If you are looking for the best children’s full length wetsuits right now, it means a scuba diving or a snorkeling adventure is under way.
In my previous post, we looked at the scuba diving age limit. And we said that children can learn how to dive if they are older than ten years. Well, not quite, because for open water diving, any kid younger than 15 years would have to be accompanied by an adult.
The point is, you can take your children scuba diving or snorkeling with you. And you will have double the fun. Children are fun to hang out with. Anyway, a family that dives together stays together.
When taking your children to your water activities though, you will have to be extra careful with their diving gear. From their snorkeling masks, diving fins and the scuba tanks, scuba diving booties and everything else that you need for an exciting but safe experience in the water.
But first, where can you buy junior wetsuits? You can buy full length wetsuits on amazon.com.
Children’s wetsuits benefits
Swimming, diving or surfing is one thing but bringing along your kid with you is another. When the children are involved, extra care has to be taken. Caution will ensure that they remain safe, comfortable and protected throughout the adventure.
One way to ensure your kids are safe and comfortable is to get them to wear children’s full length wetsuit. With just a little research, you will see that a junior wetsuit, despite the name, actually helps keep your child warm. However, note that this diving gear is only supposed to be used for warm water diving. As its name suggests, it is a suit that gets wet. So for a dry diving, you would have to get them a dry suit for diving.
Wetsuit Warmth – Best Junior Wetsuits
It is hard to imagine that a wetsuit for snorkeling or scuba diving can keep a person warm, but it does. In layman’s language, what happens is that the neoprene suit creates a buffer zone between the thin layer of water warmed by your skin and the cold water outside. Thus, warm water on skin cannot escape and cold water from the surrounding cannot get to your skin.
Thus, if you are still thinking that it would be good for your child to snorkel bare-skinned, it is not cool.
Wetsuit warmth is not the kind of warmth that you would feel with your hand. Suffice to say that this kind of suit keeps you from experiencing the kind of cold that you would without it. However, wetsuits are not designed to keep you warm and dry. It is the dry suits that are designed for that. A wetsuit will keep your children warm, but wet.
The thermal insulation formed by the junior wetsuits prevents the body from losing too much heat than it can actually produce. With this assurance in mind, you can be happy that the risk of catching hypothermia is greatly reduced by the wetsuit.
Wetsuit Buoyancy
One of the reasons why your children need the best childrens wetsuits is that they increase buoyancy. These suits are usually made from neoprene material that naturally enhances buoyancy.
Different wetsuits have different buoyancy rates depending on the thickness. For example, a 5mm neoprene wetsuit will have different buoyancy as compared to a 3mm suit. Thankfully, you can make use of a wetsuit buoyancy chart when buying one. If your children are going to dive in the open water, that is, assuming they are of age, well, you need to know the wetsuit’s buoyancy.
To help your kid to maintain the right position in the water, ensure that they wear their full-length wetsuits when going for a water adventure. With increased buoyancy, your kid’s confidence in the water will also be enhanced.
Advanced divers have their way of finding out their wetsuits buoyancy. If they put the wetsuit in a mesh bag, it should basically float. Then they add scuba weights to see just how much weights they will need to take with them to dive.
If you are buying childrens wetsuits that can be used for diving, then you also need to do some math to find out how much scuba weights you need for your child to dive. This is not too hard if you refer to the article linked above. However, you have to include factors like your buoyancy control device.
Wetsuits can also be worn for swimming. In fact, it can play the greatest role in ensuring that the kid does not sink during rests.
Kids wetsuits ensure less drag
Children’s full-length wetsuits have been proven to increase their speed in the water by minimizing the amount of drag. This improvement in the speed is known as hydrodynamics. In simpler terms, it is the ease of cutting through the water. This is achieved through some of the materials or coatings on the wetsuits that repel water, therefore reducing the friction between the body and the water, hence boosting their propulsion in the water.
Because of the silky smooth finishing of the neoprene material, you will be able to cut through water ever so easily. One thing that you should know though is that the ease of wetsuit to help you slice through water is determined by the thickness.
Heavier suits will have more drag. Kids wetsuits come in different thicknesses measured by millimeters. Usually, when buying, the thickness will be indicated by number, slash, and then another number. There might even be a third number.
The first number indicates the thickness of the neoprene wetsuit on the torso. This thickness is responsible for retaining the body heat. The second number indicates the thickness for the legs and hands. However, if there is a third number, that is for the thickness on the hands.
Kids Wetsuit Safety
Being in the water can be quite intimidating for some kids especially the thought of interacting with some water creatures. One of the things that can give them the confidence to jump into the waters is knowing that they will be safe.
Childrens wetsuits can give them the peace of mind that they will not suffer from scrapes by rocky reefs or jellyfish stings from the head to the toes. Today, there is a lot of contamination happening in our oceans. That is why it is important to not only wear a scuba wetsuit but scuba boots as well for snorkeling and diving.
The underwater environment is not all bliss too. Stinging sea creatures are usually well camouflaged and your kid will not notice bumping into them until they feel the pain of the sting. Some of the creatures can inject venom into your kid’s body when they sting. This can cause a very uncomfortable reaction in the body.
The full length kids wetsuits will protect them from abrasions, cuts, skin irritations from sea organisms or stings from any stinging sea creature.
Longer snorkeling time with children’s full length wetsuits
One of the things that cause kids to get out of the water fast is cold. Now, with that taken care of by the kids wetsuit, your children can enjoy snorkeling much longer. With the best full face snorkeling masks, you can all enjoy a longer time in water.
The added warmth, buoyancy and reduce drag in water means that the children use less energy to swing into action. This further means that they will not easily feel fatigued moments after getting in the water, which in turn increases the time they spend in the water.
Even when swimming, a child wearing a full length wetsuit is bound to swim longer than one who is wearing a half wetsuit. The more exposed you are, the more energy you spend to stay warm.
Wetsuit UV protection
Just as you are advised to always wear lotion with sunscreen whenever you are going out, a wetsuit keeps UV rays away. Most parents allow their children to go out and enjoy recreational activities in summer.
Getting into the water means getting out of regular clothing, which protects the skin against the UV rays. It also means getting into a kids wetsuit that is designed with UV protection of its own. With skin cancer being one of the most rampant forms of cancer, you want to keep your children protected.
UV rays penetrate water. As long as you can see light when underwater, you are still at risk. The only time you will not be exposed to the UV rays is only when you go deep into the water until it gets dark. This can never be the case with children because they can never go that deep. Therefore, a full-length swimsuit designed to offer UV protection is very important for your children when they are in the water.
Wetsuit Visibility
You need to keep your kid within your visibility range when you are in the water. This is the reason why wetsuits will often come in bright colors. They make the user visible even when they are a distance away.
Being able to monitor the progress of kids performance in the water by seeing their every move can hence their safety and give you some peace of mind. You can be able to easily tell if they are in distress or in need of your help.
A full length wetsuit for your kid can be the best thing that you can ever get them, if they love water. If they have been PADI or NAUI certified, you can take them diving with you and have an adventure out of this world.