A new spin on "If everybody else jumped off a bridge, would you?"

Parent Cafe
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<p>LANTANA, Fla. - AP -It seems a father’s plan to cure his daughter’s fear of heights fell short. Troy Stewart and his 10-year-old daughter were on their daily bike ride about 7:45 p.m. Monday when Stewart, 31, suggested they jump off a 15 foot bridge. </p>

<p>Stewart held his daughter Meagan Stewart’s hand as they jumped off the bridge into the Intracoastal Waterway, authorities said.</p>

<p>“At first he said, <code>Do you want to do it or not?'” Meagan said. “I thought,</code>It’s kind of high,’ and then he’s like, `Trust me.'”</p>

<p>Meagan made the jump safely, but her father ended up with a broken leg. …
Stewart was not charged since Meagan jumped willingly. Officials from the state Department of Children and Families planned to interview Potter…"</p>

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<p>Well, it sounds like his D now has a healthy skepticism of her dad’s judgment to go with a rational fear of heights. sheesh!</p>

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<p>Wow, karma’s a b-tch. :)</p>

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<p>He will never, ever live this down.</p>

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<p>Sounds like that dad’s gone off the deep end…<em>sigh</em></p>

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<p>No, sounds like Dad was high…</p>

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<p>At least he didn’t dive. I understand a great percentage of the spinal cord injuries occur in males between ages about 16-30 who get excited about diving into water somewhere without investigating how deep it is.</p>

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<p>

<strong><em>SO</em></strong> true! I was a diver for many years, and we divers ALL <em>KNEW</em> that diving into unfamiliar murky water was a HUGE no-no. Despite that, however, one of the most talented age-group divers in our state did this back I was diving, and she ended up a paraplegic, and for what? <em>sigh</em> One bad decision…</p>

<p>~berurah</p>

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<p>I see the humor in this- but I also think it is sad.
So this girl at 10, has been taught that she can’t trust her dads judgement ( and is anyone suprised that this was a dad- not a mom?)
Additonally as someone who has a healthy fear of heights, I hope her dad learned that sometimes fears that may seem unreasonable to some who don’t have the “W<em>T</em>F*” brain mechanism, they do insure that most of us reach the age of procreation, and hopefully beyond.</p>

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<p>Well, not wanting to be accused of being a ‘know-it-all,’ I’d probably jump and hope for deep water and awesome aerial form; there being, as I understand, no “I” in ‘team’ and all that. ;)</p>

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<p>What a dumb thing to do. Some people have no common sense. Also, such action is no way to alleviate a person’s fear. Good gracious.</p>

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<p>What an idiot! Doesn’t this at least fall into the category of child endangerment?</p>

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<p>I agree with Sjmom. I hope he has a loooong interview with Child protection services.
On another note, I always said to my kids, “if everybody jumps into a lake, would you?”, in response to their “everybody is” arguments. My middle son would get so upset and let me know that it was a ridiculous analogy because his friends certainly were not so stupid to jump into a lake. Well, a few years ago, a bunch of them were out by the water, and through some goofy stupidity or other, started pushing each other in (middle of March when it was very cold), and some of them just jumped in. My son was the only one who did go into the water. When we drove him home after the incident–the wet kids had to be immediately take to a home, dried and warmed up, he looked at me and said, “well, Mom, you can’t ask me if I would jump into a lake if everybody else did–I didn’t.”</p>

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<p>I would say that it’s just extreme stupidity. If they make that a crime, DC would be empty. :)</p>

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<p>Another reason not to have kids at 21…</p>

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<p>Avoidance of broken bones is not the only reason for refraining from jumping into the Intercoastal Waterway in Florida. In the words of Maurice Sendak, “Zippity zounds! Allegators all around!”</p>

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<p>I looked up the news story.</p>

<p>The water was only 18 inches deep.</p>

<p>This idiot is lucky that he and his kid weren’t killed or paralyzed.</p>

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<p>who would be scarer to deal with after this lesson- the cops or MOM!!??</p>

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<p>Did anyone else who read this story get a sick feeling in their stomach like I did, wondering if maybe dear 'ol dad was really attempting a dual suicide? Before I read that she survived, physically unscathed, and he had a broken leg, I really thought I was going to read that they’d both died. Is it just me?</p>

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<p>CGM…I agree…I wonder the wife’s reaction!</p>

<p>Greybeard, I like the Sendak reference :cool:</p>