to be upset that dd has started boxing

[okero]

Dropped dd off at university on Saturday and I phoned her today and she told me that she had just got back from her first boxing training session as she joined the boxing club on Monday. I immediately voiced my displeasure and she says it great fitness and that she probably will need the first year to learn and train before she begins fighting . When I told DS he just laughed and said in his experience that she's already got a good right hand . AIBU to feel panicked by this.

YABU!!!

It's great for fitness, also, she'll be better prepared to look after herself if needs be. Good for her!

Viva equality!

What is it you are upset about? I would love to have got in to boxing. I love the sport. It is great fitness.

Why are you upset?

It's great for fitness, a great competitive sport. I am assuming she will be in a proper gym, with proper tuition and equipment not bare knuckle fighting round the back of a pub?

What's upsetting about it? Great exercise and she'll be able to defend herself should she ever need to!

I don't want my daughter entering into a sport where the main objective is to punch someone so often in the head that they are unable to stand.

Boxing is awesome exercise and excellent discipline. I've just started kickboxing to help shift the baby weight.

You do realise that the more you disapprove, the more she'll want to do it, right? You might find fulsome enthusiasm and an expressed desire to try it yourself to be more effective at dissuading her

I wouldn't mind a boxing class for either boy or girl but wouldn't be happy with either of them actually fighting.

It makes me feel sick to think of someone hitting my kids and my kids hitting someone back.

I think its great,just think she could be the next Katie Taylor.

Er, YABU. Most people who train boxing/muay thai/tae twando etc do so for exercise and don't go any nearer a boxing ring than you would.

Also, I firmly believe all young woman who ever plan to leave the house without a chaperone should learn how to throw a punch should the worst happen.

lola88- Thats it, the thought of her being pummelled in the head brings me out in a sweat

YABU. She is an adult and able to make this decision completely on her own. It has little to do with you unfortunately and whether or not you like it is irrelevant.

She's flown the nest now, let her fly.

I would not like my son to do it because of the risk of brain injury. But I don't think women can hit hard enough to do that.

YANBU to be upset, I would be gutted, I dislike boxing intensely and I wouldn't do it or watch it however as others have said she's an adult and she needs to fly. Doesn't stop you feeling upset

I think you'll find your very much mistaken there Katie.

SaucyJack is right. I think it's even more valuable to learn how to take a punch. The first time I got punched in the face in tae kwon do, I got all freaked out and couldn't think clearly. I learned not to lose it.

I would be happy, it's great exercise, my dds 8 and 6 have been boxing as part of their martial arts class for over 2 years now, and my 4 year old ds has just started, the younger ones only spar with a teacher, ie zero chance of getting hit hard in the head, the 8 year old is just starting to spar with other kids, as soon as they start hitting in the head they wear guards and gum shields, as girls DEF do hit hard, even at 8! Obviously I would not be happy for teeth to be knocked out/noses broken but the worst we have had so far is a bit of a black eye...

Try reading some articles about amateur boxing (Pippa Middleton in the Telegraph this week, Guardian features) and you'll be enormously reassured.

I trained for a few months last year and it's one of the best things I'd ever done - it was brilliant training and you're motivated to get fit very quickly. The emphasis is on fitness and technique, not sparring. The discipline's really good for when you're unmotivated, both with exercise routines & life in general. And it put paid to low mood and anxiety, a definite bonus. I didn't spar often at all, and was taught to defend and move, so barely received any punches with any force behind them, and not at all to the head. It's much safer for her than binge-drinking, passing out at parties, getting a bit depressed, sleeping badly & gaining 15 pounds in the first term, which people accept as normal for student.

You are probably missing her, though, so it's understandable.

Good gracious, Nicola Adams fabulous smile was one of teh most inspiring images from the 2012 Olympics! I'm glad she's been an isnpiration to the next generation of young women.

I dont think its necessarily any more dangerous than other forms of contact sport.

I agree. It's a horrible sport and dangerous.

A couple of girls in my daughters primary school class are members of the local boxing club. It wouldn't bother me in the slightest.

AirDuster- Its not that she's taken up something new, its that she has started a sport where the objective is to hurt another person so much that they can't stand.

YABU. That's a pretty old fashioned viewpoint. Boxing is great exercise and teaches good motor skills through the footwork, which can translate well to several other sports. Its a healthy activity.

(though I must say I never got the arguments against "women boxers" being discouraged as their reproductive organs might be damaged - surely male boxer's reproductive organs are on the outsides of their bodies and even less protected)!

YANBU The trouble with the 'she's flown the nest argument' is that were she to sustain some serious brain-damaging injury, you would be the one 'picking up' the pieces. You have my sympathy, completely understand.

Yabu, I've been doing kickboxing for years, it is great for fitness and I've just signed my son up to start too. She has just started, you don't know if she'll be seriously competing or will just be using it for some exercise. Why don't you talk to her about your fears and she can put your mind at ease.

okero - the ethos in amateur clubs is not violent at all. You are thinking of professional heavyweights you have seen on TV.

At this stage, she'll be skipping, doing circuits, and some pad work. The odds are that she will just dabble, because the time commitment for serious training will be too heavy & she'll have other priorities.

To be honest, I boxed like a kitten - an unfit kitten - but it was the sport which finally taught me to just keep going when running.