First time teen

[camaraderie]

Wild Pony...As much as I love the cruising life, I think the time to take kids sailing on a liveaboard cruise is when they are young. Taking a teenager out of high school is forcing them to adopt YOUR crazy life (like mine) at a time where friends/peers and socialization is very important to them. It also pretty much insures that their education will suffer as most parents cannot properly provide an adequate schooling particularly in math and the sciences. This will also affect SAT's and college entrance.
I know the above is generalized and your situation may be different. They will hate you for the next 4-6 years whether or not you go sailing. So...it is really about being a parent and holding off on your own dreams for a few years to give yur kids a chance at becoming sucessful in thier own lives.
I'm sure I'll get some flack for this but it is what we did with our 3 kids...and I quit work the day the last one graduated from high school. Now they love to come visit us in exotic places and enjoy the boat with us. I feel good 'cause each of them was able to follow their own path as we are following ours.

[txmatt]

Uhm, Cam, Wild Pony's daughter is now 20, based on the 2001 date of her post. Isn't it your job to chastise people for replying to old threads? Sounds like good general advice, though

[camaraderie]

Hah...guilty as charged! Nevermind!!

[PBzeer]

We'll give you a pass on this one cam, since two other people replied before you did.

[cardiacpaul]

umm, got to weigh in here...

we are the proud caretakers, jailers, parents, "frustrated adults" of a 13 year old girl.

short answer, no flippin way on gods green earth do I want that walking ER visit anywhere near the boat.

Ours may be atypical, but, words coming out of an adults mouths, any adult, are summarily ignored and dismissed as worthless babble.

Without a mall in site, severe withdrawl symptoms manifest themselves as brooding, pouting & whining.

Without an IPod stuffed in the ears, again, withdrawl systems include the above with the additional "hrrrumph" and crossed arm disorder.

If the cell phone is out of range, or the battery dies, or there have been no text messages or calls within the last 8 minutes, severe anxiety manifests itself, leading to panic attacks, depression, severe self-esteem issues, various and sundry "end of the world" scenarios, hissy fits and a general malaise that I refer to as "put on your big girl panties and deal with it" issues.

Dear God, don't have the Captain or the Admiral "suggest" that a small task needs to be completed, say, grabbing a soda out ot the icebox... this will assuredly raise all sorts of concerns that we hate her, that the world hates her, that every one in the universe is sure that she is overworked, underpaid, and unloved. Part two of the dicussion will consist of no less than 4 extremely important reasons, all verified by God Himself as to why the task cannot be reasonably completed in a timely fashion, if completed at all.

Needless to say, I'm liking the looks of the boat more and more this year.

[sailortjk1]

Way too funny Paul, and yes I can relate.
I gots two of 'em.

Funny thing is, the 16 year old loves it and the 14 year old just barley survives.

I have to tell a couple of stories.

We took the older daughter on a two week cruise from Detroit to Chicago. She was happy if we had cell phone coverage. Every night when we pulled into either an anchorage or a port, the first thing she would do was check her phone for dots. If we had dots, all was good.

She was glad to be in places like Mackinaw but hated the remote locations like Beaver Island. At the end of the cruise she was glad she went.

Last year was the first time my younger daughter went on a cruise.
She survived, but could not wait to get home.

I know it an old thread, I guess some threads never die...........

[sailaway21]

In my experience, get 'em wet young and after the throes of puberty have passed (what age is that again?) they'll come back to you.

Just a note to Cardiac's post: The girl kid HAD to move out to attend college ten miles away due to the intolerable living conditions at home. For this I pay four hundred dollars a month. Three months and the wind is backing strong to the north. Her current boyfriend is living at home and bemoaning same. She advised him to shut-up and deal with it. "Everything costs money", was the phrase that stuck in my mind. Six months on and I've gone from a retrograde dolt with a control fixation (the latter I confess to) to something approaching the wise old man of the sea. I am prefering to eat my dish of revenge cold and finding the piquancy of it delicious. Receiving weekly updates on the room-mate wars is keeping my bowl full. The latest, and perhaps most fun, relates to her anticipated rage of coming in and finding the room-mate and room-mate's boyfriend "doing it" on HER couch. This has been pre-announced as the last straw. For me, it's just another reason to keep on living!

[yotphix]

On the topic of teens and sailing I think that it's worth mentioning Sail Training. ASTA is a good resource for all sorts of sailtraining organizations who basically operate like a summer camp for 14-18 year olds but on sailing ships. What is cool about these programs for kids is that they are thrown together with a bunch of other kids and over the course of a couple of weeks they learn to sail a ship. Most of the programs are essentially run by kids, with some adults around to make sure everything is safe. If there is any chance that a kid will like sailing, that will be nutured here and allowed to grow. They will also learn seamanship skills that will likely outstrip those of their cruiser parents in short order! Many people who go through these programs become lifelong sailors.

[pigslo]

I pray every day that my stepson of 12 1/2 turns to sailing. I don't think there is a better hobby to keep them out of trouble.
pigslo

[chris_gee]

One of my friends used to get very upset that his daughter used to call him a .... By 18-19 or so she emerged as a real sweetie. Hope it lasts. At this point I am watching my 18 month old granddaughter - she is very bright but it reminds me just how much there is to learn. All a step at a time. Lucky her grandfather dinna know it all yet so we have some empathy.