peladoboton wrote:

Sierra Ledge Rat wrote:Personally, I applaud the parents for letting their kid go off on such a grand adventure.

I wish I could meet the parents and shake their hand. Any parent who says they wouldnt let their kid do something for which they were prepared speaks out of selfishness.

Is selfishness to held in higher esteem than exploring one's personal limits? Have any of you ever met the girl? Can you say that she wasn't ready? Or are you saying that she wasn't ready at age 16 because YOU weren't ready at age 16?

i remember a kid whose mom never let him go on the high adventure stuff in scouts, and he has spent the last 15 years since we finished high school trying to prove he's a man...and failing miserably.

i was hiking by myself in the sticks of northern idaho at age ten and hunting by myself at age 12, guiding backpacking at age 16 with my dad...all because my dad sternly informed me how bad my attitude was when i took any less initiative.

expect your kids to step out of their comfort zones, and not just in trying an x-box game they might not win as easily.

Agree, when you read the memoirs of Reinhold Messner or or other climbers who lived that close to the mountains, you will be amazed by the things they did at quite a young age. He started out climbing the Sass Rigais with his father when he was five - have a look at that in "Images".

Not every dream should be fostered into reality. Sometimes a child's dream should be left as just that -- a dream.

Where the dream is the parent's, and not the child's, then placing the child in harm's way is just a form of child abuse.

It's not always black and white, but sometimes it is:

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/05/us/instructor-error-cited-in-crash-of-plane-flown-by-7-year-old.html?ref=jessica_dubroff

kozman18 wrote:Not every dream should be fostered into reality.

Of course the parents should be held responsible. Parents should ALWAYS be held
responsible for what their kids do ... or don't do!

Ejnar Fjerdingstad wrote: ... you will be amazed by the things they did at quite a young age."

Yeah ... I wonder if this same thing is happening with the kids in North Korea ???

Sounds like an "upcoming episode" in the works for the next "Doctor Phil" show :

not sure if it's been mentioned yet....but Abby Sunderland been found

http://www.fanhouse.com/2010/06/11/abby-sunderland-found-alive-after-harrowing-ordeal/

kozman18 wrote:Not every dream should be fostered into reality. Sometimes a child's dream should be left as just that -- a dream.

Where the dream is the parent's, and not the child's, then placing the child in harm's way is just a form of child abuse.

It's not always black and white, but sometimes it is:

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/05/us/instructor-error-cited-in-crash-of-plane-flown-by-7-year-old.html?ref=jessica_dubroff

Seven year old kids get to fly planes? Should be illegal!

FortMental wrote:When a parent has to weigh the success of setting a record in evaluating readiness, a definite line has been crossed; Abby's parents didn't evaluate her readiness to solo around the world. They evaluated Abby's readiness to set a record, primarily, and sailing solo secondarily.

Few on this forum advocate swaddling young people. FortMental and The Chief have drawn the lines thoughtfully, which is to say, with somewhat more restraint than an adventurous teenager. It's no disrespect to a hardy teen to say, Better to live til your next adventure than to set a record for risk. As for heroism, selflessness trumps self-agrandisement every time.

kozman18 wrote:Where the dream is the parent's, and not the child's, then placing the child in harm's way is just a form of child abuse.

You are so right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lolli wrote:“All women dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous women, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.”

Yes indeed. Then the shit storm called reality wakes their dreaming asses up real quick and they have to get that dreaming ass, rescued.

Got to love it.

I'm not one of those who say the girl had no business trying to sail around the world solo. Although it's debatable, I think 16 is old enough to make an informed decision on a lot of things (not anything, though), so I think I'd have to defer to the judgment of the girl and those who know her best in this situation. Plus, she can handle a boat better than I can and has more experience than I do, and whether 16 or 40, a person is equally helpless against the ocean if things go wrong. The only thing better at breaking a man than the mountains is the sea. Since she clearly has more experience in a boat than most other people do, I don't think the experience argument works very well here.

However, I think it was pretty poor thinking to plan to be in the Indian Ocean at a time when conditions were likely going to be dangerous. Someone already posted to the contrary (about the conditions) on this thread, but since then, I have read comments from someone who has sailed solo around the world that contradict those statements.

It would be nice, though, if the people who defend the girl and her parents outright would quit using the car analogy. While it may be more statistically dangerous to get into a car, we in the industrialized world pretty much have to get into cars; it is not much of a choice. Sailing (and climbing) are choices, so comparing wants and needs is a bit of an apples-and-oranges argument.

Bob Sihler wrote:I'm not one of those who say the girl had no business trying to sail around the world solo. Although it's debatable, I think 16 is old enough to make an informed decision on a lot of things (not anything, though), so I think I'd have to defer to the judgment of the girl and those who know her best in this situation. Plus, she can handle a boat better than I can and has more experience than I do, and whether 16 or 40, a person is equally helpless against the ocean if things go wrong.

Translated: So, what's age got to do with it ???

Hey, that "cougar" is looking BETTER (to me) all the time ...

peladoboton wrote:there's no need to alter an original quote.

you don't say?





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