Life Aboard With 2 Kids

[Hudson Force]

Our children were aboard with us from infancy until their departure as young adults. Our daughter now lives aboard her boat with her husband and child.

Some thoughts about our experiences with children cruising:
- it's best for each child to have some form of private space.
- some common cruising activities were presenting plays or stories, dragging toy boats behind, following treasure hunt clues to find a location on board, making snack trays, taking the helm, simple navigation problems, snorkeling reefs, shore exploring, being pulled on a aquaplane ("boogie-board") astern, riding on a bosun's chair on the clew of the genoa, reading,.... our grandson now has an iPad with many wondrous aps that were not available during our era.
- obviously, there are different safety concerns with young children cruising than with those in houses. We always were aware of which parent was on "childwatch"; we had specific rules about the dangers of the running rigging; standards for teathers, life jackets & bicycle helmets (not just for bike riding!)

We brought most of our child rearing experices on board from our own background growing up as children in our parent's houses. It's not so difficult. We were even able to hide easter eggs on our deck and have our two to six year old children thrill with the hunt!

''wishing the best of success for you and your children!

[pwillems]

Originally Posted by svTOTEM

"how about a 'board' game then."

Ha! Classic. I'm already picturing the "Dad, that's just lame" stare on my 11 yo's face when I first say this to her.

[hamburking]

Originally Posted by pwillems

Ha! Classic. I'm already picturing the "Dad, that's just lame" stare on my 11 yo's face when I first say this to her.

Actually, I keep "SCRABBLE" on board...when there really is nothing else, we get it out, and its usually hilarious. To be fair, the kids get double points, which keeps it challenging. Plus, we've learned many new words...some of them real.

[vtsailguy]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

You might also read the Sailing With Kids blog, http://sailingwithkids.net/ & or contact said boat's skipper, who happens to be a member on here. They're selling their Tartan 41 in the F-S section. http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...es-145371.html And spent a few years in the Caribbean with their offspring.

C'est moi!

First, whatever doubts you have, do it! It truly is a life changing experience. Everything will be magnified, the highs and the lows. We tried to paint a pretty unvarnished picture on our blog.

I would say each definitely has to have their own space. It doesn't have to be a cabin. On alchemy, we only had one door, to the head, and the three boys only had pilot and quarter berths with curtains. But it was enough.

I don't think you have to go overboard with toys. I think all we took was Legos. We had a few others, baseball gloves, frisbee, couple of board games. They never made it out of the locker.

Reading is key. When we started, our youngest of 8 was an emerging reader. By the end, he was on Percy Jackson. The boys read for at least 1-2 hours a day.

Homeschooling was not our greatest success. *Cough*, we'll just move on shall we?

I would say that there are two main factors for success.

Counterintuitively, being on a boat... Don't be on the boat too much. Captains love sailing, but I found kids generally are not. Make the sailing as little as possible and get to places you can play ashore. Now that doesn't mean spend months on the hook. One recent blog post showed all the places we have been, it was a lot. Our strategy was to move frequently, but short distances. There was always something new to see, things to do and Pan o'chocolate to eat!

I'll try and post some pictures of our boat so you can see the size and pictures of our adventures ashore.

[vtsailguy]

Lol, forgot to mention the second thing. Find other kid boats. Being together 24/7 gets old pretty quickly. The break of each having someone else to hang out with is a miracle cure for everything!

[vtsailguy]

Never let it be said kids don't learn anything when sailing!

[cwyckham]

Britican (Kim Brown) is sailing the med on a monohull with her 5 year old girl. She just made this amazing video about her daughter's life aboard that will make you feel much better!

[makana]

We have been living aboard our catamaran, Makana for the past nine years. Our daughter crossed the Atlantic with us aboard Makana when she was three and since then has visited 23 countries in both hemispheres. We've been home schooling her, I'm a certified/licensed secondary Chemistry teacher, however my wife has been our daughters primary teacher covering 90% of the structured instruction.This will change next year as our daughter enters the 7th grade. Our daughter recently turned 12 and has the intellect and social skills of an adult. Over the years I've encountered numerous boats with children. All of the kids were far more advanced academically and socially at their ages than those students whom I encountered during my 10 years of teaching on Maui prior to cruising.
We are planning on visiting Cuba via the Bahamas next winter. I'm going to start a blog in the next week or so on the process I've been going thru to get official permission from the gov't. We hope to be in Wardrick Wells for Christmas, last year the were over 20 kids there, and then to Georgetown to wait for a good window to head to Cuba. Come on along!

[k9medic]

I have to agree that getting the kids to take ownership in the process is a huge event. They learn a good skill and truly feel part of the team.

We don't live aboard but we spend quite a bit of time on the boat. Heading out for a 16 day tip to the Bahamas starting next week.


My then 9 year old navigating while we are cooking


My then 7 year old standing watch



Scrubbing the deck. LOL

[ObsessionSTJ]

There is one more blog I would recommend, windtraveler.net. There quite a lot of info and personal perspective that Brittany shares about having 3 under 3 onboard. We don't have any kiddos but I love the ideas listed here! This is the kind of life that kids were made for.

Camile
mountainsandseashore.blogspot.com

[SailingTerrapin]

Congratulations on your move to the boat. As others may have mentioned be prepared for change, lots of change for everyone onboard. I agree that chores appropriate to age are important for the kids. You also want to be sure that you have plenty of ways for them to stay active when you and your wife are busy with boat chores. Pack toys, games, coloring books, etc. If you plan to fish, get them involved. Our girls (10 & 12) LOVE to fish from the boat, both trolling and from their own poles when at anchor.
You'll also find other kids boats that will help keep them entertained. Can't lie though, living in a marina sucks (we did it for 7 months before setting sail) compared to actual cruising. But then again, living at a marina allows for the adjustment of living on a boat before setting sail and not having certain conveniences. Best of luck