I am surprised by the otherwise intelligent and caring parents I have met who had their elementary schoolers playing tackle football. I don't understand that decision at all.

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ilamont 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Same here. When did Boston University start publishing about the CTE/football connection? 10 or 15 years ago? A couple I know, one with a public health degree from an Ivy, still let one of her kids play through all of that, and he played at the college level, too.

At the same time, a lot of parents (myself included) steered kids to other sports. That had another effect: there was even more pressure on parents who didn't care about CTE (and their kids) to get into football because kiddie leagues and especially high school teams were short of players. This happened to a friend whose two boys were strong hockey players, the coach at their school pushed them to try out for football the following season.

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wat10000 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It's a deeply ingrained cultural tradition in a lot of places. It's an extremely hard sell to tell people to reject their traditions because of a relatively nebulous and uncertain danger. "I played football and I was fine" is a powerful argument.

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alex43578 38 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Still doesn’t mean you can’t look at those people as foolish, no different than if they handed a cigarette to their teen or let their kid get obese.

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lotsofpulp 25 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

CTE is not nebulous and uncertain. If it were not for "tradition", it would be considered child abuse to let them repeatedly slam their brains into their skulls.

	▲	wat10000 2 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		It absolutely is when we're talking about humans evaluating risk in the context of an important part of their culture. The consequences come decades later and are far from certain.

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badgersnake 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Unless it’s actually banned below a certain age, what are you going to do if that’s what they want to do with their life?

If they don’t play and everyone else does, their development will be many years behind their peers which makes it unlikely they could play at a high level.

But maybe you’re okay with that.

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swatcoder 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Yes, I think parents who see tackle football as an unsafe sport for their children are okay with not setting up their kids to play it at a high level.

And like any responsible parents, they presumably also don't just defer to what they're elementary aged children "want to do with their life" nor feed into the exaggeration that "everybody else" does anything at all, let alone play tackle football.

If you disagree with the dangers of the sport or are afraid of shaping your children's life choices for their own benefit, that's fine for you, but the rhetorical and snide way you presume others should share that view seems strange.

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everdrive an hour ago | parent | next [-]

>And like any responsible parents, they presumably also don't just defer to what their elementary aged children "want to do with their life" nor feed into the exaggeration that "everybody else" does anything at all, let alone play tackle football.

This is the only wise position. Despite the common and misleading film tropes, children do not know themselves perfectly. Often the adults "holding them back" are doing those children a great favor.

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badgersnake an hour ago | parent | prev [-]

I guess you missed the point so why don’t I spell it out to you.

The correct thing to do is to ban tackle football below a certain age. Probably college. That levels the playing field.

	▲	swatcoder 43 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Ah. Yes, I didn't pick that up in what you wrote. The seeming fatalism about how there's not much to do until or unless that happens eclipsed it. That seemed to be the focus of your comment and I could only re-contextualize it once you made it more clear her. Sorry about the misread!

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amanaplanacanal 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

If they don't play a game which damages their brain when they are children, they won't be able to go into a career which damages their brain as an adult. Hmmm.

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wat10000 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

99.9% of high school football players aren't good enough to make a career out of it no matter what they do. Avoiding literal brain damage at the cost of forcing my child into a group they're virtually certain to be in anyway seems totally fine.

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kakacik 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Gotta stick to the crowd at all costs, its so uncomfortable outside of it right