I totally agree with Bill (Sohl). We often make our choices by immulating our
parents, and what is the defense against this. The "do what a say, not as I do"
defence? All we can hope for is to instill good judgement into our children.
They have their own free will to make their choices. My Mother constantly
questioned my hobbies/sports. Her thought was "why don't you do a normal
hobby/sport, why do you need to fly, skydive, mess with cars, mess with
motorcycles, etc. It's your fathers fault because of all those wild stories he
tells you". Maybe so, but all of the hobbies/sports have some things in common.
The dangers can never be completely eliminated, only reduced. And, there always
appears to be two periods in the activity that are most dangerous - while you
are a newbie, and after you've become so comfortable with the activity that you
build contempt for the dangers. How do you get to that safer middle period? Our
daily drive to work is a perfect example. In the beginning we tried
our best to do everything as we were taught. Now, we don't give some things a
second thought. The dangers haven't changed, just our familarity with the
actions. All we can do is give our kids as many of the proper tools for the job
ahead. Thanks - Ed
Bill Babcock <BillB@bnj.com> wrote:Actually, since I resemble that mindset a
great deal, I'll leap to it's
defense--or at least a rationalization. There are a great many things that I
did that I don't want my kids to do. Not go to college, do lousy at school,
do every drug I could think of, have a body that looks like it was assembled
from recycled parts. I don't think of them as purely mistakes--I am what I
am. That doen't mean I want to encourage my kids to follow the same path.
The idea is that we want better for our kids, and we don't want them to
suffer for the same lack of judgement. I love riding motorcycles, but I will
do nothing to encourage ANYONE to do the same. In my mind it is a hideously
dangerous thing for a newbie to do. It's bad enough when you've been doing
it for forty years.
Safety gear and classes are really not enough. Yesterday I drove the bike
home that my sister-in-law's boyfriend just bought. He's been to a two day
class and he has a helmet. When someone turns left in front of him the
liklihood that he will run right into the side of their car is very high. I
did nothing to encourage him, even though I'd really like to help him out.
Both of my daughters ride motorcycles--badly. Discouraging them doesn't work
100%, but they didn't ride them every second of every day like I used to,
and they're alive and each have two grandkids.
Adam Petty, on the other hand, is quite dead. He had every possible
advantage in training and gear. I wouldn't be his Dad for anything.
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