My son has a friend who was in a bad motocross accident

[DarkStar189]

This may be more of a rant.  How do you all feel about kids and extreme sports? We are friends with a family on Facebook, my son is good friends with their son from school. Kid is really into dirt bikes and motocross and has been for a few years now. He’s 11 or 12 years old.   Maybe 2 years ago the kid broke his leg.  That healed up and he got back at it. About a week ago they made a big post.  Kid was practicing “the triple” (which googling seems to be a pretty big jump). It went bad and he ditched the bike 15ft up in the air and crashed to the ground. Choice quote from the parent: “I knew it was bad from the scream he let out” Kid broke his right wrist and snapped both legs like toothpicks. Broke the tibia and fibula in both legs.  Then days later an update that he’s being treated for compartment syndrome which also sounds bad.  But because we live in this social media world (I know I should stay off it) of course the family posts pictures of the ambulance ride, x-rays with all the screws, the kid laying in the hospital bed. “Not going to be weight bearing on the legs for 1-2 months”.  Ughh… I can’t help but feel gross about the situation. Like sick to my stomach seeing this kid like that and them saying “he just wants to get better to ride again”.  Maybe hang that shit up for now and find a different hobby. Since it sounded like if he landed any other way he could be paralyzed or dead. Are people letting their kids do too much these days? Just stay inside and play some Xbox or something.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

While this is far from my area of expertise, I'd say these parents are borderline criminally negligent.

[stepee]

It almost seems like they are even using this kids accidents for social media attention/sympathy for themselves and are thus okay with the continued cycle. Don’t know anything about parenting, but that is my gut response.

[b_m_b_m_b_m]

if I had a son I wouldn't let them play football, and by comparison football doesn't seem as dangerous as this. Dunno what else to say about this 

[johnny]

an 11-12 year old probably shouldnt be doing a jump that leaves them falling from 15 feet in the air. i would guess a lot of mx people would agree with that. mx is risky for sure but it should be safer than riding an actual motorcycle. 

[best3444]

My older brother was an avid dirt bike rider and was in a SEVERE accident where he almost lost his life. He never rode again after that because he didn't want to die as a father of two.

 

After the kids first accident the parents should have ended his riding days there. So I say the parents are 

 

1 hour ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

criminally negligent.

 

[DarkStar189]

6 minutes ago, b_m_b_m_b_m said:

if I had a son I wouldn't let them play football, and by comparison football doesn't seem as dangerous as this. Dunno what else to say about this 

My son played football for one season when he was 8. One kid on his team ended up with a knee injury. They played against another team where a kid ended up with a broken leg. Fuuuuck that.

[AlwaysDyingX]

Not sure why a 11 or 12 year old is attempting stunts like that.....seems like the parents are missing some brain cells. 

 

 

12 minutes ago, DarkStar189 said:

My son played football for one season when he was 8. One kid on his team ended up with a knee injury. They played against another team where a kid ended up with a broken leg. Fuuuuck that.

 

 

I have knee and back issues from football and thats the minor stuff. I contribute my depression/anxiety possibly to the concussions I got playing said sport.  

[TwinIon]

I don't have any data, but to me it feels like there has been a kind of flattening out of the risk curve for kids. On average, I'd guess that most parents are far more risk adverse than they used to be. Typical parents are more protective more of the time, from day to day activities to regular sports. When I was learning to snowboard in the late 90s, I was in the minority wearing a helmet, now it's very much standard. Still, as that curve has squished down, the far end has gotten longer (read: riskier) as well. Extreme sports have had such progression over the last couple decades and that has really trickled down to surprising young kids. Tony Hawk was 31 in 99 when he famously landed a 900. In 2020 it was an 11 year old who first landed a 1080 on a vert ramp and the following year a 12 year old landed one in the X games.

 

As a parent I'd probably be fine with things like allowing my kid to walk home from school, but I'd absolutely stay clear of extreme sports.

 

 

[Nokra]

Seems pretty extreme for a 12 year old for me. I guess for parents it can sometimes be a hard line to walk between supporting your kids' dreams and protecting them, but this seems pretty obviously over the top to me. As stepee pointed out, it also screams "LOOK AT ME" that they posted it on social media, which taints my view of them as parents, if I'm honest. 

[DarkStar189]

1 minute ago, best3444 said:

My older brother was an avid dirt bike rider and was in a SEVERE accident where he almost lost his life. He never rode again after that because he didn't want to die as a father of two.

 

After the kids first accident the parents should have ended his riding days there. So I say the parents are 

 

 

I feel the same.  And if any of you want an update, yesterday the kids Fasciotomy went well. With a nice thumbs up photo…

“Fasciotomy or fasciectomy is a surgical procedure where the fascia is cut to relieve tension or pressure in order to treat the resulting loss of circulation to an area of tissue or muscle. Fasciotomy is a limb-saving procedure when used to treat acute compartment syndrome.” 

[TUFKAK]

As someone who grew up riding dirt bikes, I am from so cal give me a break, 11-12 could potentially have the skill to pull a triple off, I damn sure didn’t, but this kid clearly didn’t either. Have to manage your kids fearless traits better like my dad did. 
 

and yeah compartment syndrome is a massive risk and still the potential for a fat emboli. 

[Fizzzzle]

7 hours ago, Nokra said:

Seems pretty extreme for a 12 year old for me. I guess for parents it can sometimes be a hard line to walk between supporting your kids' dreams and protecting them, but this seems pretty obviously over the top to me. As stepee pointed out, it also screams "LOOK AT ME" that they posted it on social media, which taints my view of them as parents, if I'm honest. 

Truth

 

If it wasn't for the whole "posting the ambulance ride on social media" thing, I might have given them the benefit of the doubt a bit.

[Dodger]

Evil Knievel probably got more pussy than all of us combined when he wasn’t in the hospital so risk/reward and all of that

[Reputator]

I wonder if the same parents that support their child choosing to take on life risking sports would also be against them receiving gender affirming care because "they're not old enough to make that big of a decision".

[Guest]

Kids want to do all sorts of things that could get them killed, and you have to manage that as a parent. Seems like they should have learned from the first injury. Poor kid!

[Derek]

His parents seem like they would have a 'Let's Go Brandon' sign on their front lawn.