Kids and Scuba Diving
“I want to be an Astronaut…”
“I want to be a Teacher”
“I want to be a Zoo Keeper…”
These were aspirations I had and words I spoke when as a youngster. When you’re growing up anything is achievable, so why not dream big? I am always grateful that my father linked these personal goals to scuba diving and had me complete my PADI Jr. Open Water on a family holiday a few decades ago. It granted me access to a whole new world and was the start of an adventurous journey that has taken me around the globe.
Top 3 reasons to get your kids involved in scuba diving:
Diving is a non-competitive sport and focuses on skill mastery. PADI programs provide a structured and proven system of education through which your children will learn. These performance-based programs teach kids the basic skills needed underwater and how support their buddies. Individual growth and teamwork are the foundations for developing good PADI junior divers.
Introducing the underwater world to kids is nothing short of amazing! The emersion in water brings a feeling of weightlessness and a 4D experience that is truly one of a kind. The don’t need virtual reality goggles or the devices they are attached to all day in order to feel engulfed in this environment. It’s a humbling experience for kids to be part of something so vast beneath the surface and they’ll quickly become Jr. Ambassadors for our ocean planet.
Diving becomes a family activity. You’ll no longer need to find babysitters on holiday or make sure parents sign up for separate activities because someone needs to take care of the kids. I recently taught my nephews their Jr. Open Water course alongside their parents and now they have a family activity to engage in anywhere around the world. They learned how to communicate with each other without words (hard to speak underwater) and relied on each other in the buddy system. A happy family is a diving family!
If you’re worried about whether your children will be able to understand dive theory and develop dive skills at a young age, quite simply said, kids learn diving faster and better than most adults. As early as 8 years old your kids can enroll is these PADI programs and show you their newly acquired diving abilities:
PADI Bubblemaker: Minimum Age 8. Maximum depth 2m for pool or confined open water.
PADI Seal Team & Master Seal Team: Minimum Age 8. Maximum depth 4m for pool during Aqua Missions.
PADI Jr. Open Water: Minimum Age 10. Maximum depth 12m for 5 confined dives and 4 open water dives.
PADI Jr. Advanced: Minimum Age 12. Maximum 21m for 5 open water dives.
PADI Jr. Rescue: Minimum Age 12. Complete 10 Rescue Exercises and 2 Rescue Scenarios.
To find out more please visit www.bansdivingresort.com/padi-courses/padi-kids-teenager-programs/
