Skydive2 1 #76 February 18, 2004 Quote....I'm questioning your (or the 19 year old kids) authority on what MY DZ is like with MY children. Again, I'm still trying to figure out where I said anything about you, your kids, or your DZ??? Can someone help me out? Lance Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
elfanie 0 #77 February 18, 2004 Quote Wait a minute, where in my other two posts did I say anything about where your kids should or should not be? You said that I needed more time/jumps in the sport before being able to make a judgement as to whether our DZ is a good place for our kids to be. QuoteAll I did was post my view of growing up on a DZ, and in the respect, I'd say I have a lot more experience than you. That is not what I responded to..and I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. I responded to your personal experience by saying that different DZs (and different kids) are different and that saying it's a horrible place for kids is a generality that will always have exceptions... My "angry" response was to your statement that I need more experience jumping before I can make that judgement call for my kids. (and I apologize to you for getting snippy...it's just easy to get angry when someone who isn't even a parent tries to give you parenting advice and suggesting that you are a bad parent because you're not doing what they *think* they would be doing if they had kids...but it's honestly not something someone can understand until they ARE a parent and having someone call them a bad one...) Quote Get a life. I think Ron's last post pretty much summed it all up. I have one.. but this thread turned into not one about my life...turned into one about my children's lives, which I guarentee are much much more important to me than they are to anyone else in the world except maybe their dad. Obviously I strongly disagree with the notion that my children are in danger being brought to our DZ... or honestly, if I felt that way, I would stop jumping. Period. My family comes first...leaps and bounds above anything else. If I thought for even a moment that it was a bad place that was harming them, they'd never see the dropzone again, not even from a distance. Quote Lance BTW: I do know Marc very well, and I have no doubt that he runs a good, clean dropzone. He does..he's a good guy that loves his daughter was much as we love our children and the people down there are like a family. Now maybe every other dropzone in the WORLD is an unsavory place full of sex and drugs that are flung all over the place... but not ours. marc would have heads if anyone made it a place dangerous for his daughter...as would we. -------------------------------------------- Elfanie My Skydiving Page Fly Safe - Soft Landings Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
headoverheels 334 #78 February 18, 2004 QuoteYa'll keep talking about age requirements for jumping... what about for a tandem jump? do you think it would be ok for a 13 year old to do a tandem? What about a 10 year old? 5 year old? 2 year old? No. No. No. No. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yardhippie 0 #79 February 18, 2004 I regret not beginning my skydive carreer earlier. I have no excuse except for I was into "other" things. that being said... Seems that the BIG deal is wether or not a DZ is a safe/proper place for a child, But to take it to the extreme what about a mall, or movie theater, or grocery store? I had good parents, did their best to teach me right from wrong, give me just enough liberty to feel free, but ATTEMTED to control enought to stay out of trouble. I did neither. I wandered off into drugs, bad grades etc. Then had a run in w/ the law and realized the error of my ways. So I had nothing to do w/ a DZ yet I still fell in the pitfalls of what some of you may wish to protect your children from by not taking them to a DZ. The thing is: skydivers are a community, probably one of the closest (family even) You have good ones and bad ones. All that can be done as parents is do the best we can to prepare them for life and help them to understand right/wrong. Wether your on a DZ, walking down the street, or going to school; our society is full of sex, drugs, and "rock and roll". We just have to deal w/ it. There is no way to make broad generalizations about what age should children/people be allowed to begin skydivng. Its a case by case basis. Do you understand death? Do you understand you can die? Do you understand that skydiving requires higher problem solving in emergency situations? Sometimes I wonder if I understand all the implications that come with our sport. Sorry for rambling. Goddam dirty hippies piss me off! ~GFD "What do I get for closing your rig?" ~ me "Anything you want." ~ female skydiver Mohoso Rodriguez #865 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bsoder 0 #80 February 19, 2004 Personally, I feel the dropzone we go to and take our kids to is pretty safe. Not necessarily as safe as at home, but certainly to a level I'm completely comfortable with - definitely much safer to me than a typical McDonalds. I can't say whether this would apply to most dropzones, some dropzones, a few dropzones, or just one - I've only been to two dropzones total. The other dropzone I've been to, Eloy, wasn't, in my opinion, "dangerous", so much as just not kid-friendly - too big, too much going on, and no really decent place for them to play. I've never seen nor smelled any drugs at my dropzone other than alcohol. Do people have sex there? Sure, of course they do, but not in the packing area, nor anywhere public that I've ever seen. Does anything go on there that I'd prefer my kids not be exposed to? The language is probably the only thing I can think of offhand; but then, words are only words, and so far I haven't had to correct them for saying anything they shouldn't be. I give a lot of credit for this environment to the DZO. Additionally, I think the people who would be looking for the "seedier side" kinda get the drift from others that this isn't the place to find what they're looking for. Again, this applies to the dropzone we jump at, not anyone else's, I'm not qualified to make that judgement - just as noone else is qualified to make the decision for ME what an acceptable environment for my kids is. Damn society has too many busybodies who want to stick their nose into other people's business as it is anyway. I think YardHippie hit the nail on the head with this: QuoteWether your on a DZ, walking down the street, or going to school; our society is full of sex, drugs, and "rock and roll". We just have to deal w/ it. I am going to environment-proof my kids the best I can, instead of kid-proofing my environment, within reason. Oh, and as far as kids skydiving? I wouldn't want my 8-year-old soloing. Others might feel differently about their children; that's their right as parents, and I am NOT willing to judge them. Some people don't want their 15-year-old doing a tandem; again, their opinion and their right. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jumpinfarmer 0 #81 February 19, 2004 I couldn't have said it better myself. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
