Do your parents know?

[KermieCorleone 0]

My dad was not happy cause of the cost and it is irresponsible of me to spend money on it especially since I am still a bum. my mum was pissed off, she asked me why I kept doing dangerous things (I am an avid motorcyclist too), when I didnt even have good health insurance. I bought my sister a tandem a couple days before Christmas last year, and my sister called after the jump to tell her that she jumped, my mum's immediate response was "your brother is a jackass" ...

- Neil

Never make assumptions! That harmless rectangle could be two triangles having sex ...

[mgregory 0]

My Mom past away in January of 2009. She never got to see me fun jumping. She was there for my tandem in 2006 though. After my Mom died of cancer, my Dad asked me if I wanted to go skydiving again... of course I did! So last spring we started jumping together. My Dad made 8 jumps and I got my license. I'm hoping that he will make some more jumps this year. It would be great to make a jump with him. My Mom would have been worried about me, but I'm sure she would have been proud of me too=) She always said, "Live life to the fullest... Have no regrets."

AKA MG Hammer Flying Hellfish #834 Son's Of Bacon #1

[jackwallace 3]

My mother was so glad when I told her. All the money I was spending and gone "somewhere" every weekend. She thought I was doing drugs.

U only make 2 jumps: the first one for some weird reason and the last one that you lived through. The rest are just filler.
scr 316

[bfilarsky 0]

Yup. Got Mom to go on a tandem. Dad still won't go

[skywombat 0]

I suppose I ought to chime in...

My "male guardian" knew about my tandem, and my mother didn't. I only told him so he would "tell my mother something nice" in case I went in. I expected him to be cool with it, which he was. When I hinted at it to my mother some weeks prior, her reaction was something along the lines of "over my dead body" and "I would rather just kill you with my own two hands." Some 6 months after the tandem, I came back for more. The "male guardian" knew I kept jumping but had no idea about any of the details, plus, by then I had been living on my own, anyway.

If my mother found out, she would absolutely freak, descend into that "nervous wreck" state and make me promise to her I would never do it again. So, for now, there's no reason to tell her.

[Psychonaut 0]

My mom bought me my tandem for my 18th birthday, and in her words it has 'gone down hill ever since.'

She knows I'm going to do it, she knows I enjoy it, so she's okay with it. I actually got my step dad a tandem for his birthday because he had the common attitude of having to try it once..

A few months back I mentioned base jumping to her.. and she was completely against it. I was actually shocked at first with her being okay with skydiving but totally against base.. Probably just what she's seen on it, lack of education. But even with that, I guess you can't change everyone's mind about jumping from a few hundred feet at times

Stay high pull low

[DrewEckhardt 0]

Quote

So, do your parents know you jump? Did you outright tell them, or did they discover it some other way? How did they find out? What was the reaction?

If my mother found out, I would be dead before I hit the ground, so I don't plan on coming out of the gear closet any time soon. What about you?

I told my parents when I started skydiving. While I'm sure mom didn't like it much, I had broken her in already with back country snowboarding and motorcycles.

[airtwardo 6]

I was 18 when I started.

Didn't tell 'em until the 2nd weekend in, when I getting ready to do my first clear & pull.

Wasn't trying to 'hide' anything, just teenage angst...it was the 70's and I didn't want to hear or didn't really care about their opinions regarding most things I was doing.

My dad came out and took pics that day and even bought my 1st FF case of beer since I wasn't old enough.

They have always been more than supportive of my passion and understood ever better than I that things like this are positive and influential on your life.

My mom told me a few years ago that the thing she liked most about my Skydiving as a teen, was that I had to sell the KZ-900 I was tearing around on to buy gear!

"I just knew that motorcycle was going to kill you and was so happy when you got into something SAFER"
(~~MY Mom's really ** )


Edited to add:
Looking back, my involvement in the sport probably kept us closer as a family than if I hadn't been jumping.

The folks would occasionally show up unexpected at the DZ, which was an hour and change away from home...to hang out and watch, socialize with the guys.
And NEVER did they come 'empty handed'...couple cases of beer and enough food for everyone was their constant contribution to my 'hobby'!
When my dad passed away a couple years ago, people in the club we hadn't seen in decades came to his service...one MORE thing ya gotta love about the people we jump with.

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

[FlyingJ 0]

My skydiving career was shortlived, but it started with a tandem with my dad, brother and a friend. I had been suggesting we go for a while and one night while driving back to town after a rough week at work he called and asked "so do you still want to go and jump out of a plane?" Earlier that summer I had gotten him into scuba diving and a year later he got into whitewater rafting. He and both my brothers came out and did additional tandem while I was jumping regularly.

Killing threads since 2004.

[virgin-burner 1]

Quote

Quote

told my mom pretty early, she was just worried; dad, as expected, was kinda pissed for all the money wasted, as expected.. just shown him the vid of my AFF, he didnt recognize me, so i told him..

Damn I can relate to that! Talk about an identical story. He's still pissed about the money I spend on it. My mom is now pretty educated about it now since I ramble on about stuff alot, but occasionally she'll still drop the "what happens if plan B fails, no plan C?"

so farm mom's still worried about BASE, since i'm a little entusiastic about it, and since i wont hide shit from her, she DOES know the risks involved..
i love my mom!

hey mom, did i tell you recently that i LOVE you!?
my mom's awesome!

