On snowboarding: Preventative measures work better if you buy them before you need them

[mattbell]

On the ski lift today:

Me:  The fall wasn't bad. I had knee pads.
Woman: You have knee pads?
Me: Yeah.  I also have a tailbone pad and body armor -- that's wrist, elbow, shoulder, back, and chest pads -- and a helmet.
Woman: Wow... you must have been in a terrible accident.
Me:  (laughs)  No.  I want to avoid being in a terrible accident.  That's why I bought all that stuff.  
Woman:  Oh.  That makes sense.



---

People don't get it.  You can do more cool things in your life if you lower the cost of failure.  I was able to learn to snowboard faster because I was less afraid to fall and because the falls I did take bruised me up less, allowing me to spend more time on the slopes and less time sitting around feeling achey.  

This is one of those useful general purpose life lessons.  "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" is true, but many kids are likely to ignore it because it sounds burdensome.  However, if it's reframed as "You can do more fun things if you also take care of these precautions", it's more positive and gets the point across better.  

Comments

[ferrouswheel.livejournal.com]

I think newer lighter composites also make the burden of wearing protection less annoying. At least, when I was younger and skateboarding, wearing protective gear was annoying because it was so clunky as to be distracting from learning to skateboard with any grace.

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

I've had a similar experience with bike helmets. When I was a kid I refused to wear the helmet my parents bought me because it was ugly and uncomfortable. When they forced me to wear it I would take it off at soon as I was out of sight of the house. Then as a grownup I discovered that there were COMFORTABLE helmets that actually LOOK COOL! It's not entirely that I'm older and wiser that convinced me to start wearing a helmet :)

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

That's true as well. I got the armor from Dainese, which seems to do a very good job of making their safety equipment look cool.


http://tinyurl.com/37yv3wq

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

It's true. Things have changed. My body armor is super light, and I can wear it all day while only rarely noticing it -- unless I happen to bang my elbow on something.

[divergio.livejournal.com]

It also helps that with snowboarding you're wearing a lot of external coverings to begin with.

With something like rollerblading, where you might just be wearing a pair of shorts and a shirt in the hot sun, the protection can become intrusive.

I was going to comment on the body armor. It does look quite sharp, and lightweight.

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the fact that male snowboarder fashions involve super baggy pants and jackets is useful. I can hide all kinds of padding under there.