Scuba Diving Lessons for Kids in California

Scuba diving attracts and inspires not just adults, but it is an adventure that even kids and teens can enjoy. Have you ever wondered if your kid too could learn scuba diving lessons in California?

Scuba diving is an adventure sport that is packed with fun and wonder. It is a sport that allows humans to dig into the astounding underwater world and be amazed at all that the ocean has to offer. A lot of kids are learning and enjoying scuba diving around the world. Your children should also learn this adventure and explore with fascination a wide variety of marine life.

 what is the ideal age for children to start learning scuba diving?

More importantly, is scuba diving safe for children? Read on to know everything you wanted to know in regard to scuba diving for kids including the minimum age for kids to scuba dive, safety for children, pros and cons of scuba diving for teens and kids, and the scuba diving laws in California.

Why Do We Scuba Dive?

First, let us talk a little about why people scuba dive or the benefits of scuba diving. Adventure sport definitely offers multiple benefits to attract people. However, everyone has their own specific set of reasons to go scuba diving. Some of the key reasons people participate in this adventure include:

• Relaxation
• Exercise
• To explore the nature
• Underwater photography
• Thirst for adventure
• Treasure hunting
• To make friends

In fact, the benefits of scuba diving are just too many! For many people, scuba diving is an excellent way to promote environmental awareness. While different people scuba dive for different reasons, every scuba diving is also different. When you decide to turn to scuba diving to escape from the terrestrial world, one thing is sure you’ll never get bored with the adventure. Our world is covered by more than 70% of water, and every day you go out to scuba dive, you’ll find and experience something new. Your love for the adventure will only increase with time.

Minimum Age for Children to Scuba Dive

Have you seen kids scuba diving? Children and teens enjoy the adventure a lot and they continue to experience the thrill. According to PADI (Professional Association of Dive Instructors), the minimum age for children to learn and participate in scuba diving lessons is 10 years. Therefore, a kid by the age of 10 can get certified as Junior Open Water Diver. The minimum age of 10 years applies to most of the children who are healthy, both physically and mentally.

The speed of physical and mental development varies from one child to another. Before a child is ready to scuba dive, he or she should have gained some maturity and be fit physically and mentally.

Scuba diving schools offer enrollment for interested kids in scuba diving lessons. The certification agencies follow some criteria on the basis of which they determine whether a child or teen should scuba dive. First the foremost, the child should have an interest in the sport. If a child is willing to learn the adventure, the coursework (theory classes and practical) will become easy for them. Before a child can learn to scuba dive, they’ll also need to clear a swimming test. Children with good reasoning skills do a good job in learning adventure sports. Medical fitness is a prerequisite for all kids and teens who want to learn scuba diving.

If you want your child to learn scuba diving, you should first make them comfortable by taking them on scuba holidays and sharing stories of the underwater world with them. When kids begin to learn at a young age, it becomes easy for them to learn and master the skills as they advance in age.

Kids Scuba Programs

A child can get enrolled in junior scuba diving courses as soon as he or she is eight years old. However, many schools will prefer your child to reach the age of 10 to start learning to scuba dive. If your child is below 10 years, but he or she has good reasoning skills, maturity, and is serious about learning, they can get admission into a scuba school and pursue the sport of diving.

Kids’ scuba programs have the same coursework and textbook. The child also needs to master the knowledge and skills in the same way as adults do. If your child is eligible to start learning, you should look for a program that offers a 2:1 or 1:1 student-instructor ratio. This will help your child or teen learn the adventure sport at ease and at a pace that he or she likes best. As stated before, the child will need to do a lot of reading to gain basic knowledge of the sport. Each chapter in the scuba textbook will include a section on knowledge reviews. The student will need to complete these reviews before the classroom training begins.

The coursework will include a range of quizzes for students to participate in. This is an effective way to test what the student has learned through reading the textbook material he or she was provided with. The child will need to sit for a final exam which will have questions from all chapters of the book.

