How do parents justify letting their kids play football?

[Anonymous]

My DC, who has only ever played non-contact sports, sustained 2 fairly mild concussions coincidentally over the span of 6 months for non-sport reasons. (he's clumsy!) They affected literally every aspect of his life and it took a good while before he felt completely normal again. It could have been much worse...I imagine him playing a high contact sport and facing repeated head hits/full-on concussions and shudder, and this made it more clear to me why I could never have supported him playing football.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DC, who has only ever played non-contact sports, sustained 2 fairly mild concussions coincidentally over the span of 6 months for non-sport reasons. (he's clumsy!) They affected literally every aspect of his life and it took a good while before he felt completely normal again. It could have been much worse...I imagine him playing a high contact sport and facing repeated head hits/full-on concussions and shudder, and this made it more clear to me why I could never have supported him playing football.

Or he could have played four years of football and never gotten a concussion. Just because he is a spaz does not necessarily translate to football injuries.

[Anonymous]

"Spaz" is no longer acceptable to describe clumsiness
It is short for "spastic" which refers to physically challenged individuals

[Anonymous]

My boys play lacrosse and this worries me. Of course nobody will be studying lacross brains since so few peoole play relative to the other sports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Who are they justifying it to, and why?

No answer to this?

Who are the parents justifying their decisions to?

[Anonymous]

Time will tell with soccer and head injuries. And the lawsuits will follow. Just saying.

[Anonymous]

I may become one of those stupid parents. My son is brilliant however he absolutely loves the game football. Up to now we've only allowed to play flag football. But I am certain it in high school he will try out for the regular tackle football team. We talk about praying dreams and he has read every NFL record and CT scans etc. but he is so young that that seem so far in the future and he is not afraid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
If one of my kids gets a concussion, then yes after one I will reassess. If anyone lets their kid play after 2==they are idiots.

My son got his first concussion in 3rd grade, sports related.
His second in middle school, not sports related.
Both were fairly easy recoveries, a couple days missed school, a week of light duty, back to completely normal afterwards.
He's in high school, and he plays soccer.

Maybe I'm an idiot, but when I talk among my friends I know so many kids who have gotten concussions just from life. If the right thing to do is bench your kid after two concussions, that's a lot of kids who can't do anything anymore.

It's not easy. I have no idea if I'm making the right choice letting him play. I actually think he's safer doing his sports than the crazy horseplay that teen boys get up to. And his non-sports concussion was from simply not being fully aware of his surroundings, that happens to people all the time throughout their lives. There's really no way to protect against that.

Oh come on. I've no personal skin in this fight but do you REALLY believe this? I cannot believe it if you do.

Yes, I think he's safer in his soccer practices and playing in soccer games than pretending he's a tight rope walker walking across the top of a 4 foot tall chain link fence right next to concrete. I think he's safer with soccer than when he and his friends get up to skateboard tricks and he hopes I don't notice he's "forgotten" his helmet. His coaches don't forget safety - it's critical to the game and they enforce safe behaviors. Teenagers egg each other on and often completely ignore that they're mere mortals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Who are they justifying it to, and why?

No answer to this?

Who are the parents justifying their decisions to?

Well, themselves for one...

[Anonymous]

Way more concussions in girls soccer than youth football but parents just love to judge others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My oldest played football from kindergarten through his senior year in high school. I don't feel the need to "justify" it at all. In the many, many years he played, it literally never came up. He never had a serious injury. My youngest is a band kid. He was messing around with friends at band camp and broke his leg and tore his ACL. He is having his second surgery next week. His knee will likely never fully heal.

Life is dangerous.

So true! People just can't stop judging others

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dads who couldn't play football force their sons to play football. Sad - and dangerous.

My husband played D1 football and will only allow our sons to play flag football.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The truth of the matter is that parents who have talented athletes have a hard time saying no to their passionate sons who LOVE the game and want to play so badly. I have a friend who said she would never let her son play, but it turns out he is supper talented at the game and now she is letting him do it.

Keep in mind there are pretty high concussion rates in other sports like hockey, lacrosse, wrestling.

Glad my honors student with a 4.1 GPA is not much of an athlete. His extra curriculars are more artistically based (theater, music, etc.), but he manages to get enough exercise to stay in shape playing rec sports and swimming in the summer. I feel bad for the jocks who have to rely on their sport to gain access to a good school.

Good grief, what a condescending post. Surely you must know that plenty of phenomenal athletes are also honors students? SMH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Time will tell with soccer and head injuries. And the lawsuits will follow. Just saying.

The lawsuits are already being filed by soccer players. Since at least See my post at 9:13. A MLS player sued DC United about this in the summer of 2012.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My oldest played football from kindergarten through his senior year in high school. I don't feel the need to "justify" it at all. In the many, many years he played, it literally never came up. He never had a serious injury. My youngest is a band kid. He was messing around with friends at band camp and broke his leg and tore his ACL. He is having his second surgery next week. His knee will likely never fully heal.

Life is dangerous.

Well said. There are kids that thrive playing contact sports and others who are more drawn to other activities. What happened to letting children pursue their interests. There are many studies that show that playing an instrument and music are beneficial to developing brains. There is also an upside to kids playing sports - working as a team, winning, losing, sportsmanship and the grit that comes with being knocked down and getting back up. I just don't understand why so many parents are so focused on how smart their children are but aren't concerned with their overall development. The judging needs to stop. We all love our kids. It is hard enough to raise kind and well rounded people in today's world. Why the need for the constant judgement and analysis of what other parents are doing?