Should I let my daughter scuba dive again?

Question

My daughter is 15 , she went to a summer camp which scuba diving was one of the activities. She was fine the first dive but the next day after the second dive she was very ill with decompression ilness and they had to fly her to the recompression chamber. She was one dive away from finishing her certification and has a year to do it (and she wants to) I admire her bravery but those 2 days were the scariest days of my life. The doctors don't know what went wrong. She wants to dive I am inclined to say no but how common is decompression ilness if she got it before will she get again. The doctor did not speak english so a lot of my questions went unanswered. I don't know what to do please help. I want to encourage my daughter to keep trying things even when they go badley but I also want to protect her.

Answer 1

I would get more information about it, but let your daughter do it. If she is ready to do it, then maybe it wouldn't be so bad for you to let her! She's old enough to make that decision and while she's not legal to make decisions on her own, Im sure she would love your support.

Good luck and I wish her the best!

Answer 2

Of course you want to protect your daughter that's what us moms do!

I have a child who plays ice hockey and we have had 1 concussion in which he was taken away in an ambulance after being knocked unconscious. Any idea how scared I was to let him back on the ice???? I didn't want to because I didn't want him to get hurt.  In the end not only did I let him because that is *HIS* passion I sat in the stands and cheered him on.  Sometimes the best parenting we can do is to stand back and allow our kids to follow and try to achieve their dreams.

Answer 3

As hard as it may be, you should let her go again. Decompression illness is not a very common thing and after diving myself, and doing many classes, also knowing many people who dive, I would say it was just one of those things that happen.

Maybe contact an instructor and get more information on it.

Answer 4

I would not allow her to do it again. Maybe she is to young yet to do this. Maybe she will have to wait until she is older when she is fully formed and then maybe her body could handle it. If you allowed her to do it again could you be okay if something happened to her the second time around? You are the adult. She is only 15 after all.

Answer 5

she wants to do it...I would let her.

Answer 6

First of all, take her to a doctor you trust and make sure all your questions are answered. Once you are sure that there is no longer any danger, let her go because it's something she really enjoys and she is fifteen so you should let her go a little. But make sure it's not with that camp because obviously, they didn't do a very good job of supervising her!

Good luck. :)