“Some may never live, but the crazy never die.”
-Hunter S. Thompson
"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."
-Yoda

[jimjumper 25]

In the 27 years since I started jumping I have taken my father on tandems twice and my stepmother once! Yeah, they knew pretty much from the moment I got to a phone.

[BillyVance 34]

I didn't tell my parents before I went out for my first tandem. When I got home with the videotape, I put it in the VCR and showed them.

Dad has been to a DZ once before to watch me jump, mom never would go, but they both got to watch me make a couple of beach jumps, once at the Florabama bar, and once as a demo jump on the beach in front of the beach house they rent every summer out on the Alabama peninsula. Just lay a blue tarp on the beach, drive to the DZ 35 miles away, pay for a full load in the C182, and ride out alone with the pilot. Spot the blue tarp, jump and land right on it.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[FreeDrew 0]

is that wrong? is skydiving bad??

..i mean it's not like i took up smoking or anything..

[bfilarsky 0]

Just don't tell my Mom I'm a pilot. She thinks I play Piano in a whore house

[Jumpingeezer 4]

I did my first jump over twenty years ago at the tender young age of forty. I went through the static line progression at Hartwood Paracenter in Virginia. When my dear old mother found out about it, her reaction shocked me. She wanted to do it herself!
I set her up with a tandem jump and out the door she went! The video of that jump is one of the fondest memories I have of her.

[Tomcat933 0]

I'm 20, unfortunately still pretty dependent on my parents to get through college, so i pretty much have to tell them everything i do that costs money. I told my dad I was going to do a skydive before I did my first, I didn't tell my mom until it was over. Both of them have actually jumped now. Unless you know your parents will freak out about it, there's no reason not to tell them.

[mutumbo 0]

i didnt tell my parents i had done a tandem untill i was almost about to do AFF, which was almost 5 months later. they asked how much it was going to cost and i simply said, "more than you want to know about". the only reason i did end up telling them is incase i do go in i dont really want them to be too shocked, but when i finally did tell my day he said "i figured you would do it someday, im not to shocked, you have done stupider things".

Thanatos340(on landing rounds)--
Landing procedure: Hand all the way up, Feet and Knees Together and PLF soon as you get bitch slapped by a planet.

[Southern_Man 0]

I didn't tell my parents until after I had made my first tandem, just so my mom wouldn't worry. Wouldn't have changed anything, I'm an adult.

Anyway, they've been very supportive. After the first few AFF jumps I had a talk w/ them about not suing if I went in. Told them I was a big boy and knew the risks I was taking and it was my decision to jump. They were cool w/ that too and said they would never sue. They are not really the type, but I knew I'd feel better having the discussion explicitly. I'd done other adventures sports type things (rock climbing, canoeing and kayaking, etc.).

"What if there were no hypothetical questions?"

[JohnnyMarko 1]

my parents saw it coming sooner or later...they took me bungee jumping when i was 9 and ive been hooked on action sports forever...my parents still think im crazy, and even though they are filthy rich they wont pay for my jumps

[emmiwy 0]

Quote

If my mother found out, I would be dead before I hit the ground, so I don't plan on coming out of the gear closet any time soon. What about you?

+1

...especially on being dead before I hit the ground part.

[JohanW 0]

Yes, they know, I just told them when I came back from a week's vacation. No big deal.

They sometimes stop by the DZ to see if I'm there and will sit and watch and talk for some time if I am, it's one town over from my grandmother's.

When my ex and I started bike lessons (in her case, again, after her accident), my Dad took some lessons with us. (He already had his license, but hadn't ridden in 40 years or so.)

Some things are just not problems.

Johan.
I am. I think.

[JohnMitchell 14]

Quote

My mother was so glad when I told her. All the money I was spending and gone "somewhere" every weekend. She thought I was doing drugs.

Well, wasn't that part of it back then, Wildman?

[JohnMitchell 14]

Quote

Just don't tell my Mom I'm a pilot. She thinks I play Piano in a whore house

I'm an air traffic controller, but my mom tells the neighbors I'm a go-go dancer in a gay bar.

[SSHusky 0]

yea my parents know. They knew about the first jump and were okay with it. Then when my mom found out I was continuing with it, she thought it was a waste of time and my money. She tried every effort to try and make me stop. We stopped talking all together for about 6 months... sooner or later she gave in and realized that I have been financially independent and living on my own since 17... she could no longer control me... She has come around and although she still hates that I jump, she acknowledges that I am going to do it...

[BillyVance 34]

Quote

Quote

Just don't tell my Mom I'm a pilot. She thinks I play Piano in a whore house

I'm an air traffic controller, but my mom tells the neighbors I'm a go-go dancer in a gay bar.

Mom told me she used to tell her friends when they ask what her sons do: "one flies airplanes, and the other jumps out of them!"

My brother was a licensed pilot and owned a couple of planes for a number of years. It's when he moved to Hawaii that he decided to sell the planes and move on.

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban