Joe in Babble

Commentary on the site, both positive and otherwise is encouraged.

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Best of all, it's Kelly birthday!

Enjoy

Posts like that make me, one who did not want to have any children, sigh with a bit of regret. More power to your cute and precious one!

Nice article, but if you are talking about the Gunks then your statement about injured climbers being hauled out by ambulance every weekend is hyperbole to the extreme. I don't think it is productive to reasonable discussion about climbing to describe climbing as even more dangerous than it really is.

And since you are asking for comments about your parenting, I will add that you should put a helmet on your daughter!!

That certainly is a cute pic of your daughter climbing, and the piece is well written. Of coursekelly may just as well despise climbing when she gets a little older simply because her parents love it. I think that would be the saddest day for Joe. Or she could grow up to be the next Tommy Caldwell, female version obviously.

I do agree with Seth however. You have a choice to wear a helmet or not, based on intelligent, adult reasoning. Your child doesn't. If you get a brainer it's your fault. If your daughter gets a brainer...it's your fault. make her wear a helmet until she is old enough to make her own decisions.

RR

The pic is not Kelly. It's a stock photo.

Joe, I have enjoyed your writing in the past and again today. I have 4 "kids" and several close climbing friends who also have broods of thier own, so the idea of how much to push is not new to me. I find that for most kids they will eventually realize that it isn't cool to do what your parent does for fun but eventually drift back to dabble later in climbing. Like anyone else, that may become a casual or obsessive interest. Probably best to love on them and support whatever they want to do but make sure they get ice cream after every climbing day.

Posts like that make me, also one who did not want to have any children, sigh with relief and satisfaction of having made an excellent choice.

You mean she's gonna cut off her finger?

Wow. The comments on that other site immediately took a different direction!

Some genes are best destined for genetic dead-end...