Will you let your sons or daughters play football?

Borrowed from another site..But interesting topic.

=MC Fresh Breath
I realize the board I'm asking the question on, but just read up on Chris Henry's brain, and found this to be an interesting article:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/paul_daugherty/06/29/kids.concussions/index.html

Concussions and football: Is the game too dangerous for our kids?

I'm a big fan of the sport, but now that I have a son, I wonder about these kinds of things. I'm sure many more studies will be put out by the time he's old enough to play, but for those of you already in the decision making process, what are your thoughts?

And if I decided to not let him play, then I start to think--should be a fan of something that I wouldn't allow my son to do? A fan of a sport that seems to physically ruin so many during what should be their nicer later years in life? And, dammit, I like boxing, too, so there is that.

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as much discipline and work ethic as football and wrestling tought me, I just can't see preventing my kids from those great life lessons. I never understood parents who forbid their kids from playing sprots, in the big picture it may not mean a lot but the lessons it teaches are irreplaceable.

There's no way they aren't playing, I'm not gonna be like the crazy dad off of movies or nothin' but I will push them to be/do their absolute best.

if my kids want to play sports they can...no pressure on them to do anything but other than what they want...granted i did my fair share of concussions(both from football and other dumb activities)

kansas husker said:

as much discipline and work ethic as football and wrestling tought me, I just can't see preventing my kids from those great life lessons. I never understood parents who forbid their kids from playing sprots, in the big picture it may not mean a lot but the lessons it teaches are irreplaceable.

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I agree.

But there's a lot you can do to teach them those qualities on your own..but probably not near as efectively.

I'm not religious..I hate them..But God and I are Buds..I just will leave it in His/Her hands to let happen what will. and pray for the strength to handle whatever comes.

Originally Posted by Bullneck I'm going to steer my kids away from football for a couple of reasons: 1) too much chance of serious, lifelong, debilitating injury and 2) it's a sport that is essentially over for most at age 18.

I'd prefer my kids play something that they'll do for life. ...

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Originally Posted by BillyMadison this is an interesting point. i played football and baseball, leaving me no time to play sports that i can still play (other than drunken softball). i didn't start playing golf, tennis, etc. until college when many people were already pretty good. not a bad idea to try and have your kid play at least one "lifelong" sport growing up, even if it's for social purposes, meaning they can still play competitively their entire life

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Great points.

My Dad's parents never let him or his siblings play any sport..I think because of some sort of religious reasons back in the late 1930's. ("took time away from Bible readin' and book learnin "')

I was the youngest of four and my dad's last hope for playing Football, so I stuck with it even though I didn't get to play much until my JR year of highschool.

I still get goosebumps thinking about the first time I ever saw pride in my Dad's eyes when he told me that he read in the local newspaper that I was starting at DE for Homecoming against Kearney..He was usually mad at me for some reason or another..And the coaches forgot to tell me.

I had a cousin walk on at Nebraska the year before on a track scholarship (50'+ Tripple jump in HS) and ended up giving up the schollie to walk on for football..started at SE as a RSFr and later got drafted by the Lions...(played in the CFL).

So I swore..If I ever had a Son, I'd work with him night and day..Work on his speed, tackling technique, Show him how to chase cars..and how to break down plays.

My plans intensified when I'd go with my Brother and watch all his Son's little league games..all through him being a two year starter at RB for the largest HS in Arizona and then off to college in Oregon to play for some small Div111 school.

I couldn't figure out why I was so relieved when he got homesick for his girlfriend and transfered back here to ASU..And gave up that evil Foosball.

Then I actually saw the Sonogram of my Son while Buckeye 37 was pregnant...

I started to waver.

Durring the last trimester, we started having some problems..but I spent so much time trying to reasure my wife, I was able to escape worrying, myself.

We nearly lost him a couple times, but we got him home within a week with some sort of tanning bed/suitcase for him to sleep in until he started showing some sort of non yellow fleshtones.

I was just so in love with this kid..

But..I had no idea how much (more) of a wuss he would turn me into.

I used to love doing crazy sh#t..My favourite position in Football was Wedge Buster..I loved riding my motorcycle on gravel roads and see how fast I could go w/o fishtailing or how close I could come to jumping over Stop signs at dead intersections..went skydiving..chased tornadoes with my camera before there were stormchasers..I just wanted to see if I could fly...I've had only three concussions..one in Football, one when my old girlfriend rolled my car, and another when some carjacker hit me over the head with a towbar.

