What do your parents think of your skydiving?

[andy2 0]

I'm curious to see what the responses are to this. I think it's pretty natural for parents to initially be afraid and question why their son/daughter is choosing to do something so seemingly reckless. After a few days/weeks the initial reaction seems to level off (at least it did for me).

My parents were initially frightened but have come to accept it, and I think will eventually make it out to the dropzone to watch.

What was the reaction you recieved and how did it change as the days/weeks/years passed by?

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let my inspiration flow,
in token rhyme suggesting rhythm...

[Joellercoaster 6]

Mine play the odds - they figure it's better than riding motorcycles and concentrate on that.

--
"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?

[skybytch 259]

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What was the reaction you recieved and how did it change as the days/weeks/years passed by?

I had like 12 jumps before I told my parents I was jumping. They weren't happy, but I was 24 and even though I had a 6 year old kid they couldn't say too much.

I had been jumping for two years before they came out to the dz to watch. They didn't hang out long, but my mom said later after seeing it she understood a bit more.

They really didn't like it when I was doing tandems, but they couldn't say much since tandems were keeping me from begging them for money.

It's been 13 years. I know mom still worries, but that's what moms do.

[CrazyIvan 0]

Mine were expecting something like that from me...I've been always crazy you know.

__________________________________________
Blue Skies and May the Force be with you.

[jtval 0]

my mother and step father both did a tandem!
my father couldnt due to back surgery but he went into the windtunnell and used to watch me jump alot!

my brother did a tandem
My sister wants to but no $$

my cuz in now a skydiver and her family will do just abou tthe same thing!


yea Ive got a pretty cool and open minded family!

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[robskydiv 0]

They worry if I remind them. My parents live in Ohio and I live in Tennessee. They don't ask anymore and I don't tell.

[Michele 1]

Mom understands, but has panic moments which usually subside after talking to her for a while.

Dad doesn't understand, and plaintively asks that I stay home and watch the Lakers with him. He can't stand hearing about it - tells me to stop trying to kill him with a heart attack...

Would either one of them ever try to talk me out of it? No. As my father said to someone who, aghast that he "lets" his 38 y/o daughter skydive, asked him how he felt about it..."Well, ever since she ran away at 3 years we've known she was very independent. Best to just nod, smile and not listen too hard to the details...".

Ciels-
Michele

~Do Angels keep the dreams we seek
While our hearts lie bleeding?~

[nubain1 0]

My mother says I'm old enough to live with the consequenes of what I do.And then she says she wants to get back into jumping herself again.Says she made some jumps a long time ago.I don't knwo if it's true or if she's just trying to keep up with me.I get a tattoo.SHe goes out and gets one.I get a second one and now she wants another.I get my 1st body peircing and she makes me peirce her bellybutton.I get my second peircing and now she wants to get her eyebrow peirced.It's not easy at times to have a old hippie for a mother but it could be worse I guess.

[BikerBabe 0]

Funny, I don't think mine are worried so much about my safety as they are about me "wasting my life and money" on something so frivolous.

I could really scare the bejeezuz out of them by telling them I want to quit working and "using my brain" and become a full-time/professional skydiver. That would be worse than death.

Actually, they've seen me jump before, and they came to Nationals last year. They actually really enjoyed nationals and the competition aspect of it, and I think they finally began to understand me a little better.

Never meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup!

[KenKnight 0]

My parents are totally OK with it. My dad did AFF level 1 the same day I did. He decided once was enough, I couldn't wait to get into the plane again.
Now the wife is a totally different matter.

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D28695 PoPs #9237
"Mix ignorance with arrogance at low altitude and the results are almost guaranteed to be spectacular"
— Bruce Landsberg

[jceman 1]

Well, my Dad has been gone lo these 21 years next week, but he would have understood and tolerated it.

Mom had some problems, but did come out to watch us and saw how much we enjoyed ourselves and liked seeing videos of special jumps. I keep saying "we" because Lynn was like a daughter to her and Mom was as nervous about her as with me.

Mom never tired of telling others what her son and daughter-in-law did on their leisure time, though she did not like to hear about mals, even when emergency procedures were followed properly and no one injured.

The one thing I will never forget was when I called her from Blessing Hospital in Quincy after having my right leg put back together. I think it's best if I let her say it, so from her 1998 Christmas letter:

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"At that point I went to pieces -- typical mother reaction -- all I could see was him lying in bed paralyzed for life -- finally his voice got through to me saying I'm okay, just a broken leg. I don't remember how many times he told me he was okay before I stopped crying.

He said I was taking it harder than Lynn. I told him "Sure, she's your beneficiary -- I'm your Mother!"

Faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, more money.

Why do they call it "Tourist Season" if we can't shoot them?

[aero04 0]

Dad: Perfectly understands. We did our first jumps when I turned 18. He wishes he could take up skydiving.

Mom: Can't understand why I would something as crazy as jump out of an airplane with a parachute strapped to my back. But she understands how much I love it so she accepts it. She deals with it by turning to her religious beliefs.

[wmw999 2,116]

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Best to just nod, smile and not listen too hard to the details...

What wonderful parenting advice!

My brother jumped first, so he softened my folks up a little; my mom watched my first jump. My dad's made a tandem, although for years he probably understood it less than my mom did. Of course, I started when I was financially independent -- when i asked for enough money for an FJC, I got that "you have 2 heads, don't you?" look.

Wendy W.

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)

[FallinWoman 1]

Mine have split feelings....

Dad hates it, refuses to talk aobut it.

Mom has tried to learn all she can and is supportive. She may even do a tandem one day. She saw Skymedic background pic (bbarhouse on a wingsuit flyer's back), saw the huge grin....and said, "She looks like she's really having fun!"

