Laura Dekker - young solo sailor woes

[tommays]

My daughter was allways into ballet and got offered a full time GIG with a youth company just before she turned 14 years old

Holy CRAP you would have thought we were the worst parents in the world when we let here live with a host family with 3 other girls here age in Chicago

The school became such a big issue with NY i had to write a letter that she was no longer a resident of the state and it was NOT there BIZZ

Now after 3 years it turned out she was not ment to matchstick thin SO she went to UB buffalo and got here 4 year degree and is just Starting and MSW at SUNY stonybrook

NOT bad for a kid who the smart people said was throwing her life away and she and her 3 sister like firends are still best of friends and at allmost 22 years old still see each other at lest two times a year

ALL FOUR girls have gone on to excel in the real world as its pretty easy compared to the 5-1/2 day week 12+ hour days of FULL time dance training and high school

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

http://www.seafaring.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=15228

this is the rest of the story from latsand atts....
another forum writes the girl has permission from nederlands to sail--is a good thing---her itinerary is posted on sailnet......http://www.sailnet.com/forums/gener...33-13-year-old-laura-dekker-around-world.html.

I know I'm not the smartest person in the world but I'm also not the dumbest - I find nothing in the link you provided describing the objective facts of any case supporting the contention that a court or any child protective authority has found sailing to be an endangerment in the absence of any other extenuating circumstances.

 

[John]

Read it too...

I know I'm not the smartest person in the world but I'm also not the dumbest - I find nothing in the link you provided describing the objective facts of any case supporting the contention that a court or any child protective authority has found sailing to be an endangerment in the absence of any other extenuating circumstances.

I read that too. Here's the original posting in that link:
In the law suit I told you about, where the DSS tried to say my heases were haunting the case worker, the Lawyer added it to the present law suit. here is something that was brought out also...thought you find it interesting. lol
let these son of a bitches tell me again about in dangering a child by teaching a child to sail and swime and how to fish. they will get face full of knuckles. I would not feel bad in the least about it either.

I'm not sure we can count on the accuracy of everything that writer says. Not that he is necessarily dishonest; just that maybe his judgement is very different from most people's.

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

John et.al.
Having seen nothing to substantiate these wild claims, I'll chalk it up to someone's vivid imagination, false claim or some dubious rationale for justifying how any responsible adult could allow their child to undertake such a trip alone.
This whole discussion seems to bring out some interesting parenting traits.

 

[Armi]

@topic

I would like to say that i agree with the opinion that the court has no right to judge a parental decision a parent will know his child much better than any goverment.

Personally i dont see a problem with a 13-year old go on a voyage by herself, its not like she will be on a rowboat. I bet the yacht has all the neccessary equipment for emergency situations and as she "grew up" on yacht she knows what to do.

The only problem would be that she has to spend 2 years in isolation, which could have some negative reflection upon her youth as this is important time for every person.

 

[MrBee]

If YOU want the GOV. or some agency of the GOV. take care of your kids, fine, but stop forcing the rest of us to do the same. Maybe it don't always work out but life is just that way. It is the Parents NOT the Gov. job to make those decissions.
just because you don't agree with some thing don't make it wrong !!
Let them make the choice for THEIR child..... YOU make the choice for yours.
Yes, I do know that some were along the lines, adults, children, minorities, who ever...gets hurt. but I'm so sick of "Other people" trying to decide what is best for me and my Family...
Bunch of dam Do gooders that have nothin better to do... probably screwed up your own life and now you think you gotta rule everbody else's.
WRONG or RIGHT.. it should be their choice..
Sorry , but you people that think YOU know whats best for MY life piss me off. I might make mistakes but they are MINE to make..NOT yours to prevent !

Brian

 

[MrBee]

I have to get away from this thread... you people that want to decide what is best for others just ........ what a bunch of ......

 

[Phoebe 1]

I am not sure what the full and true facts are in this story. I think that if the the 13 year old is capable and has the same safety training and safety equipment as anyone else has to have and she will have capable adult with her then I think she should be left alone to do what she wishes. My parents would have gone to jail when I was a kid because they let me play sports and ride a bike and take a bath and walk across the street.

 

[Cpt. Jon]

I wonder if that's why we got wierd looks showing up at the pirate festival for the weekend with a one month old. At first I thought it was because most people would choose not to leave the house because they are lazy or something, then thought perhaps they didn't think the baby was ours because my wife lost all the wieght so fast :dance:, but now I see some of these people were probably thinking how we were such terrible parents to endanger our children by taking them out into the world.

