It's a Dangerous Life

musicprnt
Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:46:40 +0000

Unfortunately some people love doing stuff like that, going off the deep end with adrenaline and doing things few normal people would do. My take is that as long as the kid is doing it knowing the risks and dangers, knowing what can happen, that once they are beyond a certain age that is all we can do. For example, if they are into scuba diving knowing the various risks and such (btw, if taught properly, recreational scuba diving the way most people do it is not necessarily that risky, the devil is in the details. If they stay within recreational limits of depth (<110 feet) they will be fine, as long as they are otherwise in good shape and so forth; on the other hand, wreck diving in 200 feet of dark, cold water like the guys in “Shadow Divers” is not recommended) and having decent training is important. If into skiing having solid skills before attempting the dangerous hills is critical (btw, the avalanche risk is with back country/virgin snow skilling mostly, in regular ski areas such things are pretty tightly controlled, though accidents do happen), and so forth. Hopefully if they know the risks and how to avoid them, you hope for the best.

I think one of my saving graces growing up was being in a family that did our own car repairs, I learned literally the nuts and bolts of cars, and also what could go wrong in them, and it helped temper my driving, at least to a certain extent (I had a small italian sports car, not exactly the most reliable thing on the road), and having been around a rescue squad I also know what more then a few kids ended up doing to themselves, thinking they were immortal…

In the end, though, it really is up to them. One friend of mine, who amazingly is still with us 30 years + after high school, said if he went doing his favorite things, that was okay, that as long as he did everything to make sure he wouldn’t become a statitistic that if somehow the reaper got him, at least it as something he enjoyed, rather then dying in a stupid way at his own hand, rather then some idiot drunk running him over or tripping on a carpet and breaking his neck… ya can’t lock em up for 30 years, all you can do is make clear how ****ed off you will be if they die and that the nagging will be eternal once you check out:)