sharing dangerous hobbies with children
I watched my first episode of 'The Twister Sisters' last night. For those of you unfamiliar with the program, it follows a pair of sisters, professional storm-chasers, on their escapades. Big Yawn. For added 'excitement' these two, for a fee, will allow 'civilians' (ie: people who have no idea what they're doing but for some reason or another have a burning desire to see a tornado, up close and personal) to accompany them in search of thrills, chills, and who knows...maybe even a real live death, their own or someone else's.
Another big yawn. Whatever floats your boat, people. I think it's lunacy, myself, because I've seen a twister or two in my lifetime, 'up close and personal', and I hope I never see one again. I also couldn't help hoping that the fickle finger of a twisted god one day runs one of these twisters straight up the ass of these hobbyists. It's one thing to chase storms for the sake of science, or weather prediction, but to do it just for fun is, in my opinion, sick and twisted.
People die in these storms, and I see the hobby storm chaser kinda like a 'race fan' whose only reason for attending the race is in hopes of seeing some horrific, fiery crash. (and getting a perfect shot of it.) How would you like to lose a family member in one of these storms, only to see the footage of it replayed again and again and again on television, no doubt handsomely lining the pockets of the storm-chaser who filmed it, not to mention our friendly commerical sponsors trying to sell us everything from stank-twat spray to acne cures between takes?
Gah.
One pair of chasers, who went out on their own, really disturbed me though, a man and his ten year old son. You could tell that this poor kid was terrified, the father seemed oblivious to his terror, and it seemed so WRONG that I could scarcely believe my eyes. The man may very well have advanced training and good equipment, but the fact remains that tornadoes are unpredictable, and anyone who would deliberately place a young child that close to such a devastating, capricious, and deadly storm is not fit to parent that child. Even if the kid LOVED it I can see no justification for doing so, and this kid didn't seem to be having a good time at all. He seemed frightened to death, and afraid to let his dad SEE just how scared he was....gotta be a big boy for daddy, right?
Doesn't this kid have a mom? What does SHE think about his involvement? How about his grandparents? The man even bragged about the 'quality time' he and his son get to share while they are spending hours on the road in pursuit of danger, but I can sure think of safer ways to spend time with your children...engaged in activities that don't terrify and traumatize them.
I'm not a parent, so maybe I'm wrong, that's why I'm posting this. Tell me, dear readers, what do you think of parents who enjoy dangerous hobbys and allow their young children to participate as well? Is it ok to take a ten year old mountain-climbing? Alligator hunting? Underwater caving? Storm-chasing?
Or do you think it's a form of child endangerment?