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rsb5267

How do I tell my mom that I enjoy jumping out of planes?

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I realize you may have the inclination to laugh at the thread title, but it's 100% serious. I'm over halfway in getting my A license and I have not told my parents anything about what I've been up to.

My parents are both pretty conservative people that would only worry If I told them what I'm doing, so in a way I'm actually protecting them. Any insight would be great.

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rsb5267

I realize you may have the inclination to laugh at the thread title, but it's 100% serious. I'm over halfway in getting my A license and I have not told my parents anything about what I've been up to.

My parents are both pretty conservative people that would only worry If I told them what I'm doing, so in a way I'm actually protecting them. Any insight would be great.




Mom ........Dad.......I am ......






.





.





.




A skydiver....




If you wait for it for a nice long pause... they will be happy it ain't somehin else;)

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rsb5267

I realize you may have the inclination to laugh at the thread title, but it's 100% serious. I'm over halfway in getting my A license and I have not told my parents anything about what I've been up to.

My parents are both pretty conservative people that would only worry If I told them what I'm doing, so in a way I'm actually protecting them. Any insight would be great.



Well it's only going to get worse when they find out and ask how long you've been jumping. Sack up.

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My favorite skydiving T shirt....
"Don't tell mom I'm a skydiver.
She thinks I'm a piano player in a whorehouse."
This is the paradox of skydiving. We do something very dangerous, expose ourselves to a totally unnecesary risk, and then spend our time trying to make it safer.

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Some funny answers here :)
In seriousness, I agree you shouldn't keep putting it off - it will only get harder. Right now you can tell them that you didn't want them to worry until you'd decided for sure that you were going to stick with it. Now you are going to stick with it, they need to know about it.

Bear in mind:
1) You're a grownup and can make your own decisions. Don't let them lay a guilt trip on you.
2) Be ready for denial - i.e. they may want to know nothing about it, and just pretend it's not happening. Make it clear regardless that you'll tell them anything they want to know if and when they change their minds.
3) Be ready for lots of questions - they may want to know everything about it. The good news is that you don't need to lie because most non-jumpers imagine that the sport is a hell of a lot more dangerous than it actually is. Tell them about the fatality rate (probably a hundred times lower than they think). Tell them about intensive training, minimum opening heights, weather rules, reserve parachutes, AADs and audibles. Don't pretend that nothing bad can happen to you, but try to put the proper perspective on it.

My mother calls skydiving my 'hobby'. It used to irk me because to me it was much more than that - then I realised that it's a nice, safe word for her to use, so I'm happy for her to think of it in that way.

Good luck! :)

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rsb5267


My parents are both pretty conservative people that would only worry If I told them what I'm doing, so in a way I'm actually protecting them. Any insight would be great.



I'm trying to think of something funny, but the others beat me to it. Anyway, if something does happen to you, do you want their first time learning of this to be getting a phone call saying you're dead or badly injured from skydiving? That isn't cool, in my opinion. I'd feel pretty shitty if somebody I cared about did that kind of thing to me.

I like the education idea somebody mentioned earlier. Sit them down with one of your videos, watch it together, talk about it. Tell them about the parts of the gear, the procedures, etc. That may help.

"So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

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Mom, Do you have any motion sickness patches?
>"No, you don't normally get motion sick still do you?"
No, but I don't normally jump from planes either.

True story.

About jump 95 a friend had a fast landing, flopped on her side and broke her pelvis. Then she called and told her folks she went skydiving and got injured.

True story.

Education helps reduce worry. You might plan to tell them in a way that shows them some of the facts about the sport and not leave it to what they have seen on TV......Like, I released only one brake and almost died.
Instructor quote, “What's weird is that you're older than my dad!”

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-Joey-

Wait until you have to tell her you had your first cutaway



Yeah I kept that one to myself until she asked... about a year after it happened.

By that point I'd been jumping 7 years and my Mum was a lot less worried about the whole thing, but her eyes still went a bit wide.
--
"I'll tell you how all skydivers are judged, . They are judged by the laws of physics." - kkeenan

"You jump out, pull the string and either live or die. What's there to be good at?

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dthames


Education helps reduce worry. You might plan to tell them in a way that shows them some of the facts about the sport and not leave it to what they have seen on TV......Like, I released only one brake and almost died.



Or worse yet, the Scott Lutz thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV-wWegKpvs

"So many fatalities and injuries are caused by decisions jumpers make before even getting into the aircraft. Skydiving can be safe AND fun at the same time...Honest." - Bill Booth

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*waves* Hi dthames!

Yeah, that was me. That friend who broke the pelvis. No surgery. Super awkward call, but my folks turned out to be more worried than upset. My dad actually laughed in disbelief, I think because he didn't have any other expression that didn't involve a lot of scolding. For reference, my parents are also very conservative people, in their personalities, socially, and culturally.

And yes, it really was 95 jumps and a fracture in a country not my own before I said anything to them... good thing I had good people like dthames to take care of me. And travel insurance.

I did eventually mention that I would be back in the sky when I was all healed up. And I am. Feel free to PM me with more questions.

