Larry,

"just living on that deserted desert island of fiberglass."

Wow! Based on what you wrote below are you sure that you ever want to go
cruising? Seems to me that kids on a real cruising boat have a lot of
opportunities to meet and socialize with kids. What they don't have is
the opportunity to fall in with the wrong crowd and end up stealing cars
or selling drugs to their school chums.

I'll grant you that a "normal" teenager who has been raised on cable TV,
no homework, and unlimited internet/cell phone will be pretty bored while
the boat is getting moved.

BTW, while I was growing up I didn't WANT to live on a farm and have to do
farm chores while my friends were watching TV. I didn't WANT to run a tractor
and harvester through the summer while my friends were lounging around down
at the swimming pool. Looking back now though, I see that I'm better off
for it, and I'm glad that my dad was wiser than I was.

Usually, what kids WANT isn't all that good for them. I'll bet that most
people who ask will find out that their kids don't WANT to go to school. I
know I didn't ;-)

And BTW, I've never noticed kids being shy about telling Daddy when they're
unhappy either.

YMMV,

Don W.

Larry W4CSC wrote:

There's the point. Maybe the child doesn't WANT to live on the boat
without his friends, particularly his girlfriend, without his bike, without
a real neighborhood full of other kids to socialize with.
But...alas....DADDY DOES and he's forced to go. He may not tell Daddy he
doesn't want to live on that cramped little isolated island in the middle
of nowhere because he'll cause a fight, hurt daddy's feelings, etc.....but
he's lost interest in the novelty...no TV...no internet...no friends...no
school activities...just living on that deserted desert island of
fiberglass.