Knitting is a nice hobby.
Posted on 05/22/2010 1:41:11 PM PDT by Daffynition
BEIJING – The youngest climber to reach the peak of Mount Everest hugged his tearful companions and told them he loved them. Then 13-year-old Jordan Romero took the satellite phone and called his mom.
"He says, 'Mom, I'm calling you from the top of the world,'" a giddy Leigh Anne Drake told The Associated Press from California, where she had been watching her son's progress minute by minute on a GPS tracker online.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Knitting is a nice hobby.
From what little I have read about this family, I suspect he is being raised in high achieving, risk taking, adventurous lifestyle.No doubt, that is true, and the parent/stepparent combo seemed capable [with their experience] of caring for him on his ascent, but I can see [cynical, yes!] dollar signs in this "adventure" for both Jordan and his caretakers. If the world didn't care a fig about such exploits (and Jordan was a homely little boy with acne), chances are the family would have waited until their son/stepson was a little older. Even though he was evidently in good enough physical shape to climb, I wonder what the long-term effects will be on his psyche. Too much push in a sporting direction during youth [climbing Everest at 13!] makes for unhappy adults sometimes. His father/stepmother appear a little selfish to me ... but that's only my take ...
All that ranting about something that hasn't happened!
Ad Hominem attacks are the last refuge of a loosing argument.
But it has happened. Not to Jordan but to plenty of others. The mark of a wise man is that he learns from others mistakes.
Have you read posts 30, and 31? 10% fatality of those who try to reach the summit of Everest.
Need I say more? Well I will. This is from Post 31.
"There are plenty of studies that show MRI abnormalities as well as, to some extent, functional abnormalities in people who have come down from Everest and other high peaks. Climbers often show brain atrophy, a shrinking of the brain from cell death, and white spots on their brains that we think could be scarring.
And these post do not mention other injuries like frostbite that lead to amputations of fingers, toes, feet and hands.
I am not saying that Jordan’s father does not have the right to take his son up the mountain. What I am saying is that I disagree with his judgment. I think that the facts support my argument.
How is that "ad hominem"? Nothing happened to the kid but to read your post we should have expected him to be dead.
Yet, I could not imagine holding back any child who would become a Steve Fossett, Richard Branson or Norman Vaughan.
' Dream big and dare to fail. ' ~ Norman D. Vaughan
poo poo
I tend to agree with you. Allowing or even encouraging your 13 year old to climb Mt Everest is being an irresponsible parent. There is time in the future for things like this but not at 13. I am glad he made it safely and came home alive.
Yet, I could not imagine holding back any child who would become a Steve Fossett, Richard Branson or Norman Vaughan.I don't think a parent COULD hold back a Steve Fossett ... kids *that* driven are going to drive or fly, or whatever ... :):)
The ad hominem comment was intended for ShadowDancer.
By the way the kid still has to get off the mountain. Many climbers die after reaching the summit.
The odds are in the kid’s favor I have never said otherwise.
I merely state my opinion that it is not the wisest choice of hobbies to share with your preadolescent children.
If a proposed drug had a 10% mortality rate it would never be approved by the FDA. A disease with a 10% mortality rate is considered very serious.
Everything we do has risk. I know that. But consider that we as parents have a duty to do what we can to ensure the safety of our children. When we put our kid on the school bus we unconsciously know that there is a chance that the bus could be in an accident and our child could be killed. But we expect that the bus driver will drive safely and responsibly so we understand that the odds are very good that the child will be safe.
We expect that when we place our children in the hands of others that they will act in the interest of the safety our children. Yet many of us will in the interest of entertainment put the health and lives our children at needless risk.
Why is it difficult to understand that I find this foolish?
I am pretty sure he is still on the mountain.
He just made the summit yesterday.
I didn’t realize this was NOW.
And here we are again, on that fine line, how does one know their kid isn’t the next Steve Fossett?
Too fresh in our recollection is the family of “balloon boy” and the weirdness that wrought! ;)
It's not. It's obvious you do. I merely pointed out that nothing of what you have talked about has happened.
I kind of agree with you on the parenting part while at the same time when my sons want to try something that I KNOW has a 10% chance of them getting hurt (not badly - just bruising or sprains), I generally let them do it. How else will they find out what they are capable of? How else do they learn their limitations and the what the consequences of their actions are?
It's a struggle as a parent to decide what is safe and how not to create a dominant sense of fear in a child.
The kid is with his father. If he were not I would be whole heartedly against it. In this case I see nothing wrong with what they are doing.
We agree here.
You can’t stop your kids from doing everything that entails risk. Kids get hurt every day in the usual sports. Occasionally a kid gets killed by a line drive in baseball.
But those risks are infinitely small in comparison to climbing Everest.
The risk entailed in white water kayaking is small in comparison.
I can’t think of anything legal that compares in risk.
The fact that his father is with him is to me troubling. Consider that he has put his son at risk of watching his father die. I wonder if he has discussed this with his son. I wonder if he has thought seriously that he may have to watch his son die.
The chances are real and they are significant.
And here we are again, on that fine line, how does one know their kid isn’t the next Steve Fossett?We have a swimmer [she is now "retired" and plays polo instead] that wanted so badly to have a State time in 100 breast before graduating high school. Had she been on the 5-year plan, she probably would have attained her goal (if not the scholastic one). But she also enjoyed the "fellowship" of swimming, and no doubt spent more time kibitzing with her pals than say Dara Torres did, the 41-year-old! swimmer who took 2nd (I believe) in 50 free in the past Olympics. So I think the kids themselves show their parents (by *their* honest enthusiasm or not as the case may be) the direction in which to go ... but 13 still seems young to be scaling Mt. Everest [maybe he's almost 14?!:)] ...
.
Must have extra money in the jar and lots of personal days to take off and travel:
The Seven Summits – Mountains We’ve climbed:
Africa- Kilimanjaro – July 22, 2006
Australia- Kosciuszko – April, 2007
Europe/Russia- Elbrus – July 11, 2007
South America- Aconcagua – December 30, 2007
North America- Denali – June 18, 2008
Oceana- Carstensz Pyramid – September 1, 2009
Interesting pic, thanks!
“But isn’t there a less hazardous hobby out there that they could do together.”
Sure, but there are lunatics doing stuff way more risky than climbing Everest too:
http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/jumps.html
Given the wide diversity in tastes for risk across the population, I’d rather live in a country that accords individuals the freedom to pursue them rather than having the government preemptively swoop in to save people from themselves. I think this kid was old enough and demonstrably prepared enough to take the risk he took. And I think his parents—rather than the nanny state—was in the best position to make that judgment etc.
Sure, it may not be a risk I would have taken with my own kid, but then again, as an adult, my kid has taken all sorts of climbing risks that I myself never would have taken. And the reality is, by breaking an age record, this kid is now in a position to pursue his dream of climbing other peaks in the future in a way that might have been financially impossible had he needed to earn the money to pay for such treks (Everest costs about $65K to climb, last time I checked). To each his own.
Beautiful - thanks!
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