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[sailaboutvic]

I agree that they're generally more mature and certainly more responsible - for themselves and others - than their land-based peers, but I also agree with Vic, that early maturity is perhaps something of a double edged sword. Additionally - admittedly based on observing rather than personal experience - those livaboard/boat-schooled kids appear be better educated than those attending school formerly, but this head-start seems to be lost if they're home-schooled for their secondary education; particularly the latter half of it. They're certainly well educated, but often don't seem to end up with good formal qualifications, with the majority seeming to leave the family boat for a job with the charter/flotilla fleets, or on a super-yacht; no doubt fun, but you're unlikely to make a decent living at it.

Funny you say that
We know of a US couple with twins at 17 they left to join motor boat charters .
Another young lady who sailed with her parents from a young age also joined a super yacht.
My two sailed with me from a very young age as I brought them up on my own , my son loves sailing and married a sailing instructions although with two young children they don't get time to go out sailing .
My daughter won't be seen died on a boat .

 

[Kelpie]

I'm for one happy to see you getting on with life plains while you boy young , at that ages it's much easier to school him on board .
It's as they get older it gets harder especially if they can't mix with children their ages .
As much would have it , there many more cruising children now then there was some years back .
Enjoy

Yes it feels like the right age. We have met a few boats with kids aged 11+ and generally it's not going so well. Our wee guy, after a year aboard, will now happily gravitate towards any other kids we meet- regardless of age, nationality, or gender. But he seems ok going a few weeks without other kids too.

 

[ryanroberts]

We had two sets of friends who worked online whilst cruising and both found the same constraint: Many of the places they wanted to spend extended periods didn't have strong/fast enough wifi, so it was usually short visits to the islands/backwaters with longer periods, often in a marina near to larger population centres.

Yes, I am not quite as reliant on speed as a designer or need to sit on video calls a day, but do need reliability. 4G and a bloody great antenna works for me on South coast but this is not exactly Micronesia.

Starlink is a near term prospect, their marine offering is disruptive vs current sat broadband options but still on the 'how bloody much' end of the spectrum. But RV may well work coastal and is affordable at £100 a month

 

[Kelpie]

Yes, I am not quite as reliant on speed as a designer or need to sit on video calls a day, but do need reliability. 4G and a bloody great antenna works for me on South coast but this is not exactly Micronesia.

Starlink is a medium term prospect, their marine offering is disruptive vs current sat broadband options but still on the 'how bloody much' end of the spectrum.

There's also OneWeb and Kuiper likely to be in operation in the next few years.

 

[newtothis]

I can do with kids once they get old enough to take to the pub or out on the motorbike with you, but little ones are irritating and babies are just plain scary; I got tricked into holding my eldest nephew when he was about three days old (he's 40 now) and I've never let anybody put one into my arms since; you just know that nobody's going to see the funny side if you drop one.

My brother and I both played rugby as kids, and my young niece made for a good substitute for a ball to practice passing . She loved it, but sister in law was not so impressed.

 

[BobnLesley]

... Our wee guy, after a year aboard, will now happily gravitate towards any other kids we meet- regardless of age, nationality, or gender...

But how do they do that? I've more than once witnessed half a dozen kids, speaking four different languages meet up on a beach or marina and be able to communicate with each other within ten minutes.

 

[Kelpie]

But how do they do that? I've more than once witnessed half a dozen kids, speaking four different languages meet up on a beach or marina and be able to communicate with each other within ten minutes.

Being a native English speaker does feel like cheating. When a German and a French boat meet up, they'll most likely converse in English.
Kids seem to pick up languages so quickly (not that our wee guy had learned much Spanish...). It's not unusual for the kids to be helping the parents to translate...

 

[rotrax]

But how do they do that? I've more than once witnessed half a dozen kids, speaking four different languages meet up on a beach or marina and be able to communicate with each other within ten minutes.

Our kids picked up a little Czech by living for a few weeks in that country. Conversely, our Czech friends Grandchildren stayed with us for for several years during the long summer school break and very soon had English in their locker. Kuba, the Grandson, got a job in Edinburgh as manager of a call centre for a Bank. Not bad for someone for whom English was not his first language.