Skydivers with children: Did they follow in your footsteps?

[skydivah1 0]

Got a kid on the way and wonder what kind of influence a skydiving parent has on a child? Thanks!

[monkycndo 0]

Will you force your kid to buy beer when they achieve a first?

50 donations so far. Give it a try.

You know you want to spank it
Jump an Infinity

[skydivah1 0]

monkycndo

Will you force your kid to buy beer when they achieve a first?

Nope

[Southern_Man 0]

monkycndo

Will you force your kid to buy beer when they achieve a first?

I did....my daughter buying beer for her first paid pack job last summer

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[wstcstcmtr 0]

My son is 2... so I don't think that qualifies as a data point yet... but he loves to jump off of stuff.

So you're saying this is your first child? You know what that means.

[JohnMitchell 16]

Well, there's a gap in your poll answers, so I didn't vote.

4 Kids, 3 made tandems with me as teenagers.

One made 17 more jumps before going off to college.

Another became a tunnel instructor, then took AFF and has about 45-50 jumps now.

Another works at a wind tunnel.

And one wants nothing to do with "the cult that is your sport". Direct quote.

[JohnMitchell 16]

Southern_Man

I did....my daughter buying beer for her first paid pack job last summer

Super cute daughter. How old is she? Our son started packing when he was 11-ish and maybe just barely as tall as she is. Now he's full grown and jumping on his own.

[chuckakers 422]

Two kids, both raised on the DZ. The wife and I opened a DZ (Skydive USA, TX) when they were teens, in part to get them in the air at 16.

Daughter Heather worked our manifest and started jumping at 16. She made a couple hundred jumps and then headed to college. Degree, husband, baby, second degree, second baby all kept her mostly out of the sport. She did get current about a year ago, but found out shortly after that she was pregnant so she's back on the sidelines with a toddler now.

Son Justin also started at 16 after several years as a packer/loader/catcher/everything else at the family operation. He went balls out. Vidiot, AFF/I, rigger, open class h/p canopy pilot. He now flies camera on Arizona Airspeed, earning his first National gold last year and hopefully his first international gold this August at the World Meet.

Raising our kids on the DZ was one of the best parenting decisions ever. Getting them in the air at the minimum legal age was an even better one.

I think my kids would agree.

Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX

[yoink 321]

Southern_Man

***Will you force your kid to buy beer when they achieve a first?

I did....my daughter buying beer for her first paid pack job last summer
You LET your daughter on a dropzone???? With skydivers???



You're a braver man than me.

[JohnMitchell 16]

chuckakers

He now flies camera on Arizona Airspeed, earning his first National gold last year and hopefully his first international gold this August at the World Meet.

Raising our kids on the DZ was one of the best parenting decisions ever. Getting them in the air at the minimum legal age was an even better one.

too cool.

Although our kids have not accomplished what yours have in the sport, but I agree. DZ kids grow up in an enriched environment. Chaotic, sometimes crazy, but interesting and intelligent and self reliant. Many adults comment on how our kids are amazing. I think the wonderful skydivers they grew up around had something to do with it.

[Southern_Man 0]

JohnMitchell

***
I did....my daughter buying beer for her first paid pack job last summer

Super cute daughter. How old is she? Our son started packing when he was 11-ish and maybe just barely as tall as she is. Now he's full grown and jumping on his own.

Thanks John!

She will be 14 in a couple of weeks. She learned a little about packing last year but needed some help and a lot of close supervision. This year she took a video editing course in school this year so we might put her to work utilizing that this summer.

She loves being at the dropzone w/ me. Everybody just treats her like one of the crowd. She tells everybody at her school that her dad is a skydiver and says "that's what they all think you do for a living. I don't tell them you have another job--social worker is boring"

My just-turned-18 year old will be making a tandem soon.

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[chuckakers 422]

JohnMitchell

***

He now flies camera on Arizona Airspeed, earning his first National gold last year and hopefully his first international gold this August at the World Meet.

