Dangerous Kids

I’ve seen a lot of stuff about kids sailing solo around the world or flying great distances in airplanes without adult supervision. I’ve also noticed that a lot have had to be rescued. There was some stuff on CNN about it and there were a lot of experts that were against it. There was some talk about the parent’s responsibility to the safety of the kids and that there should be laws against this type of activity with kids that young. I know that I don’t have the answers but I have an opinion. And as it happens, I have Kieran’s opinion. I found something he wrote about this. So I thought I would write a blog and include his thoughts as well.
For me, I don’t have a problem with it. I think most parents have more than enough information to understand the risks to their children without our politicians getting involved. In every case, the family involved had put year into this activity and the kids were well trained. I’m not saying that every parent is capable of this but for the most part, parents will do the right thing for their children. As opposed to these so-called experts, that talk about kids in generalities and are usually pushing a book or something when they are talking on any subject.
The kids that attempt this stuff are usually very capable and are more mature than most kids their ages. They usually have extensive training and have the background for it. It’s not something new to them. But for the rest of the world where parents can’t allow their kids to be out of their eyesight for 20 minutes (this applied to my parents), this would be dangerous. These are parents that for the most part, raise kids that are ill equipped to function in the world because they never have any responsibility. The kids have no freedom to learn and usually spend most of their free time in front of a TV or video game. There are actually parents that use childhood to prepare their kids for life.
I’m not saying that some of these things are not dangerous, but what in life isn’t dangerous. Being alive is dangerous. Everything is dangerous. But what most people miss in this is that there are people that raise their children to be self-reliant strong persons able to deal with hardships. They raise their children to be outgoing and to live life to the fullest. These kids are alive. They work, study, learn, and know what they are doing but they are getting everything out of life that they can. They are not sitting on the couch waiting to die.
These attempts to sail around the world are not something that is done on a whim. They are extensively planned and have safety measures set up for emergencies. I know that every emergency cannot be anticipated but they can be mitigated. And because the kids have been involved in this for years, it’s something that can be less dangerous than riding a bike on neighborhood streets. So for me, if the kid has the right training, the right support, and the right parents: I don’t see why anyone has a standing to say anything about it.
(Kieran)
If I have any kids, they will be allowed to do anything as long as they show they are mature enough to do them. I’ll raise them like my parents raised me. Me, my sister, and brother were never allowed to watch tv till 8 pm except for special occasions. Me and my brother was almost never in the house. I spent almost all of my day light hours in childhood playing ball, going on hikes into the woods, riding 4wheelers or dirt bikes to the river to swim or just riding trails, or working for whoever needed some help. When I was 11-12 years old, my parents let me go camping by my self for a weekend for the first time. Since then, I've gone a lot. Matter of fact, I just got back from 3 days and nights camping out on the river by myself. It was great. My parents made it so any extra money we needed, we had to earn it ourselves. So we were always responsible with money because we had worked for it. We are capable to make decisions for ourselves because we were raised like that.
Yesterday there was a story on the news and in the newspapers about a kid who became the youngest to sail around the world. There was a lot of bad comments about this, mostly about his parents. There was some loudmouth on tv that said it shouldn’t be allowed to happen. He said that no kid at 15 has the knowledge and skill that is required if there had been a major storm or a mechanical failure. I thought it was funny that this guy was saying this after the kid had done it and he showed he had the knowledge and skill that was required. LOL. I asked my dad if he would have let any of us do something like that if we had the background and the knowledge to do it. He said that he would have let me and my sis do it because he thought we had the strength and mental toughness to do it. He said that he wouldn’t have let William do it because of his lack of follow thru and he just wasn’t strong enough mentally. But (with my dad there is always a but it seems), there would have been a lot of years before something like that would have been attempted because it’s not something you go into halfassed. He said that he’s never held us back from anything because of what anybody else thought, and I agree with what he said. He said that a lot of people only see the worst in kids or the lack of follow thru. Most people say that kids today just sit around the house playing video games, talking on their cell phones, on the computer, and watching tv. A lot of them do but it's not all kids, there are plenty of adults do this too. With this I completely agree with dad. Maybe it’s true of some but it’s a bad generalization to say this of all kids because I have only played a computer game maybe 10 times in my life, I just don't have time for that stuff. Almost the only tv I watch is sports. During the school term, I usually work till dark everyday (I live on a farm now). If I work away from the farm, then I still have to come home and do my work on the farm.
I don’t know if it’s right for every kid to do what ever he/she wants to do but for certain kids that have shown they can do these things, they should be allowed to do them. As with every thing in life, it’s up to the individual. Banning a group of people for any reason (including age) is just wrong. But maybe it's just example of age discrimination and the underlying fear of youth by adults. It seems every generation, the biggest threat of the adult world is from the youth of the world. LOL.