Is your Mom cool with you skydiving?

[jumpergirl 0]

My mom is proud of me and brags, but would be happy if I never jumped again. She also buys me skydiving shirts and other "skydivey" (her word!) things for gifts. I have asked for jump tickets but she hasn't gone that far yet. My dad made about 30 jumps, my brother did 3 S/L, and my grandmother did a tandem when she was 73. Mom has ridden in the jump plane but will never jump.

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[dmcoco84 5]

My mom doesn't mind skydiving at all. My father and I both skydive together and she feels better having us jump out of planes than she does us driving down the highway to get to the dz. I've probably had more close calls on the road than I do jumps. People can't drive worth a shit!

Now as for BASE, she isn't too thrilled about it but knows its what I love and it makes me happy. She knows if I didn't do it I wouldn't be totally happy. She said "just don't tell me when you jumping, tell me after."

I LOVE MY MOM!!

Coco

[hobbes4star 0]

I took my mom for a tandem couple of years ago. She would love to learn but of course no time between work and school.

if fun were easy it wouldn't be worth having, right?

[RhondaLea 4]

I started later in life, and my parents no longer had much to say about what I did. They thought it was neat, but in keeping with the idea that something can be more than one thing, they were terrified.

I got a taste of that when my daughter did a tandem on her 18th birthday. I was on a tight schedule, which is why she didn't do AFF, but in retrospect, it's just as well from my point of view. Even though I know AFF is statistically safer than tandem, I felt a lot better with her being a "strap-on" than otherwise.

She had a great time. I, who never sweat, was sweating...and pacing...and talking too fast...and just generally freaking out in a very quiet kind of way.

I taught Beck a lot better than I taught myself. She never behaved that way when I was jumping.

Believe me, even if your parents think it's great that you jump, and even if they jump too, they will always have that ingrained fear of losing their child. But that really applies to everything our children do out of our sight, when we're not able to protect them.

rl

If you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb

[skygirlpc 0]

My Mom has been great about me jumping! She has always been very supportive even though I'm sure at times it has made her a little nervous. She always tells me that she doesn't want me to ever have any regrets and therefore she has even almost encouraged my jumping. I have a very supportive family! My Dad is a little different he is extremely supportive but he doesn't like to watch me jump. I guess that just makes him too nervous. My Mom though loves to be out at the dz. She loves the people and everything about it. I think she sees how much it all means to me. She is the coolest, they both are! I love my parents!

As far as buying jumps, My parents have both financialy supported my jumping at times. So yes they have even bought me jumps!

"Life is either a great adventure or nothing." - Helen Keller

[karenmeal 0]

My parents are extremely supportive of my skydiving habit. My highschool graduation gift was a brand new cypres.

Hwoever, my parents are one of the reasons that I decided BASE wasn't for me.

After I'd done my first BASE jump I told my mom about it and that really freaked her out. As much as it scared her though, she asked if she could watch a BASE jump to see what it was like. So I took her to a large bridge that evening and we did ground crew for some buddies who put on a show for my mom. It thrilled her to watch them jump, but she asked me to promise never to do that. I did two more and then agreed with my mom.

We decided never to let my dad know that I was hucking myself off of objects.


-Karen

"Life is a temporary victory over the causes which induce death." - Sylvester Graham

[dmcoco84 5]

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After I'd done my first BASE jump I told my mom about it and that really freaked her out. As much as it scared her though, she asked if she could watch a BASE jump to see what it was like. So I took her to a large bridge that evening and we did ground crew for some buddies who put on a show for my mom. It thrilled her to watch them jump, but she asked me to promise never to do that. I did two more and then agreed with my mom.

We decided never to let my dad know that I was hucking myself off of objects.

My dad just did his first two at BD 05, now he wants to get into BASE, my mom is gonna be pull her hair out. My dad will be like "Bye honey, David and I are going to the tower, *cough* the store *cough* I MEAN THE STORE!!!"

[Superman32 0]

I showed my mom the video of my first tandem. The woman freaked the f out. She was just really scared but happy that I was there to show her the video
My father was also afraid of skydiving because "it's just like drugs, if you do it once, you just can't stop"
My mother now thinks that I'm in a long distance relationship with some "fluzy", since I spend my weekends out of the house

Inveniam Viam aut Faciam
I'm back biatches!