That is what I have been trying to tell you, Mom!

~Anne

I'm a Doll!!!!

[Jib 0]

My parents said they were wondering when I was going jump and since I was okay, that was fine. But, they weren't too happy when I continued. My father asked me to stop but made the extended family watch all of my AFF videos. My mother thought it was kinda cool and recently, she showed some interest in a tandem.

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the depth of his depravity sickens me.
-- Jerry Falwell, People v. Larry Flynt

[Blahr 0]

My mom thinks its great. She came out to the DZ and not only did she watch. She did a tandem too :-)
She'll never do another jump again but
she took a big step to try and understand what was floating my boat.

My dad thinks I'm a freak and cant comprehend it at all.

Thats ok though. I comprehend enough for both of
us

[hawkbit 0]

Both my parents "seem" to totally understand and have only given positive reactions. Heck, my Mom always wanted to do it long before I did, so I think she may be living vicariously through me on this one. Then again, my Dad is planning on giving her a tandem jump sometime for a present. I hope to have my numbers and skill way up before that happens so I might be able to go out at the same time (we'll see).

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"You don't quit playing because you get old, you get old because you quit playing"

[NoShitThereIWas 0]

My mom has done 4 tandems. The first was on her 50th birthday. I am waiting for dad to come out and do AFF. Dad may need some coersion. I am going to be down in Dallas this summer visiting him. I'm hoping to teach him the FJC and take him skydiving.

Both of my parents are very supportive. Dad lives down in Texas and just tells me to: "Make sure you check your shit." I have seen mom act really bizarre and irrational a couple times on my way out the door to the DZ.

I know that when they hear about skydiving fatalities or friends of mine lost in the sport they feel uneasy. We all die sometime is my philosophy. Try and get as much out of life as you can. Do the best you can to survive.

I try to share my experiences with my family so they understand more about who I am and why skydiving is important to me.

I let them know that there are risks associated with everything in life and that eventhough skydiving is considered risky, I tend to try and stay in the "low risk" category of skydivers. Meaning I abide by the safety rules as much as possible.

Being a single mom makes me wonder if I should have a Will. Does anyone else kind of young with one or more kids have any input here?

So in conclusion to this topic, I would hope that by exposing our parents and family to the sport, they would not think the sport of skydiving is reckless. It is just another form of self expression. It is artistic in its own way and does assume risk and/or danger. Knowing and understanding the dangers gives us respect that we should take with us on each and every jump.

My calendar this month has this amazing picture of a windsurfer with a huge white water wave about 10 times his size coming in behind him. The quote says: "Courage- A perfect sensibility of the measure of danger, and a mental WILLINGNESS TO INDURE IT."

~William T. Sherman

Anyway, I think those of us who skydive are some of the luckiest people on the planet.

Roy Bacon: "Elvises, light your fires."

Sting: "Be yourself no matter what they say."

[EvilSteve 0]

My Uncle bought my Dad a tandem for his 50th bday, and again for his 54th, at which time I conveniently happened to be 18. They have nobody else but themselves to blame! Ha ha ha! My Mom has since done a tandem for her 50th bday, and my sister plans on doing one soon. I'm pretty lucky I suppose.

[ltdiver 3]

My parents have always been driven people themselves. Although they'll -never- skydive, they don't stand in my way.

btw, why does a parent's opinion matter anyway? We do what we love no matter what anybody else seems to view.

ltdiver

Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon

[linuxguy 0]

My parents at first thought it was okay ( although not happy) when they thought It would be a once off.
Then when I started going every weekend, My Dad was not interrested and did not want to hear about it at all ( ... If I don't know u do it, then u don't do it - sort of philosophy).
Now my parents have realised that I really love it and am not gonna stop anytime soon, so they tolerate it, and when I tell them I am going to the dropzone they are okay with It.
I am gonna show them some video Of me Tonight
It would be awsome for me if my parents came along one day to watch ( maybe I will take them to our Nationals Next month - I am not jumping -obviously-, But if they watch others as well then hopefully they will start to understand.)

[Tonto 1]

At 16 - OVER MY DEAD BODY!

At 21 - I'd be really disapointed with you if you did that. You're a smart boy. You'll do the right thing.

At 22 - You did WHAT? Are you mad?

At 23 - You're lucky to have only broken your ankle!

At 25 - What do you mean you're fine - in a hospital in England?

At 30 - Why are you going to the US? They've been to the moon! They don't need an African to teach them to Accelerate in freefall!

At 31 - Can I do a Tandem with you when you get back?
At 32 - My son! My son's on TV! That's him there! Look at all those people! I'm SO Proud!
At 33 - What's the world meet? Do you have to go?
What about your daughter?

At 35 - Another World Meet? But you've been already and you don't have a job!

At 36 - Divorced? Can't say I blame her...

At 38 - You made how much money this weekend? Damn!

At 40 - You took our grand daughter for a Tandem? Did she love it? Did she love it? Put her on the phone! I'm so proud!

It's the year of the Pig.

[skymedic 0]

My mom never talks about it and I really dont care what she thinks of it.....my Dad hated it at first although he never admited it. he does now think it looks like fun after he came out a day and watched us pack and hang out. he did agree that skydivers seem to be the best people in the world.

Marc
otherwise known as Mr.Fallinwoman....

[jtval 0]

TONTO,
thats a GREAT rundown of your history in this sport! I LMAO!

Glad they finally understood!

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[Ron 7]

You forgot:
don't like it, but know they can't stop me...So it never comes up.

They are proud of me for my results at nationals, and they read the articals I write...They have seen me jump only once, but my dad has come to the DZ to watch me coach.

Ron

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms." -- Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334