How do you feel as a parent about your child playing football?

[Royale with Cheese]

My kid is only 7 so I have awhile where I think I have time before impacts can hurt the body.  I know what happened yesterday has never happened in the NFL and is extremely rare.  But I will never forget about Damar Hamlin...ever.  My son plays every sport and man, I don't know if I'll ever be comfortable seeing him take a big shot, it will happen, those who have played before knows this.  

 

Again, I know it's a one in a hundred million but it's also your child.  I'm going to let him play what he wants to play but last night was just so scary.

[GoBills808]

Probably going to steer him in a different direction tbh

[1ManRaid]

The benefits of playing sports generally outweigh the risks.  Greater risk of injury, but better overall physical and mental health plus other things.

[Irv]

I played lacrosse and soccer in high school and college and have the aches and pains to show for it.  I can't imagine how much worse if I had played football.  So - probably not encouraged.    

[Buffalo716]

The thought of my son wanting to play still doesn’t bother me 

 

You can get hit with a line drive in baseball and die

Edited January 3, 2023 by Buffalo716

[peterpan]

I’m glad I have girls.  Having suffered multiple concussions and a serious neck injury in HS football, I am still in pain and will be for life. 
 

I would not want my boys to play but would have a hard time not letting them.

 

with girls, my decision was made for me.   I am thankful to God for them every day.

[TheWei44]

My son will never play football because of CTE concerns, among others.  Nothing to do with what happened last night.

[BuffaloBillies]

At least 10 years ago... the real hitting didn't really start until 7th grade (12 year olds).

3rd - 6th grade was more just piles of kids falling over. A lot of kids quit after 6th grade cuz they see the hitting in the older games.

[machine gun kelly]

6 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

My kid is only 7 so I have awhile where I think I have time before impacts can hurt the body.  I know what happened yesterday has never happened in the NFL and is extremely rare.  But I will never forget about Damar Hamlin...ever.  My son plays every sport and man, I don't know if I'll ever be comfortable seeing him take a big shot, it will happen, those who have played before knows this.  

 

Again, I know it's a one in a hundred million but it's also your child.  I'm going to let him play what he wants to play but last night was just so scary.

Royale, I have two sons and both were athletes.  Neither had any serious injury from football.  However, my oldest who is 23, had a full ride in lax and had all 5 of his concussions fro lax and 0 from football.  My middle never had a serious injury and is 21 who now is growing part time while finishing his PT degree as a football coach.  
 

I have friends whose kids had multiple concussions in soccer.  You can’t bubble wrap your kids.  My one son practicing in a flag league (adults) tore his ACL, PCL, MCL by just pivoting from an out to inside route without contact from anyone.

 

Myself, I beaned a kid on middle school in baseball as I hit a line drive wide to him in the head while on the bench so not with a helmet on so he went to the hospital and was a complete accident.

 

Myself I live with broken noses, fingers, more soft tissues than I can describe from wrestling.  Even more for 16 years of powerlifting.  Pretty much every joint has been injured multiple times.

 

Are you getting my point?  It was a freak accident.  You also don’t know as they don’t have definitive info whether Hamlin had an undiagnosed coronary abnormality.

 

Royale, you’re a good dude, but you can’t bubble wrap your kids.  Think about it and before you make that decision, really, not supwrficially do you’re hw.  You can always have youre boy play flag football as they can get a lot of skills down until 12.

[BillyBilliams]

This won’t deter me from my kids wanting to play.  The same could happen in various other sports, as well.

[Juice_32]

I have a 7 year old who will be playing this year. He’s played 2 years of flag and wrestled for 3 years. It’s all he wants to do. I don’t feel right about taking it away from him. Hopefully he will prefer baseball by the time he’s old enough to really get hurt.

[H2o]

Both of my kids played football. My oldest just played in the youth leagues and then got out afterwards. The youngest seemed to be more into it until Covid. His last year in the youth league was cancelled and he didn't like the coach at his middle school. 2019 was the last year he played. He has talked about it a couple of times since and I told him I will support him no matter what he does. As of right now, he's more into culinary than he is lacing the cleats back up. 

[VaMilBill]

I grew up playing sports including football from when I was 7 until I graduated high school. So many valuable life lessons I learned from the sport as well as amazing friends that I still have to this day in my thirties. 
 

Like someone posted above, the benefits of playing team sports, especially football, far outweigh the pitfalls of it. 

[Kiva]

My kids can do what they want. Once they make a commitment though, they must finish the year. 

[TBBills]

Never let stuff like this scare you or loved ones from doing what you/they want. 

 

You could avoid football and get into a car accident that kills you. Cannot teach kids to be afraid of something even if you are.

[RoyBatty is alive]

Always been reluctant, I let me kid play till he was in grade 10 and thankfully it wasn't because I told him to, he was just too small.

 

I didn't want him playing because of risk of paralysis, then over time CTE got better well known.  This Damar situation is a real fluke imo, could happen in almost any contact sport.

[LABILLBACKER]

9 minutes ago, Buffalo716 said:

Still doesn’t bother me 

 

You can get hit with a line drive in baseball and die

That almost happened to my son in a minor league Blue Jay game. He was pitching and a line drive glazed right by his temple. One of the scariest things I've ever experienced. In sports you just don't know how and when it will happen.

[Buffalo716]

1 minute ago, LABILLBACKER said:

That almost happened to my son in a minor league Blue Jay game. He was pitching and a line drive glazed right by his temple. One of the scariest things I've ever experienced. In sports you just don't know how and when it will happen.

Yea that’s scary 

 

Baseball players can also take a line drive to the chest and it causes cardiac arrest like Hamlins hit

[TheBrownBear]

This situation is really a fluke type thing that could happen in any sport where contact is made.  Having said that, my kids aren't playing football, mostly because I haven't steered them towards it.  I wanted to play as a kid, but was advised against it for my own personal medical reasons.  My Dad was a very good football player, but also told me not to play - said it wasn't much fun and you could end up with a lot of long term pain.  Now that I'm older, I don't regret not having played at all.  High school basketball and baseball were more than enough to keep me active and teach me the value of teamwork.  

[RoyBatty is alive]

1 minute ago, LABILLBACKER said:

That almost happened to my son in a minor league Blue Jay game. He was pitching and a line drive glazed right by his temple. One of the scariest things I've ever experienced. In sports you just don't know how and when it will happen.

How about a line drive to the face.  Being a pitcher is a scary proposition imo.