The Ups and Downs of Teaching Your Parents to Dive

“Never work with children or animals”. That’s the old expression reminding TV and film stars of the perils of working with unpredictable creatures. A few months ago I was wondering why I had not heard of a comparable saying for PADI Instructors.  Something like, “Never teach your parents how to scuba dive”.

How it began

My parents decided to come and visit me and The Go Pro Family when we were living and working in the Philippines. It was the first time that they had traveled to see me in my place of work, and were spurred on by the presence of our son who was two years old.  As they were spending a few weeks in a diver’s paradise, they decided that they would try scuba diving.  An admirable decision for a couple in their seventies and a decision that I know they would not have reached had I not been a PADI Instructor.  Despite believing from the start that I would regret my course of action, I said that I would love to teach them.

I knew I shouldn’t be the one to do it. I can remember my mum teaching me to drive a car when I was a teenager and the “fun” we had.  I would mirror, signal, manoeuvre. Get shouted out for being too close to the kerb.  Shout back that I was not.  Get shouted at some more for not paying attention of the road, and so on.  I am sure that I’m not the only person who had this kind of experience.  Yet despite these memories I agreed – no, I persuaded them – that I would teach them to dive.

When I told other divers what I was planning to do, many of them replied that they would love to teach their parents to dive.  My partner Angel was, of course, completely supportive of my decision. “You do know you shouldn’t be doing this?  You should get someone else to teach them.” he said to me.  “I know” I replied “but I have to try it.”  A bit like when someone tells you not to touch the electric fence, but you just need to make sure.

How did it go?

My plan was to treat my parents like “normal students” and pretend that I had never met them before.  I hoped this tactic would give me more patience and allow me to explain everything thoroughly and answer their questions without the exasperated “Mum! Weren’t you listening?” that might otherwise happen.

The first day went surprisingly well.  I decided that they would participate in a PADI Discover Scuba Diving experience to find out if they – and I – liked it first. In confined water, our biggest problem was my dad’s moustache which, no matter which mask he tried, caused it to fill within a minute or so.  As a result he had plenty of opportunity to practice his partial mask flood and vowed to shave it when he got back. My mum tried to perform the skills at the same time as me, but my hand signals Stop! and You-watch-me were like lightning and she got the message. It seemed she was actually paying attention!

My mum and dad enjoyed their first open water dive too. Our Divemaster Trainee Pusoy was certainly kept busy trying to hold on to them both to stop them floating off in all directions. But after a few ups and downs on their own they started to get the hang of it.

They had so much fun that they told me they wanted to take things further and gain a certification in scuba diving. To prove to themselves that they weren’t past it, I guess.

“No problem!” I told them “You can do the PADI Scuba Diver course!” and arranged some theory sessions and their next dives. I was beginning to feel that teaching your parents to dive was not so difficult after all.  I think this was my mistake.

What are the challenges of teaching your parents to scuba dive?

I can only speak from personal experience but I feel that teaching your parents to dive has two challenges.  Firstly they are your parents and most parents have the habit of infuriating and irritating you without actually doing anything.

One example being a five minute conversation they had on the boat about why dad’s mask was in mum’s box:

– “Oh no, it’s your box.”

– “No its not, it’s just my wetsuit.”

– “Well why is your wetsuit in my box?”

– “You just put it in there!”

– “Are you sure it’s your box?”

– “Well who’s mask is this?”… and so on…

“For God’s sake!” I shouted “The masks are the same!”

After my outburst I had to explain to the diver next to us that these were my parents, and that I don’t speak to all my students like that. Of course, he couldn’t see the problem and said that my folks were doing a great job.  But that’s it – if they’re not your parents they don’t have the same effect on you.

The other challenge is age.  I often forget how old my parents are because they lead such an active lifestyle, and it seems only a couple of years since they were celebrating their sixtieth birthdays.  But my dad was 73 and mum 70, and I have never taught anyone to dive at that age.  Their brains work fine and my mum thrives on quizzes so the classroom/theory work was a breeze.  However it was in the water that I noticed the biggest hurdle, which I would describe as a lack of speed.

For instance, doing the individual skills in confined water was trouble-free for them (and so for me too) and I was quite proud of them.  But actually diving involves combining many different skills at once.  Motor skills, co-ordination, cognitive strategy (remembering that to go down, you must exhale, etc).  I know plenty of divers in their seventies who are terrific divers but they learnt all these skills when they were younger and have hundreds of dives making the act of diving so much more “routine”.  And younger people who learn to dive seem to be able to process the information easier or at least retrieve the information and act on it more quickly.

The verdict

So patience is what an instructor needs when they are teaching mature divers, and it is what an instructor needs in bucket-loads when they are teaching their parents to dive.

I have to say that overall it was an enjoyable experience for all three of us.  My parents went on to become certified PADI Scuba Divers and have achieved something that they weren’t sure if they would be able to do, whilst I haven’t had the opportunity to bond with my parents like that since I was a kid.  I don’t think there are many professions out there that give you the chance to have an experience like that, so I am very happy to be a scuba Instructor.

I am also happy that I will never have to do that again.