<p>I’ve read about the long term effects of concussions, and the cumulative effect they have if more than one. </p>
<p>My mom is suffering now the consequences of just one brain injury 40 years ago (according to her doctors). Early dementia. Not a fun ride.</p>
<p>FWIW, there is club rugby at our relatively large Ohio h.s.</p>
<p>Ya gotta do what ya gotta do. Thankfully, ds2 only played in middle school. I was at a game two weeks ago where a kid was carried off on a stretcher. Thankfully, it was only a pinched nerve we found out later, but seeing the mom be taken from the field crying made me glad I wasn’t in her shoes.</p>
<p>Ds’s Texas HS also is starting a rugby team.</p>
<p>I agree with the no-more-football. My kid never wanted to play football, he’s a swimmer. I do think crew is great, but you don’t get that strategic, team play and exuberance of football. If soccer is not an option, have you ever considered water polo? It’s a crazy game with a lot of the same strategic elements, adrenalin and excitement and team comraderie. Kids who get into it get really hooked. And they are in the most unbelievable shape.</p>
<p>How about Ultimate Frisbee - great sport and they are very welcoming of all types!</p>
<p>Stick to your guns – here’s some more ammo:
[High</a> School Football Brain Injuries Often Go Undiagnosed](<a href=“http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/204099.php]High”>High School Football Brain Injuries Often Go Undiagnosed)</p>
<p>I very much enjoy watching football. However, whenever I played it I always felt I was just too beat up afterwards. Most contact sports has a concussion issue of some degree.</p>
<p>You are correct to suggest crew. I rowed crew in college and had a blast doing it. But it is kind of different sport and not everyone who tried it liked it. </p>
<p>My two kids tried swimming (along with the usual baseball and soccer), but tired of it quickly. They used their swimming background to try water polo. You don’t need a swimming background, but you’ll quickly find out how out of swimming shape you are if you play water polo. New kids, without swimming backgrounds would have to gut it out for a couple of weeks until they got in swimming shape. It is quite a physical sport, a game can be played in a little over an hour (meaning you can play 2 or 3 games a day at a weekend tournament) and there is no professional league in this country. I mention the last part as it takes SOME of the pressure of the PARENTS since they don’t need Johnny to be on every all star team to get that big pro contract. Not to say there aren’t parents that push, because there are. You can find a club team thru [USA</a> Water Polo Home](<a href=“http://www.usawaterpolo.org%5DUSA”>http://www.usawaterpolo.org).</p>
<p>Are you nuts? Rugby is football with less effective helmets!</p>
<p>Ha, I thought FaceBook too;) Perhaps that is because this mean mom is uninvited to FB for DD and DS. (I’m ok with that. Just wish the college kids would communicate more other ways.) </p>
<p>I’d not be crazy about rugby either. Two friends (that eventually married each other) played club Rugby in college. They had a bumper sticker that read, “I donate blood - I play Rugby”.</p>
<p>I loved Pugmadkate’s answer… but I usually do like her answers and insights;)</p>
<p>mathmom, some think the modern football helmets are part of the problem-- they encourage players to drive their heads into opponents.</p>
<p>DD just started her 11th year of ice hockey, so I guess I don’t have much insight here. Everything has risks, so it comes down to what you can live with.</p>
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<p>I agree with mathmom.</p>
<p>Giving up football for safety reasons to take up rugby is somewhere between insane and idiotic.</p>
<p>Now soccer might be OK …</p>
<p>When we brought our bouncing baby boy to visit H’s relatives, they all oohed and aaahed about what a great football player he would be. I told them he would NOT, and that’s the end of it. He’s now 16. He rows and fences. H was behind me all the way, so I see the problem.</p>
<p>We started all of our kids on soccer at age 5. It’s two seasons a year until high school. When they got to around middle school, they all wanted to play football (I think all little boys do) but we exerted gentle pressure to stick with the soccer. I hate to sound overly cranky but I don’t know why anyone would let their kid play football.</p>
<p>Anyway. What filled in nicely for my kids starting around middle school was lacrosse. They got to put on a helmet and pads and hit people (with sticks!). But it’s nothing at all like the hitting in football.</p>
<p>Re: rugby, DS#1 played a year of college lacrosse, then switched to club rugby. Absolutely loves the sport, but broke his collar bone a few weeks in, comes out bleeding from every match, and is dating a female rugby player who keeps going to the hospital for concussions. I can’t imagine it’s any safer than football, although people seem to wait til they’re a bit older before taking it up.</p>
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<p>'rentof2, I have to disagree. My daughter loves it for all the things you say it isn’t. Just a note about the rigor of it, D says rowing a 6K (I think that is the distance) is tougher than swimming a 400 IM (long course) with ankle weights on! </p>
<p>OP, I don’t have a son, but I hope you stick to your guns.</p>
<p>In the end, it is up to you, and I would have been upset about a concussion too. We have to protect children if we think the risk is too great. For a fall sport, soccer will have a lot less contact. If he throws great, in the spring, try throwing the javelin for track. In D’s school a number of football types participate in the field events (javelin, discus, shot put) in the spring. Some schools even have indoor winter track for those events, and because it is track, you must run a minimum amount (so the kids get their cardio from that.)</p>
<p>I don’t have a son, but I do know what stubborn teenagers are like, so good luck.</p>
<p>As my son’s goalkeeper coach had to quit the game entirely because of two concussions within a period of several weeks, I was happy later when my son decided to concentrate on tennis. Think about it: one great thing about tennis is that opponents are required to stay on their own sides of the court at all time (except, of course, when switching sides). While tennis injuries do exist, I’ve never heard of a tennis concussion!</p>
<p>These suggestions for alternative sports to football are interesting, even if they stray a bit from the original post!</p>
<p>My daughter called me a “mean mommy” at age two or three. To this day, I have no idea where she got the concept, as I don’t generally call people “mean.” My husband and I have explained the concept of family and the duties of parents (among other things, to protect their children) ever since then. Of course, our children complain and tell us how another family does things differently, at which point we sympathize that it is too bad that they weren’t born into that family, as in this family, we do things this other way. </p>
<p>I heartily support your right (and duty) as a mom to use your best judgment to protect your son. While people may point out that there is risk of injury in a lot of activities (tennis elbow, for example), the facts indicate that the risk to your particular child in this particular activity is high. But even if you were wrong, you are the mom, he is still a child, and you are doing your best to take care of him–even if he does call you “mean mom.”</p>
<p>D swam for 7 years (3 YMCA and 4 Varsity HS). It is an excellent sport, as are all water sports. After she passed her swim test at college, she was ask to try out for crew, which she didn’t because of concerns over a difficult schedule. The thing about sports is to play what you love.</p>
<p>ingerp- hate to say it, but our son suffered concussions from soccer. I do think that the protective head gear that some pros who have suffered concussion now wear should be required in K-12 soccer. i also appreciate that the efficacy of the headgear is still under investigation.</p>
<p>I applaud you for making what you know to be the best decision for your son.</p>
<p>Mine is only 12, but he will never play football. He plays baseball and his sister fences and hopes he will follow in her footsteps.</p>