Kids on ocean passages - reckless or character building?

[Heckler]

w

:encouragement:It always makes me uneasy to see young kids on long passage making such as circumnavigations.
Their parents had a choice whether to put themselves in potentially harmful situations - the kids
didn't.
Also, having kids is a responsibility - to see them properly educated and socialized with their own
peer groups.
If someone wants to take off around the world then don't have kids - or wait until they are old enough
to make an informed decision on whether to participate or not.
Just my point of view :encouragement:

Its weird how someone who has just joined the forum comes on and starts doing contentious stuff straight away. Im with BOB on this one TROLL!
I also suspect a new identity for some old mishief maker!
S

 

[robertj]

Sorry, am I out of touch. Last I heard he was working as a pilot for an air ambulance? Seems like a responsible enough occupation to me.

I agree and at a net worth of over $60m and an annual income of $2m plus not bad pay for an ambulance driver!

 

[pyrojames]

Great post Jonic.

+1

Just asked my nine year old, if he thought he should have been left at home while we sailed across the Atlantic. He said that's "stupid".
He and his sister went straight back in to school at the top of their classes and his sister is the Team Captain.

Far better experience for them than a year in school, and no more dangerous than travelling on the UK roads.

 

[Ravi]

pmsl.
<edit> that was at the HRH photo <edit>

I was going to reply to this interesting thread but I think that Jonic's post - based on personal experience - says more than I ever could.

In reply to the OP - I can understand the concerns that some idiots might take their kids off on overambitious passages on unsuitable vessels. Butthose people would be just as ignorant and stupid ashore and put their kids into harms way.

And yes, some parents may not bother to educate their kids or socialise them when they travel around on a yacht but, with parents like that, those kids would be doomed at home. Who knows? Travelling the world, those kids might have a chance of experiencing something special.

Children, especially, small children, consider everything in their life to be 'the norm' and most research shows that the only thing that really matters to their human happiness is a loving environment and consistency.

It is interesting that people who have had cruising kids worry that they may be too naive'? That sounds wonderful to me. In fact, it sounds like a real childhood! You are naive because you trust people. How wonderful to be able to give your children a proper childhood. Anyone who has had their 12 year old saying that "little so and so in his class gets to play Grand Theft Auto, so why can't he", will be envious.

My experience of crusing kids is that they are just fine. I remember a tiny little British boy who spoke Portuguese and French and within a couple of days of meeting a new German pal he was playing football with him in a mixture of German and English. I bet his language skills were better than most of the kids who go through the GCSE syllabus and he wasn't even secondary age. He seemed happy, too. Little bugger never brought back my fishing line, though. Nasty, thieving boaty kids.

If social services needed to be called, I would think it would be to save the parents sanity! It must be a tough task to take on the responsibility of being central to your child's education and social development and to try to get a boat across an ocean at the same time!

 

[Seajet]

Great post Jonic.

Exactly what I was going to say !

:encouragement:

 

[Fimacca]

Not a troll, just commenting on my own views on an article I read recently on this very website, YBW.......
Not an old salt with any axe to grind either, but I have been on and around boats most of my 48 years!

Some of the great replies have given me an idea of what to do with my dyslexic son who is my youngest, and may not be that 'standardly' academic......although very able with task orientated things and lateral thinking.

Perhaps a long cruise with him in my first year of proper retirement would reap benefits for him, and be a part of my dream too......

 

[GHA]

Not a troll, just commenting on my own views on an article I read recently on this very website, YBW.......
Not an old salt with any axe to grind either, but I have been on and around boats most of my 48 years!

Some of the great replies have given me an idea of what to do with my dyslexic son who is my youngest, and may not be that 'standardly' academic......although very able with task orientated things and lateral thinking.

Perhaps a long cruise with him in my first year of proper retirement would reap benefits for him, and be a part of my dream too......

Refreshingly open minded reply in a medium where so often views are "not for changing!"
:encouragement:
Get out there, it's special

 

[Ravi]

Sorry, am I out of touch. Last I heard he was working as a pilot for an air ambulance? Seems like a responsible enough occupation to me.

Good for him. I bet he saved every penny of his pocket money and did a paper round every day to save up for that Pilot's licence. And well done him getting through the interview. There's a lot of people with pilot licences out there wanting jobs. He done well for himself. Good Lad! If he sticks with it, he may even own his own home someday.
Who is he anyway?

 

[snowleopard]

A lot of my thoughts on children at sea are built on a couple of books I read many years ago and have subsequently bought s/h copies of: Daughters of the Wind and Children of Three Oceans by David Lewis. They recount a circumnavigation with their young daughters. I met a similar couple in Portugal, half way through a circumnavigation (from Australia). They had set out with a toddler and stopped off for 18 months in the UK when the wife found she was pregnant again. Once the second child was mobile they set off again and were getting on very well. Good luck to them.

 

[KellysEye]

We met dozens of kids when in the Caribbean they were the best educated and charming kids we ever met. It was interesting to watch them play, even thought they spoke different language they would still come up with a game. The youngest we met was Rosie who was 1 when leaving the Canaries, we often baby sat her when her parents diving. There is no problem taking kids sailing, even long distance, they just need a safe place to sleep a life jacket and harness.

 

[Fluvial66]

w
Its weird how someone who has just joined the forum comes on and starts doing contentious stuff straight away. Im with BOB on this one TROLL!
I also suspect a new identity for some old mishief maker!
S

Not "Trolling" at all. And hardly contentious.
The OP asked for comments and opinions - and I gave mine, politely.
I emphasized that it was just my opinion, and it is one that I have held for some time.

