the ones who were not pushed into it but wanted to learn of their own desire. The second group usually demonstrated above-age-group levels of maturity as well.
It's because of this experience that I have decided to limit the minimum class age to 16 should I get approval for the program(s) I am currently negotiating. IMO, 10YO is just too young for the majority of children to start scuba training.
*Sources, volume 24, No. 1, pg 56
IIRC, there was a vocal challenge to the agency's stance on the training of 10-year-olds (10YO), which was itself a response to another agency taking on 10YOs for training. There has been at least one recent article written from a professional standpoint on how to do a proper evaluation of a 10YO as a student*.
This is a hot topic for me, as I am in negotiations with a local organization to set up scuba programs with them and am wrestling with this. While I cannot be required to accept 10YO students, the agency approval is certainly there if someone wants to look it up--and attempt to pressure me on the subject.
In the past year, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of 10YO students that have made it completely through training, dropping (on their own) usually during the Open Water portion. One factor that seems to be consistent with those who drop the program was that taking the course was not the child's idea, but a parent(s). Those that did make it through were ALL the ones who were not pushed into it but wanted to learn of their own desire. The second group usually demonstrated above-age-group levels of maturity as well.
It's because of this experience that I have decided to limit the minimum class age to 16 should I get approval for the program(s) I am currently negotiating. IMO, 10YO is just too young for the majority of children to start scuba training.
*Sources, volume 24, No. 1, pg 56
#4
Sharklover
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Posted 27 April 2012 - 10:59 AM
I do not have children but am a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner and used to work with one of the world's leading growth and stature experts. So I know a thing or two about bone.
Developmentally, I think it is ridiculous to have 10 year olds get unrestricted OW certs. If all parents were good parents, and could assess their child's readiness for different diving environments, and not THEIR readiness for their child to be in one, then maybe. But we all know that not all parents graduated in the top of their class in parenting school. And 10 year olds simply are not yet developmentally wired for problem solving in the way that scuba divers must be. I would not let a child of mine get their OW until age 16, and even then, I would be their dive buddy, period, for the first couple of years.
I don't have a problem with some of these programs which get younger kids into a pool or small contained freshwater environment to learn about scuba and practice with scuba equipment.
As for the impact on the bone, that is one of those questions which does not have a true answer, only a theoretical one. No one is going to do a study with children who spend a lot of time under pressure. The controlled studies in adults which have been done indicate that diving does not have a negative impact on the bone. One limiting factor in these studies has been the length of the studies. Bone changes take a LONG LONG time to occur. However, in some observational studies of adults who have worked under pressure for long periods of time, or at great depths, there are some indicators that there could be some negative impact on the bone, though this has not be conclusively proven. So in a developing child, whose growth is not yet complete, do you really want to take a chance that there could be a negative impact on the growth plates that isn't known? But certainly if I had a child who was diving prior to puberty being complete, I would limit their diving to infrequent, shallow water, dives.
Developmentally, I think it is ridiculous to have 10 year olds get unrestricted OW certs. If all parents were good parents, and could assess their child's readiness for different diving environments, and not THEIR readiness for their child to be in one, then maybe. But we all know that not all parents graduated in the top of their class in parenting school. And 10 year olds simply are not yet developmentally wired for problem solving in the way that scuba divers must be. I would not let a child of mine get their OW until age 16, and even then, I would be their dive buddy, period, for the first couple of years.
I don't have a problem with some of these programs which get younger kids into a pool or small contained freshwater environment to learn about scuba and practice with scuba equipment.
As for the impact on the bone, that is one of those questions which does not have a true answer, only a theoretical one. No one is going to do a study with children who spend a lot of time under pressure. The controlled studies in adults which have been done indicate that diving does not have a negative impact on the bone. One limiting factor in these studies has been the length of the studies. Bone changes take a LONG LONG time to occur. However, in some observational studies of adults who have worked under pressure for long periods of time, or at great depths, there are some indicators that there could be some negative impact on the bone, though this has not be conclusively proven. So in a developing child, whose growth is not yet complete, do you really want to take a chance that there could be a negative impact on the growth plates that isn't known? But certainly if I had a child who was diving prior to puberty being complete, I would limit their diving to infrequent, shallow water, dives.
For whatever we lose (like a you or a me), it's always ourselves we find in the sea....ee cummings
#5
grim reefer
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Posted 28 April 2012 - 10:55 AM
I don't know anything about developmental physiology, but I do know that if I were running a charter off NC I would have a hard time letting someone under 16 dive off it even with a parent or instructor present. I would certainly require a parent to sign the liability waiver for anyone under 18.
The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of forever - Jacques Cousteau
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