dangerous hobbies

When we become parents, is it our responsibility to avoid all potentially dangerous activities, to ensure that our children will have us around? Are we supposed to live in a theoretical protective bubble and give up all adrenaline junkie desires or is it okay for a parent to still take a risk here or there?

In my case, this is a dilemma that I run into quite frequently. I debate whether I should still be skateboarding at my age, and I justify my safety with a helmet and kneepads. The chances of me getting critically injured skateboarding are pretty slim, but my health insurance is crappy so that gives me yet another reason to quit.

My latest interest has been in urban exploration, something that can be considerably dangerous. It's easy for one to say that he is going to participate in urban exploration, but that he'll be sure to "play it safe". But how is that possible? Urban exploration usually involves underground and off limits areas of industrial decay. These are areas that don't see much foot traffic because the general public either knows better than to visit or doesn't know that it exists.

So should I feel guilty for being fascinated with this type of exploration? Is it wrong to put myself into harms way when I have children? In all honesty, I feel that I have balanced my chances of survival by removing other potentially dangerous activities - like driving a car. I hardly ever drive anymore, and it was a conscious decision. I've been in several car accidents in my day, and barely avoided several more. I would suspect that my chances of being injured in a car accident are far greater than exploring some abandoned building.

Ever since I was a kid, I've been interested in being an explorer. I used to venture beneath the docks when the water levels were low, hunting for washed up treasures in the shadows. I crafted my own helmet lights, safety pads and tunnel periscopes using old flashlights, duct tape, cut up cardboard and some of my mother's old makeup mirrors. The fantasy lasted a short while. But as the teacher from Truman professes to the young explorer-to-be, I was always instructed that there are "no places left to explore." So I grew up, and assumed that my exploration days were over.

But I was wrong. There are whole new worlds to explore if you dare to enter them, and for the careful father with a hint of midlife crisis emerging, I get to play Indian Jones and still feel cool for a little while. Of course, I'll leave the bungee jumping and skydiving to those without dependents.