During the in-water skills training or pool sessions, the student will put what he learned in the class into practice. They will learn the fundamentals of scuba diving such as clearing and breathing through a snorkel, balancing the weight, inflating their BCD orally, removing the weights, etc. At the same time, the teen student will demonstrate different types of hand signals including hover mid-water and controlled ascent and descent among others. The student will also demonstrate skills that will be required in the event of an underwater emergency. After the pool sessions come to an end, the student will demonstrate all the skills in open water.

The content of scuba diving courses for children and teens is the same as adults do. However, there is some difference in regard to certification for kids. Until the age of 15, a child student will always be termed as a “junior”, despite the number of certifications or dives they have completed.

Is Scuba Diving Safe for Children?

Scuba diving is one of the safest adventure sports you can participate in. However, you should adhere to the essential rules and guidelines that scuba schools have put in place. Not paying attention to the safety rules can prove to be dangerous. All scuba diving schools and certification agencies focus on promoting the safety of the sport so that people can enjoy it more and more.

There is nothing new for children scuba diving. Children and teens have been scuba diving for years. Over the years, the equipment, as well as training for scuba diving, have undergone a big change. Still, adult diving and child diving are not the same. When it is a child going scuba diving, the safety concerns are much stricter and multiple factors come into play as well. As a child grows, he or she passes through several stages of physical and mental development. Although an adult diver accompanies the child diver, there are many issues that should be taken into consideration by the parents. For all parents, it is important to make a full-informed decision about their children going to get enrolled in scuba diving programs.

There is no scientific or medical evidence to explain how scuba diving affects the mental and physical development of children.

When making a decision, parents should take the individual maturity of their children. If a child is showing a willingness to learn scuba diving and he or she has good reasoning skills, there shouldn’t be any problem. If you check out the statistics, you’ll find more cases of injury and death in adults than in child divers. This is because every child diver has an instructor with them.

Scuba Diving Laws in California

When scuba diving, the diver is expected to follow a set of rules as set by their state government. If you are in California, you should observe the basic operation procedures laid out by the State of California Department of Industrial Relations. All the scuba diving schools and certification agencies conduct sessions while abiding by the rules set forth by the state government.

As per the law, every diver shall be accompanied by another diver and they shall stay in close touch as long as the operation goes on. The maximum permitted death for scuba diving is 190 fsw. However, the maximum limit applies only to scientific and technical diving operations. Moreover, the diver going to that depth needs to be certified for the depth reached. As a general law, scuba diving cannot be performed at depths more than 100 fsw – unless there is proper arrangement for emergency evacuation of the diver in a specific location. The law also necessitates the use of an underwater depth gauge and a time-keeping device.

For complete details on scuba diving laws, visit the official website of the Department of Industrial Relations, California.

Medical Requirements for Diving

Whether an adult or a child, every diver needs to go for a medical checkup before he or she can start scuba diving. Basically, a person with a healthy respiratory and circulatory system is fit to go scuba diving.

For children or teens, a medical checkup is a must. If your child is interested in learning scuba skills, you should make sure he or she does a recreational Dive Medical with an Authorized Dive Physician. This must be done before you take your child to a scuba school and get him or her enrolled in a kid’s scuba program. People suffering from serious ailments such as coronary diseases or epilepsy are unfit for scuba diving lessons. A Dive Medical is meant to look for all such serious health issues during the checkup. Even if your child is fit and healthy, you should get a Dive Medical done so that scuba schools don’t turn you away.

Set Up a Meeting with an Instructor

If you and your child have made up your mind to proceed with scuba diving, you should get in touch with the Scuba Schools of America. Located in Montclair, California, the school offers a wide range of scuba diving training programs. For more details on the courses and programs and to find out if your child is ready for the adventure, give our office a phone call and set up a meeting with an expert to discuss how your child can start learning scuba diving.