[Ygrec23]

Keeping Kids Safe From the Wrong Dangers

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/19/weekinreview/19belkin.html

Take care!

[lynn P.]

I put a trigger because I mention a murder/'s' word.



Reading this article you put up, made me feel better about my decision to take my oldest daughter out of Karate. I heard about concussions being 'accumulative' about 1 1/2 yrs ago. Even if it's a mini concussion and then they get a few more - these accumulate and cause increasing damage.

Even though my daughter wore a padded helmut -I was still concerned about the head being jolted. Her teacher had weekly sparring classes and he wouldn't listen to my concerns. He thought I was being silly and he couldn't guarantee the kids wouldn't get hit in the head. My daughter was the best in her class - won many trophies and medals. She was so good that even gave her the classes free but we had to quit because he made her feel bad because she didn't want to spar anymore. She was a brown belt and on her way to getting her black belt.

At these Karate competitions -they're privately run and they claim there's no head hits allowed, yet they still do it anyway. When the kids are little they don't hurt each other, but when they get in their teens years, they're capable of doing real damage. One time at a competition my daughter got hit in the mouth, even though she had a mouth guard her braces wire got pulled out. If you see the parents at these competitions, they want the kids to win more than the kids do. I realized I didn't want my child to go through this.

A couple years ago there was the story about the famous wrestler who killed his children, wife and then himself. His father requested an autopsy and it revealed his brain looked like an alzheimers patients brain. His son had severe depression and uncontrollable anger problems - I firmly believe it was from the brain damage.

I agree as parents we aren't always aware of the real risks. I know there's risk of injury with any sport but why should we deliberately tolerate head jolts, just so our child can be a star athlete. I also think many kids health is being risked by eating the wrong food, spending too much time sitting in front of computer and video games. Lets the kids play outside, the old fashioned way and don't schedule every second of their day with activities.