What is The Right Age for Sailing With Kids

[appick]

We started at 2 weeks 😁

[Richwink]

Hi
We cruised a year with three boys 8, 6 and 2.5 in the Bahamas, Cuba and Florida Keys.

Richard

Check out:
Exceeding the Drift | Your life is an occasion, rise to it.

[rabbi]

our were 3 & 4 when we started doing longer sails. Kids adapt quickly, they feel home before you have found time to store the groceries.

We learned to appreciate night sails as the kids just sleep during the night. Long sailing days are not what they came for, at least during normal holidays.

Plus our son gets seasick on the first day of passage, nights however are OK. After two days no choppy sea will affect him anymore.

[svseachange]

Every age has its challenges. For me personally, I found a 34' boat with a 3-4yo too small , but a 43' boat where our 7yo boy has his own cabin lis OK. We know others doing just fine on smaller boats with more kids.

My current challenge is home school. Getting an active boy to sit down for several hours each day and pay attention to schoolwork is a challenge.

Mom and I share the load at least 50/50. We both have different strengths. I do the homeschooling and Mom does the cooking and feeding. Works OK on our boat.

Kids at different ages need different things. As previously mentioned boundaries and structure can make life easier on both the parents and kids.

Finding long term friendships for a child on a boat is hard so they end up needing to fit into an adult world a little. I try to fill the gap and provide as much comradery as possible.

Our boy likes to be in the cockpit (tethered!) at sea. And he loves catching fish and doing cartwheels and riding his scooter when he is ashore.

If we stop cruising again, it will probably for the boy to go to school and have the opportunity to form long term friendships with other kids.