Should a Single Mom Go Skydiving?
A group of girls I hang out with are planning to go skydiving next month. I’m partly petrified at the thought, and partly really want to do it.
It’s something I’ve always kinda wanted to do, even though I’m scared of flying on a regular commercial flight. I think it would be terrifying up to the moment you land on the ground, then would feel incredible.
If It wasn’t a mom, I’d be signing up and handing over my credit card with the deposit right now. But as a mom – and a single mom, with my son’s father a workaholic, and his only family a set of aging parents and not that capable of taking care of him – is it a sensible thing to do?
Morbid ol’ me found a website called dropzone.com who maintain records of skydiving fatalities – 20 in North America last year. That’s from 3 million jumps. So it’s probably less dangerous than driving my car or riding my bike.
If I crashed my car or fall off my bike, it would be seen as a tragic accident. But if i killed myself skydiving, I can imagine everyone saying how stupid I was. And maybe my son would be angry with me for taking the risk and leaving him motherless.
So should I go?
This is the internet. You won’t see me glare when you tell me I’m being utterly irresponsible. Give me your honest opinion.
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Melissa H says...
Ooh, toughy. I don’t think that I will help you much because I can see reasons for both. As a mommy I can say that I don’t think I would do it… but as a mommy who wants to teach my children to be independant and go getters I also see that taking that chance would be a good thing. I guess it really depends on how much you want the experience. I have never given a lot of thought to jumping out of a plane (parachute or not) even before I had a baby so it wouldn’t be a loss for me
I guess that I would say go for it as long as you are as safe as you can be, if you really want to do it.
Dave says...
Go for it. Don’t be afraid of life and don’t teach you son to be afraid of life. The risks are very small. If something were to happen to you, would you rather your son remember you died living life to its fullest, or on your drive to work. Life is about living. Plus it will be a great story to tell him when he is old enough to do it.
Dawn Allcot says...
I say go. The odds of dying while skydiving, as you said, are much much lower than many other things we do, often without thinking, on a daily basis. Plus, it does seem to be something you want to cross off your “life list.” I feel like the regret would be greater if you don’t go than if you do.
As far as your concerns of “what everyone will think,” those people are obviously uneducated on the statistics. People shouldn’t be judgmental of a woman living her dream!
One word of advice.. if you looked up the statistics, you probably already know this. While the odds of dying are slim, many people do twist/break/injure an ankle, foot or knee when they fall. Will you be able to take care of your son if something like that happens? Do you have anyone to help out?
If the answer is no, you might want to wait until he’s a bit older and can help you out around the house, pop something in the microwave to eat, etc. I mean, you’ll probably be fine, but if something does happen, it will probably be something more of a nuisance than life-threatening, but still a practical concern.