On 2008-01-13 07:11:59 -0500, "Sir Thomas of Cannondale"
said:

A number of years ago, a guy in a town about 10 miles from me, built a
big old boat in his backyard.
snip
A few years goes by .. another article in the newspaper. The guy was
finally finished with the home built boat.
snip
Guess what? The kids were "busy", they had no interest whatsoever of
sailing around the world.

Which points out to a primary reason for not home-building a boat: For
all those years, they were *working*, not out and learning the ropes,
building up experience, competence and confidence and enjoying family
bonding.

Let the kids live their lives, and if they feel that cruising is what
they want to do,, good for them.

You would let kids do only what they *want* to do? ;-)

Who is the 15 year old going to socialize with? What about stuff like
the school dance, the prom,
clubs, sports, boyfriends, going to camp, going to the beach with
friends, ..... can't you see, that
kids need to be with kids so they can grow up, then they can go cruising.

Cruisers, particularly those with kids, do *not* live in a vacuum --
always on the hook with no one else around. Kids are pretty much
*everywhere* in the world.

There are kids on other boats and on shore, and ports and marinas are
particularly good places to find responsible local kids -- who are more
than happy to socialize after (and during) work. A quick walk into town
finds the others.

"The beach" is a dink-ride away -- and they'll have a "driver's
license" and the freedom it gives years before the land-bound; they
*are* camping; various games "happen" wherever kids are; water sports
are almost unavoidable. Any place there are people, there will be
dances, socializing, partying, friendships, romances and so forth.
These days, they can even submerge themselves in the Wii/iPod/IM
culture, though such couch-potato things seem to be less appealing to
them with all the *activities* surrounding them. With fewer artificial
time-wasters, they are forced to pay more attention to the people and
places around them and since those things change, it's not the
same-old, same-old boring environment. There's always something new to
get out to see, new people (and kids) to get to know.

My observation of cruising kids at our docks has been that they form
new friendships almost immediately. Because they are periodically
forced to find new friends, they can't fall into the cliques that
inevitably form in static societies, so meet and befriend a wider range
of personality and values.

--
Jere Lull
Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD
Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI trips & tips: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/