<p>art – it may be extreme, but I stand by my decision. I cannot tell you the number of adults now in their 40’s and 50’s who have terrible knee injuries from playing football. New research is also indicating that football may play a part in early onset dementia. And the orthopedic surgeons I talk to do not suggest allowing a child to play football.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/sports/football/14wives.html?ex=1176868800&en=f1c8538ba6857397&ei=5070[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/sports/football/14wives.html?ex=1176868800&en=f1c8538ba6857397&ei=5070</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/21/SPG6JNM6MN1.DTL[/url]”>http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/21/SPG6JNM6MN1.DTL</a></p>
<p>there are tons more articles – those are just a few.</p>
<p>For my son, I have to weight the pros and cons. Pros – fun to play on a team, look good to girls, wear a cool uniform, be the big man on campus. Cons – permanent physical and mental damage.</p>
<p>to me it is a simple choice. And yes, he does have some say in his extracurricular activities – but as the parent, I still have the final say. I won’t let him surf internet porn or ski naked either.</p>
<p>blucroo – thanks for the post. right now, it isn’t an argument with him. He has been approached by several coaches wanting him to play football and he talks to me about it. I told him I didn’t want him to play because of the damage and he says ok. If he was totally gung ho, reading football magazines and dreaming of playing then I might at least look into it more. Right now, he is happy tossing the football around before school.</p>
<p>We do encourage sports in both our kids – lifelong sports in particular. My younger son does cross-country skiing, kayaking, track, basketball when he can, and tons of hiking. He really enjoys team sports – they are just really limited at his school (only track, basketball and wrestling – and wrestling can only be done if you don’t do drama).</p>