Gemini, you sound like an Adam Carolla podcast listener

If so, welcome to the club

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If he wanted to play football i'd let him.......unless I saw his coaches being cavalier about his health in a possible concussion situation. Then i'd yank him off the team in a heartbeat.

I'd prefer he play hockey because it's a game he can play most of his life well into late adulthood. That sport has it's own health issues and my reaction would be the same if I ever observed coaches not giving his health the proper respect and concern.

But it's all his choice. I'll encourage him to play sports but if he isn't feeling it then i'll support him in other ventures. Nothing more pathetic than parents who live their athletic fantasies through their kids.

I think there are two ways you could fuck up royally as a Dad

the first is to not let him play if he had a passion for it and he was good at it...that would be emasculating and he'd never forgive you

the second is to force or blackmail a marginal kid or uninterested kid into it who ended up getting hurt or humiliated...and he'd never forgive you

So you have to honestly look at who you have and make the decision accordingly

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If that was his choice, so be it. I'd also make sure he had the best equipment to prevent injury, particularly head injury.

I coach my son now in a flag football league — getting ready for the NFL of the future. The guys who run the league have made the rules nearly identical to pop warner. The idea is that if a kid has a passion for it, they can get the same kind of instruction in both places and minimize the hits at a young age.

For 6 to 8 year olds learning the game, it's a good way to go to find out if they like it or not, and then advance up to playing tackle.

The biggest issue I have isn't the potential for injury, it's coaching and their ability to know when a player is hurt (I'm looking at you Cleveland Browns). I stopped playing because I had an idiot for a high school football coach. When his own son had a torn knee ligament, he decided to play him anyway. Shockingly, he had the ACL rebuilt the next week, right after the game. We have a few coaches in my league where they're yelling at kindergarteners because they missed an assignment. That's just stupid.

If you teach a kid to play the game right, you're also going to minimize chances for injury because the kids are going to tackle well, they're not going to use their helmet to hit, and they're going to be aware of where they are on the field at all times. And if you give them the proper gear, you further minimize the chances.

I have read all of these replies and hear is my 2 cents worth-

I have been a youth tackle football coach for 5 years, ages 5-10. Before allowing my son to play at age 5, I took him to the pediatrician and had this same discussion. The doctor said in his years of sports related injuries, the football injuries at that level usually occur from poor fitting/quality equipment, and rarely are head injuries.

A proper fitting helmet is crucial. The problem is that most kids 6-10 have odd shaped heads, and the padding in the helmets standard sizing. The most common issue is the jaw pads, and chinstrap adjustment. Equipment fitting is usually rushed, and the first gear that "fits" a kid is issued. Kids that age ALWAYS complain that their helmet is too tight, and my head hurts. So in many cases a coach will put a helmet too large on a kid because it feels better. A proper fitting helmet will be tight, and give you headaches until you are used to the constant pressure on you head during physical activity in heat of the summer.

Aside from proper fitting, the quality of your average youth league equipment is usually lacking. When in doubt, purchase your own helmet.

The issue I see is poor teaching/practice drills. Every team does conditioning for usually the first week or so of practice, then the very first day they put gear on the kids they go full contact. Coaches and parents alike cant wait to start hitting. All practice you'll see various full speed tacking drills, and if you watch closely, only a couple kids actually know how to tackle. Slamming them into each other is making it worse. The kids that usually get hurt are playing scared, and they should be scared.

Any good coach knows that proper technique isnt taught by beating it into the kids. That makes bad habits worse, and kids that are already scared are not having fun.
Hours and hours must be spent on pad level,head up, wrapping, leg drive, etc.... on dummies, then slow speed "fit drills" before allowing 1/2 speed drills. EVERY kid must learn the proper technique before the drills go any further. BUT, we cant wait to start hitting!

From my experience, this is where most injuries occur. Low quality, poor fitting helmets, and over-anxious coaches and parents slamming terrified kids into each other for their own amusement during practice.

I would let my son play marbles ...
unless I saw the coach dousing the marbles in cyanide and launching them at the childrens head with a slingshot
Then I would pull him out and take him maybe to Karate or Hockey or Downhill Skiing or Bungy Jumping or Motorcross

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“White collar conservative flashin down the street, pointing that plastic finger at me, they all assume my kind will drop and die, but I'm gonna wave my freak flag high.”
Jimi Hendrix

If I ever have a son, I would let him play if he wanted to. I would never push him to do it, but if he wanted to then I'd let him. You can die waiting at the bus stop as a kid. The problem now a days is that there's so much fucking research out there that just waking up in the morning is hazardous to your health in one form or another. Our time here on earth is short in the whole scheme of things, we aren't going to live forever, it'd be a shame to not enjoy doing what you want to do. I'm 27 and the generations behind me have been getting worse and worse. Coddled at every turn. There truely is a pussification of society going on in the United States.

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"We cannot let Josh Cribbs do what he has done to us time and time again in the past, we've been dead indians in his cowboy movie enough." - Coach Tomlin

Reminds me of listening to this show a few years back on Public Radio (I think B2B was the host). The guest had written a book about parenting not being so hard if only parents wouldn't obsess over their kids lives and micro-managing it. Anyway, he said that the BIGGEST mistake that parents make (and he had some research to support this) insofar as forcing activities on their kids is.....piano lessons!!!

parenting is exhausting
it is not overly complex

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“White collar conservative flashin down the street, pointing that plastic finger at me, they all assume my kind will drop and die, but I'm gonna wave my freak flag high.”
Jimi Hendrix

Parents make it overly complex. I sure as hell do.