I don't know how comfortable I would be sending one of my daughters off when she is 13, but I do not know what she will be like at 13, heck one is 3 going on 13 already. I certainly don't think that it would be right to strip someone of their children though unless they were abusive or endangering the kids life, and no I don't think this guy is putting his kid in imminant danger any more that allowing her to cross the street without supervision. It's a dangerous world and lately it seems it's filled with a bunch of wack-o's

 

[Cpt. Jon]

Courts blocking the voyage. Here's an update:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/28/laura-dekker-solo-sail-court

 

[Ross]

My 15 year old grand daughter has been catcher for a league softball team for 4 years. She is a straight "A" student, only about 5-7 and 120 pounds. Within the skills she has she is completely competent and has been for some time. She started for her high school varsity team in her freshman year. She has friends her age that are not at all athletic.

 

[Phoebe 1]

At a loss for words.

Courts blocking the voyage. Here's an update:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/28/laura-dekker-solo-sail-court

GOOD LUCK Laura

 

[NotCook]

Don'e understand this reaction

I have to get away from this thread... you people that want to decide what is best for others just ........ what a bunch of ......

Not sure where this reaction is coming from. Seems to me 95% of the posts on this thread were opposed to protective services or government in general intruding in the lives of individuals, just as you seem to be.

I agree with Joe - How can protective services not intervene when people send their kids to inner city public schools!

 

[Ross]

Re: Don'e understand this reaction

My wife and I have discussed this at some length and we have agreed that the biggest obstacle facing Laura is the bureaucrats in the many ports of call around the world. I have no doubt that she has the skills needed to make such a voyage. In times long past children were apprenticed out to a master when they were 6 or 7 years old. By the time they were 13 or 14 they were expected to know their trade and to go out and make their own living. Was it dangerous? absolutely! Some were too young to be put on their own, others were simply too immature. Not all children grow up at the same rate as they age. Parents should know their childern better than anyone else but they sometimes don't.
My own mother equated maturity with physical size and I was the runt in my family. Therefore I was not yet "big enough" to do the things my younger brother was encouraged to do. Sometimes we need a third party to intervien but most of the time parents do a good job of getting "it "right.

 

[fox islander]

Seems like a big risk for a 13 yr old child to me. Guess most of you disagree.

 

[Phoebe 1]

Isn't it a risk for anyone to do? The 17 year old boy that just did the same thing was at risk. A crew of adults would be at he same risks, I would be at a greater risk, at 40 years old, not having the same experience and knowledge Laura must have ( I don't have the same ambitions either). We are now becoming a world of wimps and quitters because "someone might get hurt". Soon we are not going to be able to dream or hope or wish....... it will just lead to disappointment...I just couldn't imagine the stress of disappointment that a poor 13 year old whose dreams didn't come true would create... So lets not let her dream!! I could be wrong though. I hope I'm not adding any stress to the people reading this, I just couldn't bare it. Let Laura sail.

 

[Ross]

Seems like a big risk for a 13 yr old child to me. Guess most of you disagree.

It is a risk for anyone. If nobody took any risk we would all be vegetarians because catching a fish is risky. You have to get close to the water and you could fall in and drown because no one taught you to swim because that is risky. I could go on all day.

 

[tommays]

As i was thinking about this last night driving home i saw (REALLY I SWEAR) about 37 kids in my neighborhood riding bicycles without Helmets (its really a law under 14 years old in NY ) and about 7 were talking on cell phones

The police have chosen to Ignore the law and dont ticket as they have decided the kids brains as a darwin issue

Yah Yah nanny state BUT i have hit my head enough times on bicycles to know its kind of liking working without a hardhat STUPID

 

[Franklin]

As i was thinking about this last night driving home i saw (REALLY I SWEAR) about 37 kids in my neighborhood riding bicycles without Helmets (its really a law under 14 years old in NY ) and about 7 were talking on cell phones

The police have chosen to Ignore the law and dont ticket as they have decided the kids brains as a darwin issue

Yah Yah nanny state BUT i have hit my head enough times on bicycles to know its kind of liking working without a hardhat STUPID

NOBODY wore helmets 30 years ago but we turned out just fine...._____!!!!

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

NOBODY wore helmets 30 years ago but we turned out just fine...._____!!!!

except my neighbor who died from a brain injury. I'm sure there are numerous examples.