Mark, this is a bit much... there's no better way to ensure that a kid uses (and often abuses) alcohol and drugs than by constantly ordering him to never try alcohol or drugs at all.

Rocks - Mark is an excellent source for information on the brain, its functions, and what can happen to it following injuries, and I find myself consistently impressed with his knowledge base on these subjects, HOWEVER in my opinion he often errs in making a catastrophe out of every concussion that anyone ever experiences. The fact of the matter is that most of the people who use this forum are medical anomalies - people who developed extremely severe symptoms from seemingly minor injuries. 1 in 10,000, if not 1 in 100,000, or 1 in a million kind of cases. Make no mistake, brain injuries regardless of their perceived severity are THE MOST serious injuries a person can incur, but if what has happened to the people on this forum was the norm there would be A LOT more than 10 or so people using this site on a daily basis, you can rest assured of that.

This is true: Almost everyone experiences at least one concussion at some point during their life. Almost all of these people will report no lingering symptoms from this injury beyond a couple weeks after the initial impact (they may unknowingly be experiencing lingering deficiencies, but if they don't notice them I think it's safe to assume that they deficiencies they have as a result of injury are extremely minute in scale). The brain has a remarkable ability to bring itself back from all sorts of traumatic occurrences, ESPECIALLY when those traumatic occurrences (provided they aren't catastrophic in nature) happen during a person's youth when the brain is in its most elastic state.

Here's all I'm trying to say in a nutshell: Taking all the precautions that your doctor has advised (particularly in relation to sports) is a great idea, but don't plan on keeping a cage around him when he's 13 just because he hit his head when he was 7. Keep a keen eye on him over the next few weeks - longer if it seems appropriate to you - but this injury he's incurred is almost certainly not the end of the world. In all likelihood he will appear to be back to 100%, and will feel back to 100%, within a couple of weeks (if not sooner), at which point you can feel safe letting him go right back to living a full, healthy life again, with all the opportunities open to him that every other kid his age has.

Be mindful, be careful, be loving, and be attentive, but don't be suffocating.

Best of luck to you!