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Message: [QUOTE="oldguy, post: 1212637, member: 16965"] 2 seasons ago we had a similar story in our household except I was the one that wanted the racing to stop. My son suffered 4 concussions in a short time and had many more serious get offs as he moved his speed up several notches. This made me actually get to the point I couldn't watch him on the track. If you knew me you would realize this was an extreme re-action from me as far as MX but it hit me hard when on the 4th one I got to him and he was not moving at all and barely breathing. Luckily he had no lasting effects. Later that day I tried talking him into quitting. His answer was absolutely not he loves the sport. It took me almost the remainder of the season before I could watch a race and no way I could watch a start without almost becoming physically ill. Through it all my wife supported him and tried reassuring me that we were doing everything we could to protect him but whether he was on the track, his bicycle, in his car, or just walking down the street there were dangers and we had to trust him along with a higher being that he will enjoy life to it's fullest and hopefully walk it safely. Your wife has valid concerns and there is no way you will change her mind overnight. What helped me recover was going back to basics. As part of his re entry to racing we went to fewer races for a while and we agreed that if something didn't feel right we would go home with no hard feelings. I once again gained confidence in his judgment on the track and he realized my emotions I was trying to contain about his safety. Recently he was snowboarding in Colorado with friends when we got the call that he was in the ER and going in for surgery to repair a severe broken arm. when we finally talked to him his reaction was "I can't just stay home and hide. If I don't face challenges I won't be alive." Don't try to force racing on your wife for the near future, do some fun non competitive riding for awhile and be sure you provide the best protective gear you can reasonably afford. Hopefully your wife after a cooling down period will relent as she sees your son has a passion for the sport , is reasonable in how he rides, and that you are taking every precaution you can to protect him. Good luck [/QUOTE]

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