only child

[boatman61]

I have known several couples who sail/live aboard with one child, a couple of whom gave birth on board.
The kids seemed very happy, intelligent and well rounded, more so than many a land based single child as the parents had that much more time to give them so loneliness was not an issue, they always seemed involved in mom or dad's tasks in one way or the other... and believe me, having peers does not equal a happy childhood..

[SY Kelpie]

Originally Posted by Danigs_87

Did you manage to leave to go cruising with your only child?
I'm in the same boat, we are deciding if it is the right thing to do.

I know you were asking someone else, but I'm going to answer anyway.
We left in August 2021 with our 5yr old, only son.
So we've been full time liveaboards for almost two years now. Have had one brief trip home in that time.
We've travelled down the Irish Sea, across Biscay, to the Balearics, Canaries, and across the Atlantic to the Caribbean.
He's loved every minute of it. He's a different person now, for sure. In Europe it was hard to find other kid boats, but he would sometimes play with the locals. You just have to compensate by giving more of your own time.
The Caribbean is a different story. Kid boats everywhere. There are WhatsApp and Facebook groups which help, but honestly you can pretty much rock up in a popular anchorage and there will be kid boats. We did go for a couple of weeks without seeing other kids at one point, but that was mostly because we had chosen to go off the beaten path to some uninhabited islands.
The daily routine, when we're not on passage, is do school in the morning, and after lunch all the kids get together on the beach and go feral, while the parents have a good blether and a couple of beers. It's not a bad life!