Raising our kids on the DZ was one of the best parenting decisions ever. Getting them in the air at the minimum legal age was an even better one.

too cool.

Although our kids have not accomplished what yours have in the sport, but I agree. DZ kids grow up in an enriched environment. Chaotic, sometimes crazy, but interesting and intelligent and self reliant. Many adults comment on how our kids are amazing. I think the wonderful skydivers they grew up around had something to do with it.
+1

Chuck Akers
D-10855
Houston, TX

[GD64 1]

WOW!!

Hat-Tip to all the guy's above for their parenting!

[rouey 0]

My 5 years old kid artistic rendition of skydiving.

[wmw999 2,386]

I have one with 25-50 prenatal jumps, and none since. He signed up for AFF about five years ago, and the weather didn't cooperate for about a month, so he figured that was that. He was pretty much only trying it anyway.

His dad quit about the time he was born for reasons unrelated to him, and I quit about five years later after very spotty jumping, so there wasn't much exposure there.

It's not for everyone, is it

Wendy P.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[airtwardo 7]

God I HOPE not!

~ If you choke a Smurf, what color does it turn? ~

[NewGuy2005 52]

Southern_Man

***Will you force your kid to buy beer when they achieve a first?

I did....my daughter buying beer for her first paid pack job last summer
LOL!! It's almost as big as she is!

[skyjumpenfool 2]

skydivah1

Got a kid on the way and wonder what kind of influence a skydiving parent has on a child? Thanks!

My son is a TI, and my daughter is going thru AFF.

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[gunpaq 1]

My four daughters grew up at our drop zone in PA. As they grew in age so did their responsibilities from running the food stand, manifesting, packing, and washing the planes, etc. Only one has ever made a skydive as an adult but all savor the unique exeriences they had as DZ kids.

www.geronimoskydiving.com

[JohnMitchell 16]

Southern_Man

This year she took a video editing course in school this year so we might put her to work utilizing that this summer.

That would be a GREAT job for her.

[dzswoop717 5]

Three step children, all of them made a few jumps at the age of 16. The youngest was a DZ brat that spent from age 5 to 18 at the dz. He packed and worked at the DZ, made about 50 jumps and moved on to other things. He just turned 30 last month. I wish they would have stuck with it but, it just wasn't their cup of tea.

[Shaneshaw 0]

my son Dylan just turned 13 and he has done 2 tandems already when he was 12. He already wants to do his AFF but has to wait a few more years to follow his dad

[JerryBaumchen 1,342]

Hi skydivah,

One would not jump no matter what; NO WAY. Although, her husband made about 20 jumps before she met him.

My son has made 3 tandem jumps and has no interest in other than a tandem now and then.

But, before you ask that question of your children, ask yourself this: Did you follow in your dad's shoes?

Therein lies the answer,

JerryBaumchen

[doorgirl 0]

I won't mess up the data in your poll since my oldest is 19 months, but having my kids grow up with time on the DZ is big to me. I've watched plenty of skydiver kids grow up, both as they become adults and in the diapers to bikes stage. Plus some newly minted teens.

For the younger ones, it lets them free range which is something most modern kids miss out on. The older ones learn natural consequences, including that some people seem to get away with everything and others are caught by consequences at every turn... and that some of those who get away with stuff one day don't and that the consequences at that point (or any point really) can be completely catastrophic. They are still kids, and sometimes they still make completely bonehead decisions, but it does seem that they are at least more aware of the consequences than their peers.

I'd define success with their childhood on a DZ a lot broader than just the number of jumps they do. There is so much more to gain than just a future jumping.

[michaelmullins 81]

JohnMitchell

Well, there's a gap in your poll answers, so I didn't vote.

4 Kids, 3 made tandems with me as teenagers.

One made 17 more jumps before going off to college.

Another became a tunnel instructor, then took AFF and has about 45-50 jumps now.

Another works at a wind tunnel.

And one wants nothing to do with "the cult that is your sport". Direct quote.

I win.