[dqpacker 7]

Both my parents have more jumps than I do. I grew up at a dz that my parents ran for awhile. My grandpa and grandma have a harder time with it since my dad died in a plane crash durning takeoff.
I hope to one day have more jumps then both of them.

[BillyVance 34]

I voted the same three options that has the most votes so far.

My mom has a unique saying that she tells her friends... (she has two sons). One son flies airplanes, the other one jumps out of them!

That said, she wants me to quit because I have a baby coming. However, my wife said if I want to keep jumping, I can. I just won't be doing it as much as I used to, at least until the kid gets a little bigger. But mom will probably never rest easy until I hang up the rig...

"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

[hemphog 0]

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just did his first two at BD 05, now he wants to get into BASE, my mom is gonna be pull her hair out. My dad will be like "Bye honey, David and I are going to the tower, *cough* the store *cough* I MEAN THE STORE!!!"

That's awesome doode!! But you gotta get it right... "Hi mom, ya, we're just comming BACK from the... maaalllll..."

(and don't slip n say bleeding prostitute! )

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"Ya we'll rape the local objects, and maybe do some jumps too!"

[Hambone 0]

My mom was not thrilled when I started but she has grown to understand. I talked her into doing a tandem and she is sooo proud about that, she loved the atmosphere and being at the DZ. She also said that she wants to do it again but wants to take a friend. My dad is the polar opposite, he is terrified of it and makes terrible comments about it. Everytime after i get done jumping i call them and his first words to me are "so i guess you didn't go splat huh...". I have had to talk to him about making ridiculous statements about it several times, most times its when we are with other people and it comes up he will start saying that its going to kill us and many other things. He also the week before my mom jumped was talking to her and saying things like that he didn't like casseroles, meaning that when she dies presumably skydiving that he is not going to be happy cuz the women from the church were going to bring him caseroles. He is getting better though, i think it bothers him more that my mom did it than that i do it.
Blue stuff

Yeah...You need to grow up. -Skymama

[Airman1270 0]

Wow. Reading this reminds me that today is the second anniversary of Mom's death. She was always paranoid about air travel and didn't like me jumping but was never ugly about it. (Of course, that broken ankle on my first jump did little to enhance her confidence.) She'd express some interest and ask questions, and even came to the DZ with me a few times. In my early days, when I was still living in her house, I was packing on the front lawn and she reached down to touch the nylon to see what it's like. I said "Hey, are you trying to kill me?!" She jumped back and said "OH, I'm sorry!" It took a minute to explain that I was only kidding, and that there's no way she could do any harm by touching the gear.

In fact, I stopped jumping my Strato Cloud in 1993 and let the kids play with it occasionally. They'd crawl inside & roll themselves up, etc. Last year, when I untangled the mess and hooked it up to the rig to jump it again, my wife asked whether it might be damaged by this treatment. I told her there's nothing they could do, short of using scissors, that would place more stress on the canopy than would a normal opening.

Cheers,
Jon S.

[dmcoco84 5]

I've got more BASE and skydives than my dad. He has close to 200 not including his round jumps back in the day. He stopped for some reason and I got hom beack into it. But I introduced him to BASE.

Coco

[brianfry713 0]

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Even though I know AFF is statistically safer than tandem

That seems odd to me. Is there data to back that up?

BASE 1224, Senior Parachute Rigger, CPL ASEL IA, AGI, IGI
USPA Coach & UPT Tandem Instructor, PRO, Altimaster Field Support Representative

[Orchid 0]

My mom is terrified every time I told her I'm off to the dz. Though I've taken her to hang out at the dz w/with me and watched as I do my skill camp....still she wishes that I'd stop.

Her mind is at ease this year, only b/c work has demanded so much of my time.......traveled alot!

"Love is doing small things with great love."

Lacrosse: Legally beating men with sticks since 1492

[NWFlyer 2]

I chose "She is proud and brags to her friends" because it's the closest thing. I think she's come around to being okay with it; actually, my dad was the one who had more problems with it initially. I think she kind of thinks its cool, though I'm sure she still worries. But I'm also well past the point where they have much of a role in my decisions, so they're pretty chill about any concerns they might have.

