How to keep your kids safe in extreme sports

As more and more kids become involved with extreme sports, a trainer who works with children has some tips on how to keep them safe.

Dan Iaboni is a trainer and owner of The Monkey Vault in Toronto. The gym trains children in parkour, gymnastics and stunt training

Speaking to Saskatoon Morning's Eric Anderson, Iaboni said it's much safer for parents to let their kids try sports in a controlled environment.

"Your kid is going to find one way to do it regardless," he said. "You might as well hold your kid's hand, take him out to a place, visit some instructors and start getting him into a program, instead of finding out he did it with Jimmy down the street and got hurt."

Slow start is key

While some parents may be nervous about letting their kids do backflips, Iaboni said being too careful may spur some children on to even more dangerous activity.

"I think it's important for parents to be involved," he said. "Know what your kids are doing, and if their kid does something great, say, 'wow, that was a really great thing my kid learned,' instead of, 'Yeah, I don't really like my kid doing this sport."

Iaboni said it's very important for children to progress slowly through extreme sports and not start with complicated stunts. 

"There's always a logical progression that you can bring your kid to do," he said. "So, instead of starting with, 'Jimmy's going to learn a backflip today,' Jimmy's first going to learn to crawl and walk."

The trainer said it's very important that parents meet with any trainer their child is going to work with, and review the facility before enrolling them.