How old for rollercoasters, etc? - Page 2

[velochic]

Originally Posted by emilysmama

So, if it is any consolation, my thought is that rock climbing is by far safer than bungy jumping or sky diving. Also my experience is that rock climbing has a much less chance of injury than a conventional sport like basketball or soccer. I would let my dd go rock climbing any day, as long as she went with responsible experienced instructors.

Thanks for your thoughts on this. I learned to rock climb in my early 20's as well. I was into extreme sports back then, was a competitive cyclist (road and mountain) and enjoyed many other sports as an amateur. I have to disagree that rock climbing is that safe. Of course, it depends on where and what you are climbing and your proficiency. You're more likely to injure yourself when you are overconfident (which I found out). We have nothing where I live, so the only access dd would have would be a rock climbing wall (which is 1.5 hours away), so safety on this front will not be an issue for many years yet. I'm too old and out of shape to climb any more, so I won't be taking her on any trips. I also was never highly proficient, myself, so would not be a good teacher. I doubt I'll ever get back to it at my age.

[emilysmama]

You make a some very convincing points. I agree with you.

A couple weeks ago, my dd was in the children's hospital, and her roommate was a high school girl who got her leg broken in a soccer game. It wasn't just a simple break, either. The poor child had innocently collided with an opponent, and while they were both still down on the ground, another girl from the opposing team came over and deliberately stomped on the child's leg with cleats. The break was really really serious, and required very sophisticated orthapedic surgery and high tech materials to fix. Worst of all, this poor child was in agonizing pain both before and after the surgery.

I can tell you that after hearing about that, I was horrified, so my previous post was colored by this incident.

I was wrong to suggest that rock climbing is as safe as, say, chess.