When my Son was born, I'd long since quit cagefighting, smoking, I barely drink, and I decided not to push him to Football.

He played Flag Football one year..Great coaches (one of them even played for UNO back home), but he was just so dang small (I'm about two-and-a-half times the size of his Mom so I don't think he'll go through a miraculous growth spurt).

He loves playing baseball and Soccer which kills me..I usually try not to, but sometimes I can't seem to help myself from muttering something about "girlymansports"..I'd sorta rather have him pursue gymnastics because of his flexibility.

But I started thinking about what sport would do him the most good later on in life..What could he still use? ...and not get hurt at later on in life..Sometimes it takes me most of the week to get my knees to wakeup..or to be able to raise my hands over my head...I hear Gymnastice is more dangerous than almost any other sport.

It's fun to be able to blame head trauma when I sometimes get lost on the way home from work, forget what I did at work, or somehow manage forget all about the Callahan Years.

So I started steering him to Karate..so far just teaching him what little I remember about it.

But a good instructor will stress concentration and humility..and sportsmanship..Things he can use in all aspects of life, and some I've recently lost sight of.

I never played football but if I could go back and do it again I think I would.

But it's crazy. Lots of serious, serious injury that nobody quite understands. Then an accidental death occurs, they autopsy the body and it's like "well s---, brain damage". That freaks me out about the nature of the game and the things it does to people's bodies. So sure, I'd encourage them to play through HS and perhaps college and such. But making a living out of it...don't know man...there's always the other 'football'.

Well, my son played football from midget through high school. Started out playing all sports but slowly started dropping out of them one by one and football stuck. Never an injury. Then towards the end of his HS days he tore his ACL playing frisbee. Now it's time for a Grandbaby,(Oct. :corndance ). He says football will be a requirement. I still think it's best to get em into soccer, b-ball, baseball, track, and yes football, and they'll figure it out.

My ex is not a sports person at all an used to complain about all the runnin' we did for sports. But I will tell ya one thing I always, for the most part know where he was at. Not to mention it was a good hammer to have to push for good grades. I always said I'd rather be runnin' to practice and games than to detention hall.

I push my kids to be well rounded. Sports, hunting/fishing/shooting, outdoors activities of all kinds, etc. whatever they want to excel in. I want them up and moving around, not sitting in front of X box all day. I tell them to try lots of things and only do those things that they really like to do. My experience is if you spend your life following and doing what you really like to do and it comes easy to you, you will be wayyyy better off in about every way-physically, mentally, financially, psychologically, etc.

I get my kids in as many sports as they want and let them choose-no pressure from me other than to try hard. I pulled my son out of football bacause he was really not interested. I was the defensive coach and not playing him that hard anyway because other kids deserved more playing time. a year later we were at the Gator bowl and it just kinda clicked for him. he begged to go back for another year and finally when the coach called I gave in on the condition from him we did not have repeat of the prior football experience. He now has an intense love for football and a great motor so he is playing again. He has had to work hard to catch up, but I think that was a great lesson for him...which I never really intended.

I coach youth sports here in KC. I deal with parents who are living their dreams instead of their kids dreams. when kids/parents are unhappy, many times it comes back to the kid not liking the sport they are in. I always tell my parents..if they dont want to be here, we are all wasing our time. get them in something that THEY want to do. So I say get them into all the things they like and stand back with no pressure and see where they take it.

A kid growing up in small town Nebraska should definitely play. But it’s up to the kid, not the parent. I played and had a blast. My son will attend a much larger school though. So it will be harder for him to make the high school team. But I'm going to encourage my son to try out. You never know. The next Rex has to come from some place. Ha!

In my eyes you should hope that your kid wants to play football. I'm really not sure how it happened but from a very early age my son was always interested in dirt bikes. I didn't buy him toys, magazines or anything to do with the sport. He saw it a couple times on tv and some video games and has never stopped loving it since. I made him try all the normal sports, football, baseball and wrestling. He hated all of them. He is 10 now and has been racing for 5 years, everytime I get ready to go to a race I struggle with the thought of what could happen to him in this sport. I have talk to him about the danger and he has seen it first hand with some of his friends. None of that has changed his mind, this is who he is and motocross is what he loves. He has made tons of friends and it has taught him a ton of life lesson that are invaluable. I have been called a horrible parent by a lot of people for letting my son take these risk but growing up my dad never stopped me from doing the things I loved, so until he tells me he is done, watching Husker games in the Motorhome at the race track is how it's going to be.

