Did your parents know you went skydiving your first time?

[stringtheorygal 0]

I am very lucky in this respect. Even as an independent adult, disappointing the parents is rough on me. Yeah, I'm working on that ...

For my tandem, I waited until after (wanted to spare him the worry) and then sent the link to the video to my Dad over email. He was thrilled and proud!

I just returned home from a visit during which I revealed my intentions to pursue jumping beyond the "bucket-list" experience. I wasn't sure how that would go over as my sweet Dad is a big worrier. However, he was very excited, full of questions, and put up with me chattering on about it the whole time I was home. Probably helps that he has a background in aviation, but most importantly, I think it made him happy to see me so happy.

Orangechicken, regardless of whether or not you have anyone's approval, there are things we may feel strongly compelled to experience in this short time we have on the planet. Ideally you can find a way to enjoy an activity with the support of those you love. Maybe that will mean waiting a bit, continuing to educate your parents, demonstrating that this is a thoughtful decision and not a young person's antics, etc. Whatever it may be, I do wish you luck! If you're anything like me, once you've started (I'm still in that wide-eyed, brand-new stage), it will be difficult to even think about anything else!

You're not the only one who "feels odd going against their parents' wishes"

[surfbum5411 0]

Do your parents know you're gay?

[Mild_Matt 0]

Meh - well my folks know I'm gay Do we not skydive as well as you breeders or are you just being a git?

My folks were seriously pissed off when I told them I was going to try and learn to skydive. Having returned home, after stalling at level 5 (go figure re above comment...) but having seen footage of me doing it, they are now more relaxed about me doing wind tunnel time and going out to try and complete. I guess they just needed to understand this isn't some crazy death wish, just something I wanted to do...

[phreeloader 0]

My 1st jump was an IAD jump when i was 19, but that was almost 15 years ago, and I couldn't remember if i told my parents or not.

So I just called my mom to ask, and she said I did not tell her.. just like i did not tell her when i decided to get a few tattoos and piercings (it was the 90s.. that stuff was still cool )

but THEN she said thank you... and told me I always did a good job of protecting her from my shenanigans so that she didn't have to worry.

Unfortunately I ran out of time & money and never made it beyond a handful of jumps, and never finished the IAD course. But I just recently moved to Deland and found out that it's pretty much skydiving Mecca. So I'm scrounging up the money, and making the time. So I'll be starting My AFF very soon. But this time I'll probably tell mom

[JohnMitchell 16]

I was 17 and forged my release form.

Sorry.

[Andy9o8 2]

Long story short - No.
I was 18. It was the correct choice, and I've never regretted it.

[jimmytavino 16]

Quote

I was 17 and forged my release form.

Sorry.

i was 350 miles away, at college, the training class was the next day...I had just turned 19.
I Did call to say, " i'm joining one of "the college clubs"...
Mom said " oh Good.. the science Club"?,,
i said " No"
She said, " Oh !!! the Chess Club "?
I said " No.. the skydiving club".
she then reminded me... " But you have never even been IN , an airplane " !!!
and I said... " i Know... THAT"S why i'm joining "!!!
" is it OK write Dad's name on the waiver"??.. ( i already had SOME "practice", on That,,, signing homework and such...)
so that's what i did...

they were always supportive, found that i didn't 'neglect ' other areas of my life, because of it, realized that it helped to keep me happy...that i've made MANY good friends through the sport, and even invited me to do a Demo into their yard for the 4th of July Picnic...... Twice !!!!
Once in the 70's and once again in '96 .
My grandfather signed my logbook, the First Time and Dad signed it , the second time...


it is a touchy subject... though.

I knew a guy once. who had almost 900 jumps he was talking to someone at the dropzone, who knew his folks, and was gonna visit their hometown soon.... So this guy says, " Hey ! make sure you don't say ANYthing to them, about my jumping... My parents think that the money they've been sending me... is for various College fees and Tuition !!!! hahahahaha.. i laughed for a WEEK... over That one !!

jmy

[jamjumps 0]

My Mother had the same motorcycle comment....Go buy a Motorcycle Orange Chicken the nit won't matter!!!

[orangechicken 0]

Wow, I didn't expect to get so many helpful responses!

I read through this thread multiple times, and I've decided that I'm going to talk it over with my parents, out of courtesy like some of you guys mentioned. I'm 2000 miles away for college, so going skydiving without their permission is easy... but just doesn't sit "right". Besides, I'd like to go home to socal, as skydive perris seems like a great facility - Can anyone refute/confirm this?

Some more background: I'm graduating early to go to med school next year, and this is one of the few things I've always wanted to cross off the "pre-career bucket list". I finished my first Ironman when I was 19, and that whole ironman ordeal freaked my mom out the entire year I was training (fear of my drowning, crashing etc.) I'm pretty sure skydiving will take my mom's anxiety to a whole new level, but my dad's always been supportive.