And they occasionally run into a longtime jumper at their gym (I believe he's one of the POPS record holders) and they seem to enjoy chatting with him about his experiences and talking about their daughter the newer skydiver.

"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

[StephZ 0]

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My mom has a unique saying that she tells her friends... (she has two sons). One son flies airplanes, the other one jumps out of them!

My mom says that too (except for the two son part)! My brother's a pilot, and then there's me. The extended family isn't very supportive of the whole skydiving thing; when they asked me "why," I told them I took up skydiving because I was afraid to fly with him.

Both my parents are extreamly supportive, and very proud.They're now refered to as the Fan Club because they've watched nearly every jump. And I know for a fact Mom has more skydiving shirts than I do; she's been on one tandem now, and I'm supprising her with another for her birthday when I'll be able to jump with her
... now if only I could get them to pay for some of the jumps!

Edited because I can't type!

I am not afraid . . . I was born to do this
-Joan of Arc-
But what do I know, I'm only 19

[RhondaLea 4]

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Even though I know AFF is statistically safer than tandem

That seems odd to me. Is there data to back that up?

Yes. Somewhere.

I just sent an email off to USPA to request the current fatality statistics for tandem, AFF and sport jumps.

When I get an answer, I'll let you know.

rl

Edited to add: I used the appropriate address from their website. It bounced. I'm going to send it to Chris Needels instead.

If you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb

[thegreekone 0]

It's cool reading about parents that are supportive of skydiving. My parents, who are known for yelling, didn't make a peep when I told them I was gonna make a jump. Now THAT scared me. Anyway, it freaked them out so much that I told them I changed my mind.

Don't live at home anymore, but when I did my mom would see my Parachutist and say "you better not be skydiving!". I told her that I liked looking at the pictures, which was absolutely true. It would be nice to be able to share that with them though.

[thegreekone 0]

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My parents are extremely supportive of my skydiving habit. My highschool graduation gift was a brand new cypres.

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Oh sure, rub it in!

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[RhondaLea 4]

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Even though I know AFF is statistically safer than tandem

That seems odd to me. Is there data to back that up?

Yes. Somewhere.

I just sent an email off to USPA to request the current fatality statistics for tandem, AFF and sport jumps.

When I get an answer, I'll let you know.

rl

Edited to add: I used the appropriate address from their website. It bounced. I'm going to send it to Chris Needels instead.

Data:

Total tandem student fatalities 1999-present: 5
Total AFF student fatalities 19999-present: 10
Estimated total number of tandem jumps 1999-2005: 1,907,416
Estimated total of AFF jumps 1999-2005: 193,641
Estimated total of all jumps in the US 1999-2005: 17,623,550

Of the AFF student fatalities 2 of the 10 were AFF Level I jumps.

There are no compiled numbers prior to 1999, although there's an awful lot of data on rec.skydiving for someone who wants to take the time to do the work. The tandem fatality rate was much higher prior to 1999, which is where I came up with my incorrect (for the present day) conclusion. In the past six years, tandem is definitely safer than AFF.

Thanks to Jim Crouch for the numbers.

rl

If you don't know where you're going, you should know where you came from. Gullah Proverb

[crotalus01 0]

my mom swore she would never come watch me jump, she couldnt stand to see her only son possibly burn in. then she changed her mind for some reason and came out with my stepfather to watch at our Halloween Boogie. out of the blue my stepfather decided to do a tandem, and boy was she pissed!
now my sister, my mom and myself are splitting the cost of his AFF-1 for a Hannukah gift, so i guess she is okay with it now - or as okay as she will ever be.

As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD...

[legwarmers 0]

my mom jumped in the '70s on rounds and has a heck of a lot more jumps than I do.

She can't do it anymore due to a neck injury (caused by said round), so now she'll just come to the dz to hang out and party.

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[Ragnarok 0]

My rents live about 90 minutes from Eloy. I am going there next weekend - and the mom is paying for my jump ticket for the day. How cool is that! Merry Christmas to me!!!


If we don't go to Eloy, Marana is about 30 min away, and we will at the least go there. I am not sure about them, but I will see when I get there. If I don't get a good vibe, it is back in the car for another 60 min drive to Eloy......

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