Or, are you suggesting that, as a new subscriber that I should not have an opinion,
or, having one, should not be allowed to express it.
Now that I do find "weird" !

 

[Wandering Star]

Our bond with our children is unique, the experiences we shared as a family were literally out of this world.
.

Good post Jonic but I'm curious about your claim to have literally travelled out of this world? This seems more of a Viago claim unless of course you were lost at the time?

 

[fireball]

The OP asked for comments and opinions - and I gave mine, politely.
I emphasized that it was just my opinion, and it is one that I have held for some time.

I assume you've read the rest of the thread - have you changed your viewpoint at all? Just curious ...

 

[Fluvial66]

I haven't changed my opinion because I do consider school to be of primary importance
for children. I am surprised at the number of responses suggesting that this is not necessarily so.

I do feel that there are plenty of ways to give a child adventurous, off the wall, independent experiences
without impacting on their formal education.
With pre-school children it is merely a matter of what level of risk one is prepared to accept for the child,
and understandably everyone has their own thoughts on that .... me included !

 

[fireball]

Whilst there are plenty of parents who don't think school is important - I don't think you'll find those sorts of parents taking their kids off on huge adventures ... these kids are usually home schooled - not a task to be undertaken lightly!
School isnt the be all and end all - plenty on here have had a good education and aren't doing well and plenty have had little education yet are doing very nicely thank you.

We will be sending our son to school - because he will need education, but if the situation changes and we go off on a huge adventure I'd have little problem with us home schooling him - at least until he needs to study for formal qualifications.

Perhaps you need to think about why there are all these responses saying that staying at home and sending kids to school isn't of primary importance - plenty of evidence from here to suggest that kids flourish outside the bricks and mortar school.

 

[Wandering Star]

A lot of the self taught children used to study via correspondence courses, there are courses designed for children to follow a standard national curriculum with study papers being posted out to be collected at pre-designated ports of call and completed course work sent back for assessment etc at the same time. The college with the biggest following used to be The Calvert College who enjoyed an excellent reputation amongst liveaboards teaching their sprogs themselves. All the parents I spoke to mentioned how well the children integrated back into school once the adventure was finished.

It's fair to say though that the parents also mentioned the importance of children over 14 years attending formal school if the intention was to carry on through university in order to be acclimatised to conventional study methods.

 

[Kelpie]

I think you have too much faith in formal education. In a classroom, it can be a real struggle to keep kids engaged, and to provide context and relevance. Most children spend only short bursts actually working hard and too much time trying to think up something more interesting to fill their time with.

 

[JumbleDuck]

It's fair to say though that the parents also mentioned the importance of children over 14 years attending formal school if the intention was to carry on through university in order to be acclimatised to conventional study methods.

An awful lot of ex-school pupils find the transition to university study very difficult, as they no longer have Miss and Sir standing over them, spoonfeeding them content and coaxing them through the assessment hoops. Home educated children can find this a lot easier. That's the ones who have been home educated for good educational reasons, not the ones with the wackjob parents who want to prevent them from meeting people of the wrong religion. Thankfully the wackjobs are a small minority in UK HE, unlike in the US.

 

[geem]

:encouragement:It always makes me uneasy to see young kids on long passage making such as circumnavigations.
Their parents had a choice whether to put themselves in potentially harmful situations - the kids
didn't.
Also, having kids is a responsibility - to see them properly educated and socialized with their own
peer groups.
If someone wants to take off around the world then don't have kids - or wait until they are old enough
to make an informed decision on whether to participate or not.
Just my point of view :encouragement:

I could not disagree with this any more. Your own prejudices seem to influence something you seem to know so little about.

I don't know how much sailing experience you have or how many live aboard kids you have met on your extensive travels but the kids I have met and known for over ten years are well adjusted, articulate, well educated and capable. They generally sit at least at least as accomplished as the best land based kids in every respect.

 

[ribrage]

Having actually lived aboard for eight years and had two kids along the way I can categorically say that half of you posting here have no idea what you are talking about.

It was incredible for the whole family and were are blessed to have been given the privilege.

Our bond with our children is unique, the experiences we shared as a family were literally out of this world.

Society is controlled far more than you realise, it's only when you break free that you can really see the thought conditioning.

Society doesn't really want you to think about striking out on your own.

We swam with eagle rays, fed sharks, ate fruit from the trees in the rain forest, tuna as sushi straight from the ocean and watched a hundred sun rises and sun sets together, as well as making friends without prejudice of every race, religion and creed.

It was an almost indescribable experience.

We home schooled for the early years.

Now we are back my eldest passed his 11+ today and is an A student, both of them captain their school sports teams and my eldest plays football at town level and has more medals than I can fit in his cabinet.

They play saxophone, drums and piano and sing in the choir and have masses of friends.

I detest the violent outlook the XBOX, 24hr News and the Internet has now given them.

And to add some weight to Jonics argument my (now ex) wife refused to take our children away sailing when they were younger no matter how much I wanted ,

my son is now 19 is in and out of trouble continually ,stealing money from elderly family , taking drugs , in debt , seldom in work etc etc he is the play station generation.

Is is it so much better to keep them in the system ?

If if I had that time again I absolutely 100 % would take him out of "society" and get him off the grid sailing rather than have the issues he has now.