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I was pretty open and honest with my mum about it all. She didnt like it but I was living away from home and there wasnt much she could do about it.

Then when I got my own kit I was able to sit down and go through parts of it with her, show her what safety aspects are in the kit which seemed to put her at ease with it it.

Eventually got her to do a tandem a few weeks ago and was great to be there with her in freefall :)

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Sorry. Can't help you.

Between me, my brother and my sister, the parents philosophy was, "Just don't tell us. We don't want to know."

Well, yeah, it took several years of training with midnight calls for hospital and jail visits, but they finally learned. So, in the end, we didn't have to bother them with anything we did.
:D:D:D

They never came to any of my boxing matches, only one of my brother's motoX races and my sister? Well, we can thank her for the training prep.
:D

My reality and yours are quite different.
I think we're all Bozos on this bus.
Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239

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just speak Up...I'd wanna Know IF my kids were skydiving.....( So that I could JOIN them in Freefall B|;))...
I had a jumping buddy at the local DZ who was a college student Here. His Home was Philly, PA and when one of our pals was gonna visit that city he asked the college kid... " do you want me to check in with your folks and say HEllo"?? the kid ( who had 6 or 700 jumps),,, answered..
"no no NO,, don't say ANYTHING... They don't KNOW I skydive" " They think all that money which they send me,,, is going for books and "student fees'>..hahahahahahaha....
:)jmy

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Be honest. I told my parents when I had 13 jumps and had bought my first rig. They didn't really like it. But I had moved out and there was not a lot they could do about it.

Fast fwd 15 years and my sister and my brother just bought motorcycles. My Mom calls and sounds exasperated, "You are the only sane child I have!"....... I waited about 5 seconds and replied, "Mom, you do remember that I skydive, right?"

Her reply was that I was still the only same one.

Now, I have a buddy that both he and his brother jump. They both have close to 4K jumps. Both have won medals at the Nationals. They have to sanitize their houses when the parents come visit.
"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334

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"Mom & Dad... I'm gotten married to a traveling circus clown, detained in Texas for assaulting a herd of cows with a stolen Ford Bronco, have converted to Buddhism, was photographed holding a picket sign stating China Makes The Best Baby Toys, was thrown out of a plane and survived, have decided to invest in a strip club, got a tattoo of my favorite NASCAR driver's face on my back, and might have dropped $3k in one night on drinks for someone I didn't know birthday party....

RELAX! I'm only going to make one of these a life long commitment. Which would you prefer?"

That.... outa do it.
Woot Woot!

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Mine were ok with it at first, then after about 400 jumps she couldn't take it anymore and said quit or move out.

I moved out.

Couple thousand jumps in and a few trips to the dropzone to see that I actually do have some idea what I'm doing and she is more ok with it now. It's amazing sometimes how little faith they can have about the whole thing.
~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

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ME: "Mom, I signed up for Airborne School and then I'm going to learn how to skydive."

MOM: "Are you still going to ride motorcycles?"

:)

Nobody has time to listen; because they're desperately chasing the need of being heard.

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BIGUN

ME: "Mom, I signed up for Airborne School and then I'm going to learn how to skydive."

MOM: "Are you still going to ride motorcycles?"

:)



The girlfriend is perfectly fine with me skydiving, flying and even building my own airplane that I will make the test flights on.

But not with me getting a motorcycle.
"I may be a dirty pirate hooker...but I'm not about to go stand on the corner." iluvtofly
DPH -7, TDS 578, Muff 5153, SCR 14890
I'm an asshole, and I approve this message

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I'm bad :( .

I guess I never really did tell my parents I was learning to skydive. My husband knew and thought I was nuts for wanting to learn to skydive.

I did try to "ease" my mom into it by telling her that I wanted to do a tandem (this was after I was already doing AFF), and she majorly FLIPPED out on me and berated me for even considering something as "crazy" as that.

I did tell my brother (just in case anything happened to me, that he would know what was going on). That came in handy when I broke my leg skydiving, later down the road.

My thought is, if you think your parents are going to "flip" out over it, and you are not, in any way, dependent on them, then maybe it might be better NOT to tell them.

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Well, are you dependent on them for anything? Like maybe your college tuition? Or are you still living with them?

If you are on your own, paying your own way, then do what you want and tell them what you want.

If not, then don't be too surprised to hear something like "Not while you live under my roof."

I told my folks right away. I was also in my thirties and on my own.
They weren't super happy about it, but understood that it was my decision. I even got my ProTrack for Christmas from them.

And you might think about bringing them out to the DZ on a day that you are not jumping.

Give them a chance to see the sport in action, how focused and careful we are with the gear, how the training goes (if you ask nicely, they may be able to sit in on part of a FJC).
All in a situation where you aren't giving them any reason to worry.

That's how I did it with my mom. She came out to the DZ on a day when I was flying the plane so she knew I wouldn't be jumping. She had a blast watching the other guys jump.
She came out a week or so later and watched me jumping, having a much better idea of what was going to happen. And again had a great time. She now comes out and sits on the picnic table and watches the shenanigans.
"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

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