Thanks again everybody for your time.

[wolfriverjoe 1,523]

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Did your parents approve of your first time?

Approve is a strong word.

Accept is a much more accurate one in my case.
I was 32, married and on my own, so their approval wasn't entirely necessary. But I care about them and their feelings and their acceptance was fairly important.

I did a lot of the standard "stupid adolescent" stuff. I had a motorcycle since I was 18, pilot's licence in my early 20s, so they had a pretty good tolerance for worring about me.

Ironically, my mom was better with it than my dad. All she asked was that I use an AAD and not BASE jump.
Dad never saw me jump. He only came out to the DZ once before he died, and it was for a benefit event where I couldn't jump. He was impressed, but had no desire to see me do it. He also watched a video of some early H&Ps I did, and fliched visibly at each jump.

Mom, OTOH, came out one day to watch when I was flying the plane, and not jumping (she figured she wouldn't have to worry about me if I wasn't jumping). She had a ball seeing the other guys jump. So the next time I went to jump, she came along. And again, had a ball. We had video on the jumps, and a high overcast in the sky. She could see us go out of the plane, in freefall and then under canopy. Then we'd put the video up on the hangar TV and she could see it from that perspective. She's going to be 75 this winter, and still comes out fairly often. She loves sitting on the picnic table, watching the goings on. She loves seeing the first timers, scared silly on the ground before and triumphant and ecstatic after.

"There are NO situations which do not call for a French Maid outfit." Lucky McSwervy

"~ya don't GET old by being weak & stupid!" - Airtwardo

[oldwomanc6 52]

I was 19.

I come from an aviation background (my dad's an aeronautical engineer, both my brothers fly. one of them is a captain for Southwest Airlines).
I told them I was going to do it. They didn't believe me. Part of it was they thought I was too chicken, part of it was I am a girl.

I did it, and when I came home all hyped up, they said "hush up, we're in the middle of a TV show". They, never, in all the years I was actively jumping, acknowledge that I did something they never will.

Fuck
'Em
Feed
'Em
Fish

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[Rookie120 0]

My parents knew. My dad also did his first jump on my 18th b-day. They are cool with it.

If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck!

[nigel99 466]

I was 16 and needed the waiver signed, so I had to tell them. My folks thought I'd be too scared to jump so they signed.

21 years later they have accepted that I like jumping :)

Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

[guineapiggie101 0]

Right now I only do tandems (previously I did AFF for a while).

My parents have no idea. My brother knows.

I recently told my uncle (he's cool and won't tell my mom) and he thought that was dangerous, but he said if it makes me happy, I should go for it.

[oldwomanc6 52]

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[aeio540 0]

I just turned 30 (last week) and did my second jump tandem. The wife jumped for the 2nd time as well. I will proceed with AFF, but my wife isn't interested in anything more. We are self sufficient with careers of our own and live 1500 miles away from them.

Have I told my parents? NO! I love them to death but one thing I found is that most parents don't stop being parents regardless of age.

My parents are the kind of people that hear something "from a friend" or "on the news the other day" and completely overreact.

They'll watch the World's Scariest/Wildest/Craziest videos and suddenly that becomes a norm for them.

Go to a concert? The stage will collapse.
Attend an Airshow? A plane will plow into the crowd
Watch a car race? A racecar will be launched into the grandstands.
Attend the Texas State Fair? Big Tex will burn to the ground...again.

Cliff notes: If you are an adult and own your own house and have your own job, you do what you want.

[Chris-Ottawa 0]

And the reason they overreact is because your mentality promotes that behaviour.

Consider this:

Scenario 1:
Aerio jumps without telling his parents, busts his back on landing. Parents hear about the incident through the news, and freak. Dropzone is sued for "injuring" their son because they don't have the slightest clue about what happened.

Scenario 2:
Aerio jumps after telling his parents that it's something he's always wanted to do. It has some risk, but because he wears big boy pants, he would like to do it regardless of mommy and daddy's feelings because it makes him happy. Mommy and Daddy start youtubeing and asking Aerio "what if this, and what about that" which gives him the opportunity to explain the safety measures built into the systems and the safety practices that jumpers observe. Now, Aerio has 20 jumps and buys himself a Velo 79 (big boy parachute), and bounces. Now, Mommy and Daddy will surely react, but they have a different approach. They realize that you did what you enjoyed, they knew that you knew there was risk, they knew that you were as safe as you could be (or that's what you told them before you bought your big boy Velo), but unfortunately that risk bit you. Now, they would be aware that you were as safe as you could be, they expected a chance of risk and they let you go knowing that you were happy.

See how different that can be? Plus, even if you tell your parents, are they going to drive 1500 miles and hold your hand so you don't jump? What's the disadvantage of telling them if you're a big boy and going to do whatever you want anyways? Sounds like someone is scared that Mommy and Daddy might get mad and not talk to him for making a big boy decision.

