They say that your childhood shapes your personality! So what could be better than allowing your child to go on a life-changing adventure and learn to scuba dive? Without any bias, we appreciate that children have varied demands these days, but we also ensure that via our junior learn to scuba dive diverse programmes, we will shape and fulfil your kid with fascinating memories and allow him to gain a great deal of knowledge. Not only about diving and scuba diving, but also about the fascinating hidden aquatic species and their value to our world!
In this article we shall illustrate the bundle of different paid junior courses, and what are the suitable ages and demands of your child to be able to take a diving course safely.
Can a 10 year old scuba dive?
A lot of questions come to the child’s parents’ mind. When they are upon the decision phase, to learn scuba diving for their kids. However, most of it is about age, the available courses and certificates, and the safety measures, etc. So in order to simplify it, the professional association of diving instructors accredited a bundle of comprehensive scuba diving for kids courses, starting from:
PADI Bubblemaker course
The bubble maker course will be a milestone for your kid, to learn more about how to scuba dive, and explore the reality of the diving world, get more enthusiastic about it, and it will ignite the spark of passion towards marine life on him! Kids in their early years are eager to explore the world around them, and have an active vivid imagination.
- Besides all of that, the padi bubble maker was sealed with suitable age limitations for kids’ growth, lung strength and lung capacity. As kids before 8 years old their lungs are considered to be not developed enough to bear the pressure underwater at varying depths.
- So in order to maintain kids’ safety and help them learn properly, PADI presents two choices: the bubble maker course and the seal team program. You could consider the bubble maker as a warm up for your kid, since it’s more like an intro programme that introduces the emotions associated with diving and breathing underwater to the newbie divers. Your child will get the opportunity to learn some fundamental scuba diving concepts.
- In this programme, the child’s size is vital when it comes to selecting the appropriate children’s diving kit, which might be difficult. So there is specialised children’s equipment available that will make their first dive comfortable and encourage them to continue diving. Also for child safety, kids are limited to a maximum depth of 4m in the pool.
- It’s a wonderful opportunity for the kids to become acquainted with the gear and how it works in a controlled setting with a certified diving instructor.
- Once the kid feels comfortable, confident, and decides to choose diving as his favourite hobby, he will move to the seal team program, where he could learn more about diving safely through 5 sessions, and acquire the basic knowledge to be safe and enjoy being underwater.
Junior Open Water Diver Course
For more adventure and deep immersion underwater, kids will wait until they are 10 to be able to join the junior open water course. Most diving organisations now offer open water certifications to children starting at the age of ten. Children who take these courses must read the same materials and take the same tests as adults. Whether a child will excel in a certification course, depends on their reading level as well as other factors.
- A child who successfully completes the junior Open Water course will receive a Junior Certificate. Certification requires that the course work itself as an adult certification. However, junior certification has some limitations to it. For children ages 10-11, these restrictions include always diving with a parent/guardian or diving professional, and never slipping below the maximum depth of 40 feet(12m).
- The Junior Certificate can be upgraded to the Adult Certificate at age 15 without further training.
Padi junior Advanced open water course
- The main difference between padi junior and padi junior advance is the max of allowed depth for the youngster divers to reach, as they are allowed to dive up to 21 metre depth at this course. Children between the ages of 12 and 14 can enroll in a variety of junior diving qualification courses.
- Most diving agencies offer junior versions of their courses for adults, including open water/basic certifications, advanced certifications, rescue diving certifications, and even specialty courses. Children between the ages of 12 and 14 may not lead a dive or work as assistant diving instructors.
- However, most training organisations limit children ages 12 to 14 to a maximum depth of 60 feet for beginner certified open water divers. Some organisations allow advanced open-water divers to descend as low as 72 feet. In all cases, children ages 12 to 14 should not dive without an adult or a dive instructor.
And now that we have reached the end of this article, we tried to give you as much verified, unbiased information and practical facts as we can. As we believe in to spread our diving passion we need to be objective and this is a significant virtue at Drar diving centre. Your safety comes first to us, and we always seek to make your diving adventure with us a once in life experience! Stay safe and comment with any questions if you are still confused about.