Roots v. Wings? I'm Falling Into The Roots Camp On This One....

I get that my opinion is basically meaningless and that the rest of the world isn't required to follow my rules.  Sometimes, though, I have to wonder what people use for brains.  Just because something sounds like fun, doesn't mean it's a good idea.  Most of us normal folk consider the pros and cons of our actions before we jump into an activity.  For example...I love dolphins and turtles and I've enjoyed swimming with both.  I'd go back and do it again.  I would think twice, however, if a Great White shark had been sighted in the waters I was planning on swimming in.  The slight risk of being eaten by Jaws would outweigh my desire to swim with the marine life.   I agree cliff diving might also be fun, my ten year old might even enjoy it.  However, as long as she's under my roof, the slight risk of severe bodily injury or death requires me to tell her to find another hobby.


A news story caught my eye today and I can't wrap my puny brain around it.  This (here) left me wanting to strangle the parents of this teenage girl.  Um?  Exactly when it did it become appropriate to allow a kid barely old enough to drive a car to sail a boat around the world ALONE?  Aside from the fact that there's no possible way she's going to make a reasonable curfew at any time in the near future, I have a problem with a high-school kid enjoying any hobby that requires them to wear a 'survival suit'.   She should be wearing a prom dress, for cryin' out loud.  Instead, she's alone out in the middle of the ocean during a tropical storm?  Even in the calmest of seas, does the word PIRATE mean anything to these people?  Is her survival suit going to protect her from pirates, sharks and hurricanes?  I think not.

My ten-year-old isn't allowed to even walk the three blocks home from school so I'm probably the wrong person to ask where you draw the line in the "Giving Roots/Giving Wings To Your Kid" argument...but I'm pretty sure telling your teenager daughter to sail unsupervised around the world in a survival suit while mom and dad wait around at home for a phone call or an emergency beacon to go off is a little weird.  I'm guessing handing her the keys to a motor home for a solo jaunt around the continent would also be acceptable in their household...of course I'm just guessing on this one.

In the meantime, the kid is stuck so far out in the middle of nowhere, even helicopters can't reach her without running out of gas.  The parents are relying on the fact that it was the manual emergency beacon that was activated, meaning she pushed the button so she was alive at that point...now?  Not so sure...but, again, she's got that survival suit goin' for her. 

In case either of my children happen to be reading this post:  Spit in one hand and wish in the other.  It ain't ever gonna happen.  You want to sail around the world?  You go girl...it's nice to have goals and dreams and I don't want to hold you back, but I don't care if you're 16 or 36...you try this one ALONE you WILL be grounded for life. 

Props to the parents for enouraging their kid to reach for the sky.  I'm just not that well-adjusted.  I'd rather stunt my kids' emotional growth than spend days popping Valium to cope with my worry.