This story has been out for quite a while now. While I have not read the book, I will point out that at least some of what the author is complaining about here applies, at some level, to *all* children. Children do not have a say in the conditions under which their family lives. Children raised in factory towns, or military bases, or religious compounds, or remote scientific outposts could all say the same thing: my childhood deviated from "normal" (whatever that is) because of where I was raised and/or career or lifestyle choices made by my parents, and looking back I'm not happy about it and I was deprived of *something*. Sometimes it's circumstance and not choice -- children raised in abject poverty might have a grievance that can not be squarely laid at the feet of their parents. And on the flip side of this, children raised in statistically "normal" places in very conventional ways might have the opposite gripe: I wish my parents had taken that assignment to Germany, or that posting to Alaska, or had kept their sailboat and sailed me around the world rather than the boring mundane childhood that I endured. I am not saying she's wrong (or "right"), but neither am I going to send her money for her book. JMO and FWIW.
Well said. I agree wholeheartedly. But, I will add that a major responsibility of a parent is to keep their children safe. If the parent's sailing and traveling skills are lacking, it might not be possible for them to anticipate some of the lurking dangers for their kids living on a boat. Sadly there have been incidences where kids have died and it would be reasonable to question the parent's competence.
I will also add that as much as I enjoy the lifestyle of living on a boat today, as a kid I would have hated it. My joys as a child were my school friends, local sports teams, social activities with other kids, riding my bike, and the general comradery of people my age.
Great article and expect to love reading this book. I am one of those fathers who dragged along three girls and learned a whole lot about myself! Almost ready to write my own story.
This story has been out for quite a while now. While I have not read the book, I will point out that at least some of what the author is complaining about here applies, at some level, to *all* children. Children do not have a say in the conditions under which their family lives. Children raised in factory towns, or military bases, or religious compounds, or remote scientific outposts could all say the same thing: my childhood deviated from "normal" (whatever that is) because of where I was raised and/or career or lifestyle choices made by my parents, and looking back I'm not happy about it and I was deprived of *something*. Sometimes it's circumstance and not choice -- children raised in abject poverty might have a grievance that can not be squarely laid at the feet of their parents. And on the flip side of this, children raised in statistically "normal" places in very conventional ways might have the opposite gripe: I wish my parents had taken that assignment to Germany, or that posting to Alaska, or had kept their sailboat and sailed me around the world rather than the boring mundane childhood that I endured. I am not saying she's wrong (or "right"), but neither am I going to send her money for her book. JMO and FWIW.
Well said. I agree wholeheartedly. But, I will add that a major responsibility of a parent is to keep their children safe. If the parent's sailing and traveling skills are lacking, it might not be possible for them to anticipate some of the lurking dangers for their kids living on a boat. Sadly there have been incidences where kids have died and it would be reasonable to question the parent's competence.
I will also add that as much as I enjoy the lifestyle of living on a boat today, as a kid I would have hated it. My joys as a child were my school friends, local sports teams, social activities with other kids, riding my bike, and the general comradery of people my age.
You said this way more tactfully than I ever would have. Great post
Great article and expect to love reading this book. I am one of those fathers who dragged along three girls and learned a whole lot about myself! Almost ready to write my own story.