Tangent 21 - Debate: Should Parents Put Themselves In Danger?

Posted by
Wobag

Posted on
01:41
Sep 18 2007

Debate: Should Parents Put Themselves In Danger?

After the recent sad news of the death of rally driver Colin McRea in his private helicopter, it awoke the old argument that occasionally surfaces.

Should parents deliberately put themselves in danger as part of a hobby or passion, if they have young children?

Colins situation is a little unusual, but any time a mountain climber, yachtsman or parachutist perishes and the eulogy mentions the family they left behind, it begs the question is a parent's ultimate responsibility to be to their kids, and not themselves?

Should parents be expected to give up what they love? Do we distinguish between the responsibilities of mothers and fathers?

Would the children grow up feeling they were loved less that these dangerous pursuits? Or would they take pride knowing their parent had something they felt passionate about?

(Edited by Wobag 19/09/2007 11:04)

6 Replies and 3656 Views in Total.

mad "dont ask me to apologise if i get your back up, youre mistaking me for someone who gives a f*ck" - the dust junkys, nothin' personal

if parents werent allowed to indulge in any mildly hahzardous pursuits in case they left their children without a parent, then the next question would be - where should the line be drawn?
should we stop parents from being airline pilots, in case their planes crash?
or from being police officers, in case some nutter with a knifestabs them?
should we force parents to move out of known earthquake zones, in case a crack opens up in the ground beneath their feet?
in this particular case, should colin have been allowed to do his day job for all those years, cos that was certainly dangerous enough!

Posted: 06:40 Sep 18 2007

Chambler A computer without Microsoft is like a chocolate cake without mustard.

Parents should have some common sense of course (which some do lack) but I don't think that flying a helicopter is anymore dangerous than driving a car (the way Colin McRae did). And to be honest most things you can do legally are to a certain extend pretty safe anyway. Sure people die when pursuing their hobbies but a lot more people die or seriously injure themselves at the workplace or at home (as most accidents do happen in and around the house).

Nothing is completely safe in life (see how many people die each year in traffic accidents yet we still drive our cars). Life is for living and that means there are risks involved and this is equally valid for people with kids.

Posted: 08:15 Sep 18 2007

Alan Got a message from the Great Lakes Avengers, They offered me a membership but didn't accept... they're a walking disaster... Just don't make sense at all... the worst heroes of all time, To call thems

I agree with what's been said so far; yep, parents have a responsibility to keep their kids safe but where do you draw the line? Keep them too safe and how can they be expected to actually live their lives? Likewise, if the parents themselves can't have fun then that just ruins it for them, but at the same time some moderation has to be expected.

Posted: 09:43 Sep 19 2007

Byron "Live. Grow stronger. Fight another day."

Got thinking about this after Richard Hammond had a lil' knock with his rocket car last year ...

A lot of comentators said that, as a dad, he shouldn't have put himself in that situation. Okay, perhaps they had a point with driving a fricking rocket car, but generally, the guy's a danger junkie. If he stopped doing those things entirely, odds are he wouldn't be himself any more. That could go for any parent. If they shut off a whole part of who they are, there's a good chance they wouldn't be much fun to have around.

Sure, we can cut out stupid and reckless risks. But like other posters have said, we can't eliminate risk from our lives. There's risk in every day living: if these dangerous hobbies are part and parcel of a person, then maybe it's best they continue.

But leave off on the fricking rocket cars!

Posted: 04:00 Sep 20 2007

by Byron
fricking rocket cars!

Is that like sharks with fricking laser beams on them? "Dad, what's for tea?" "Not now, dear, daddy's torturing the superspy who broke into our volcano home while I was helping you with your homework."

Posted: 10:25 Sep 20 2007

Byron "Live. Grow stronger. Fight another day."

Posted: 13:20 Sep 20 2007

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