I wrote a research paper about this topic a few years ago, some of the articles and scientific journals I came across were so interesting. It did not pertain specifically to parents and the danger of football, but more along the lines of parents burning out their children. The main thing that was reciprocated through doing all of that research was to not live your dreams of what you wish you could have been through your kids, and make sure that they are well rounded. You can start at the age of 2 training your child nonstop to become the next Alex Rodriguez, but research and past evidence shows that more than likely that child will not enjoy the sport longer than a few years, and will more than likely have high stress and depression levels at a young age.

Encourage athletics to your kids, but lose the mentality of shooting for a scholarship, and enjoy seeing them have fun, especially at young ages.

My parents were against me playing any sports. Dad was not into sports at all and my mother just knew about them, never followed. I never recieved support through high school, although I was a good enough athlet to get scholarship offers for track.

Participated in Football, Wrestling, Track ans Swimming and one year of Cross Country.

My parents attended one Wrestling meet.

I developed a love for off road motorcycles and rode nearly every weekend, my son from the time he was three just loved riding on them with me, he seemed to understand everything about it almost instantly. I was competing in National Enduros and was pretty full of myself as being talented. My son started riding at the age of 5 years old and by the end of his first year was able to out ride me and every friend I had.

We allowed him to compete in the National Minicycle Association when he was 6. He won the National Championship and World Championship that year and was the first of him pretty much dominating his sport for the next ten years. He had numerous minor injuries, but it always gave us leverage, good grade, stay out of trouble you can ride and race.

It made him grow up very fast, baseball, was too slow, he was too strong and aggressive in football and could not understand why others would not give their best, he just could not handle team sports.

He had two concussions, many broken bones, could have been a college wrestler. Was CIF champion as a sophmore. But just loved motocross.

It has made him a tremendous young man, being able to set goals, accomplish those goals and to grow up to be someone that I am very proud of.

The rewards from sports go farther than the pride they bring dad and mom, the joy they bring the participant. It teaches them real life skills, that things do not always go as you want, and that hard work does not always mean you win. But the opportunity to learn competition at an early age prepares them for the challenges they will face in the real world.

I would let my child and my grandchildren participate in pretty much any sport. I have a two year old grand daughter who is wilder and crazier than her father was at two, I can only imagine where that is headed.

Let them be kids, they are meant to play, be out side and limit their time infront of these damned computers, keep them active and healthy, sports will help with that in most cases.

If they want to play I dont care if they dont oh well. All this serious injury about football stuff though never did faze me. I played I earned at least one concussion, but it doesnt compare to what I did outside of football. You can get injured getting out of the shower. If its meant to be it will happen whether you want it too or not

I don't really have an entire answer, but this is my best shot:

I will most definitely encourage my son(s) to compete in athletics, namely the big ones, football and basketball (and later track). I will make them at least try it for a while, even if they don't like it at first, because I have better perspective than them (I hated football when I was younger, absolutely despised playing it, but grew to love it). After giving it a fair chance, if it's not a passion of theirs, I'll drop it. However, if it is something they love doing, I will sure as hell push them to be the absolute best they can be, as a respectful competitor who gives everything before actual athletic skill.

As others have said, kids learn a lot from sports. Without football and basketball I would not have any semblance of work ethic at all, and it's only because of them that I have SOME idea of what it really means. Dedication, loyalty, respect and so many other things are only character traits of mine through what I've learned in sports.

HEY!!!--who the hell is ragging about the chess team. You should of have seen Miss Cook, our instructor, HOLY COW, she was a brown eyed- brunette version of Marilyn Monroe. Fours years of sitting across from her playing chess trying not to get caught looking at her chest. :LOLtartar Me- I had free rain to do what I wanted growing up in Bellevue. No trouble making from me because I knew of the dicsipline that would come my way. Same for my kids. (two boys, one girl) Full exposure to all things sports that they want to try. Dirt bikes for more family fun sharing. Football is thier fav, and yes my 13 yr. old daughter can throw a sweet spiral. She's been a cheerleader five years now. Her first game made me proud, she is a dead ringer for her mother but has my yell. I feel sorry for her future husband.