That's my perspective. Enjoy!

"When once you have tasted flight..."

[Rickendiver 6]

I did AFF at age 55, so parents weren’t a factor. Didn't tell my fam until I was 3 or 4 jumps into AFF. Been flying airplanes for 35 years or so, but my daughter still gives me endless shit about learning to skydive. Pretty sure my brother wasn’t too keen on it, either (long-time jump pilot) – but I think they’ll come around to being cool with it eventually.

[Fast 0]

I didn't tell them before I went, I just went and did a tandem. My mom did know that I was going to do AFF though and that I kept going back.

I made it to about 500 jumps before she told me that she couldn't deal with it anymore. It worried her too much. Told me to move out or quit skydiving. She thought it would make jumping cost prohibitive, I moved out and it didn't. It took her a few years to get over it, but she has since been out to the dz, seen video, seen me swoop, I married a skydiver, etc. She understands it all more now and is tolerant of it because it's a big part of my life at this point.

~D
Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me.
Swooping is taking one last poke at the bear before escaping it's cave - davelepka

[aeio540 0]

Quote

And the reason they overreact is because your mentality promotes that behaviour.

Consider this:

Scenario 1:
Aerio jumps without telling his parents, busts his back on landing. Parents hear about the incident through the news, and freak. Dropzone is sued for "injuring" their son because they don't have the slightest clue about what happened.

Scenario 2:
Aerio jumps after telling his parents that it's something he's always wanted to do. It has some risk, but because he wears big boy pants, he would like to do it regardless of mommy and daddy's feelings because it makes him happy. Mommy and Daddy start youtubeing and asking Aerio "what if this, and what about that" which gives him the opportunity to explain the safety measures built into the systems and the safety practices that jumpers observe. Now, Aerio has 20 jumps and buys himself a Velo 79 (big boy parachute), and bounces. Now, Mommy and Daddy will surely react, but they have a different approach. They realize that you did what you enjoyed, they knew that you knew there was risk, they knew that you were as safe as you could be (or that's what you told them before you bought your big boy Velo), but unfortunately that risk bit you. Now, they would be aware that you were as safe as you could be, they expected a chance of risk and they let you go knowing that you were happy.

See how different that can be? Plus, even if you tell your parents, are they going to drive 1500 miles and hold your hand so you don't jump? What's the disadvantage of telling them if you're a big boy and going to do whatever you want anyways? Sounds like someone is scared that Mommy and Daddy might get mad and not talk to him for making a big boy decision.

That's my perspective. Enjoy!

Nope. Not worried that they won't talk to me. It's that they'll continue to talk to me about it. I've taken time to explain everything to them big boy style. Unfortunately there are cats that will never accept decisions in life. My family falls into that category.

Now if I were 20 and still living at home, I would def explain everything to them.

[Andy9o8 2]

You describe my mom to a T. More or less the hysterical type. I made my first jump at age 18. Freshman in college, living away at school; and yeah, they were paying for school. In my defense, I did pay for all of my own training and jumps. Anyhow, I think I was around 36 when I finally discussed it with my mom, for the first time, as very much a fait accompli. Definitely the right decision, in my case, and I've never lost a wink of sleep over it.

[adventurechick 0]

I did my first jump at 20, then started my AFF immediately after that. I did pay my own bills, but I didn't exactly let them know until I had about 25 jumps.

[stangbanger856 0]

The 1st time I whent I was 24, I told my dad but not my mom ( divorced ) and my dad was completely supportive but knew my mom would not. So I whent and calles my dad as soon as I could to let him know I was ok. Thay was 2 years ago and just the other day I was talking to my mom about Felix B....(cant spell it off the top of my head) and the jump he made from "space". I was trying to explain what he's going threw and asked me why I was so into it. "Its not like you will ever go yourself" she said. So after a moment to think about my response I said "well now that you mention it I have already gone twice and going again this weekend". I wish I got that on video because the look. On her face was hilarious!

[dks13827 3]

yes. It was okay since they knew it was a lifelong dream to be a skydiver. ( but they still dont know about the bike !!! ha ha. After many many years. )

[gregpso 1]

I was 22 when i did the FJC static line at Pakenham in Victoria Australia in 1981.(Commando Skydivers) I turned up did the course and then told my parents on the Sunday night after the 1st jump. I coped heaps of Mum but Dad was OK about it. I am now 54 and returned briefly to jumping form age 50 to 53 (19 tandems and 5 AFFs).. . This time I made full disclosure to parents and even took them to the DZ at Nagambie. (which they enjoyed)

Invite your parents to come along they mights just feel better about it. (hopefully)

I tend to be a bit different. enjoyed my time in the sport or is it an industry these days ??