ScubaGadget - The Deep Background on Scuba

While prepping for a recent dive, a mom and her young daughter approached me. The mother went on to brag that are child, who looked to be about eight years old, had just done her first scuba dive. My first thought was that it would have been nice to get those first hundred dives under my weight belt before the fears of adulthood set in.

Shortly thereafter I read a compelling article by Dr. Alex Brylske in the August 2008 issue of Dive Training that opened my eyes to the serious questions that need to be considered before we drop our kids into their first scuba kit. Brylske’s article, “The Younger Diver: The Challenges and Concerns of Childhood Scuba” addresses the deadly serious questions that dive trainers and parents should be asking before deciding on the safe age for a child to start diving. While the overall loud and clear answer is that the experts just don’t know for sure, the article does not leave you hanging in limbo. Brylske provides detailed information on the current research and potential problems for these young bodies and minds. While there are many physiological questions, I was particularly impressed with the section in which he uses the developmental psychology stages to illustrate that “kids are’nt simply scaled-down adults” and shows how the “child’s developmental stage will determine his or her ability to acquire, manipulate and comprehend information” during training and more importantly during emergency situations.

If you do not find the magazine at your local dive shop, you can find this (after Aug 16, 2008) and all other Dive Training articles at http://www.dtmag.com/

This article is just an example of the impressive trend of Dive Training Magazine of late in raising the bar for dive journals. In the past year Dive Training has far surpassed the other scuba journals I read in the number of compelling articles per issue. I particularly enjoy the “Dive Geo” section which explores the geography and history of one notable dive destination each month. It is refreshing and will broaden the scope of your dive trips.