Jere,, you and salty.. I could not disagree more.

I work with kids everyday. The last thing they want to do is go cruising
with mom and dad.

Now.. if you told them they could have the boat and to cruising with their
friends?

I shudder to think what the boat would look like after a month...




"Jere Lull" wrote in message
news:2008011311161416807-jerelull@maccom...
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/