Our son moved aboard with us when he was 38 hours old and has been a
liveaboard boat kid his entire life. He'll be three years old in six weeks.
Being our first child, we kind of went hog wild on the
safety issues. We live on a
monohull. Naturally, we netted the entire lifeline perimeter and made custom sunbrella pannels to fill-in the railing areas around the stern and gates as soon as he learned to crawl. Below, we made custom net enclosures on his bunk and settees for day time use. One thing which worked great was a 3/4 inch piece of
plywood which fit snuggly between the first & second ladder rungs which prevented him from going up on
deck when we weren't watching. We are
dock dwellers and he has somehow developed a keen sense of caution whenever he gets near the edge of the
dock and
lifelines. He's fallen from the max heights of his
bed and through the
companionway and the only dammage was to our ear drums upon catching his breath. He hasn't fallen in over a year and has never fallen
overboard or off the dock. He loves playing in the
water but I'm still not comfortable with his swimming ability. Patience is all it takes.
We heeded Charlie's advice early and give him simple responsibilities and include him into all aspects of day-to-day chores and decision making. We gave him his own set of plastic tools and he absolutely LOVES getting into the
engine compartment with his plastic wrench and hammer.
We impose few rules upon him other than wearing his lifejacket before we get into the
dinghy and holding onto the
lifelines until we're ready for him. He still gets his bumps & bruises and gets scraped-up from time-to-time.
The car seat in the
cockpit works great so long as it's near the
helm. He used to frett a bit while we were casting our lines but he's even over that now. He has yet to want to leave the cockpit when underway.
We try to lead by good example and he's becoming a fine young sailor.
And I'm sure everything'll
work out just fine for the rest of you adventurous parents and parents to be... so long as you use common sense and keep your guard up.
Enjoy,
Kirk, Cath & Stuart ~~~_/) ~~~ the Gallivanters