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A Colorado company is marketing a DNA test that may be able to predict the future athletic prowess of a child as young as 1 year old by screening for variants of the gene ACTN3.
What a waste of money!
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Results with 12 short comments
Total of 464 votes - click on the "Display Comments" bar below to sort comments
37.9%
Yes, absolutely. I’d know better how to encourage those abilities.
176 votes
57.5%
No way. It’s way too much pressure. It’s better just to let kids discover on their own what they enjoy and can choose for themselves.
267 votes
4.5%
I’m not sure.
21 votes
Display Comments:
No way. It’s way too much pressure. It’s better just to let kids discover on their own what they enjoy and can choose for themselves.
It isn't really that it brings too much pressure it's that the haplotypes do NOT spell out future D-I scholarships, let alone NBA contracts
{"commentId":5737653,"threadId":"518228","contentId":"2504457","authorDomain":"schwannomin"}
No way. It’s way too much pressure. It’s better just to let kids discover on their own what they enjoy and can choose for themselves.
Given the child could do anything, there is no need to point them in any one direction; let them try things that aren't a genetic destiny.
{"commentId":5739107,"threadId":"518228","contentId":"2504457","authorDomain":"samstein638"}
No way. It’s way too much pressure. It’s better just to let kids discover on their own what they enjoy and can choose for themselves.
Now kids will be put into sports way too early and ruin their careers! Oh the irony!
{"commentId":5743014,"threadId":"518228","contentId":"2504457","authorDomain":"anaaki"}
No way. It’s way too much pressure. It’s better just to let kids discover on their own what they enjoy and can choose for themselves.
Just knowing the physical attributes of a potential athlete does not assure interest! And kids who aren't "athletic" may enjoy sports.
{"commentId":5743955,"threadId":"518228","contentId":"2504457","authorDomain":"momwiz"}
No way. It’s way too much pressure. It’s better just to let kids discover on their own what they enjoy and can choose for themselves.
too many parents are obsessed with cutthroat competitiveness. Look at the fights that break out at kids' games--among parents!
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Newsvine Discussion with 8 comments - Click here to jump to the comment form.
{"commentId":5735738,"authorDomain":"dlta-hdn-frbn-hlygrnd"}
I would like to know, yes, but I wouldn't force or my child to do anything.
I would let them discover what they wanted to do on their own and encourage them to pursue whatever dreams or goals they have for themselves, despite what kinds of genes they have.
If they have the genes to make a star Olympian athlete that's nice, but if they want to be an artist then that is what I would encourage them to do.
{"commentId":5735738,"threadId":"518129","contentId":"2504457","authorDomain":"dlta-hdn-frbn-hlygrnd"}
- 1 vote
#1 - Wed Mar 4, 2009 1:47 PM EST{"commentId":5736265,"authorDomain":"Joe187"}
This is just another example of companies making money off people's stupidity!
{"commentId":5736265,"threadId":"518129","contentId":"2504457","authorDomain":"Joe187"}
- 1 vote
#2 - Wed Mar 4, 2009 2:04 PM EST{"commentId":5739680,"authorDomain":"awrifford"}
Actually, I would much rather there are tests available for other skills, as well. It's all very well to have the genetic pre-disposition of a good runner but it's probably much more valuable to know if (for example) he or she has a propensity for mathematics or creative writing, perhaps even musical abilities. Having more people in the gene pool who have these attributes will assure a better world for everyone.
{"commentId":5739680,"threadId":"518129","contentId":"2504457","authorDomain":"awrifford"}
- 1 vote
#3 - Wed Mar 4, 2009 4:05 PM EST{"commentId":5741000,"authorDomain":"sueinbarre"}
Just knowing the results of the test would leave that knowledge always in your subconcious. You might not mean to act on the knowledge, but when your favorite sport came on TV, you would probably encourage the child to sit down and watch it with you. Christmas and birthdays might also bring out sports equipment, tickets to games or the gift of a spot at a summer sports camp. It is not that you are trying to control your child and what they do with their life. You just don't want them to miss out on anything that they might excell in. We do this enough without having science there to encourage us. Women who wanted to be ballerinas or cheer leaders frequently enroll their daughters in classes whether they want to learn ballet or how to land without breaking a leg when they are thrown in the air by the cheerleading squad. Having the gene for running fast might help in a job as a policeman or a teacher in a day care center even more that in playing football. There are so many things involved in sports that just one gene could not decide that is what you should do with your life and should ever a used to push a child toward a career that they have not chosen for themselves.
Sue
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#4 - Wed Mar 4, 2009 4:55 PM EST{"commentId":5741391,"authorDomain":"JohninJax"}
Are we entitled to a million dollar baby shoes contract - The Nike Air DNA ?
{"commentId":5741391,"threadId":"518129","contentId":"2504457","authorDomain":"JohninJax"}
#5 - Wed Mar 4, 2009 5:11 PM EST{"commentId":5741396,"authorDomain":"arbs1256"}
I thought eugenics went away?
{"commentId":5741396,"threadId":"518129","contentId":"2504457","authorDomain":"arbs1256"}
- 1 vote
#6 - Wed Mar 4, 2009 5:11 PM EST{"commentId":5746965,"authorDomain":"alan-399411z"}
OK... Let's put five kids in the backyard with nothing but two big cardboard boxes and see what happens?
Nothing.
They would not have a clue what to do with the boxes. Kids have no imagination. To me those boxes were spaceship that could carry us to the far reaches of space. They were forts for keeping dragons and monsters out. They were fastest race cars in the world and at very least they made GREAT sleds for sliding down grassy hills on saturday afternoons.
Ahhh the good old days.
Now people want to design their babies to be bigger, better, more this, more that. Reminds me of the Ternimator or some horror movie gone terribly wrong.
{"commentId":5746965,"threadId":"518129","contentId":"2504457","authorDomain":"alan-399411z"}
#7 - Wed Mar 4, 2009 10:26 PM EST{"commentId":5821616,"authorDomain":"gavanberg"}
i say this is good if u know what your child is good at encourage them if they dont like it let them do what they want if they like it thats even better maybe make a career out of it if not thats ok as long as they have a great future then it will be fine
{"commentId":5821616,"threadId":"518129","contentId":"2504457","authorDomain":"gavanberg"}
#8 - Mon Mar 9, 2009 2:33 AM EDT{"canLink":false,"threadId":"518129","isPrivate":false}
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Let a child be a child, all to soon they will grow up, shopping at Wallymart, etc.