Is It Worth It?

Is it worth your child's life to let him or her live her "lifelong" dream of sailing alone around the world? Is a sixteen year old capable of even having  "lifelong" dream? I am referring, of course, to the young lady, Abby Sunderland, who is attempting to sail around the world. She ran into a bit of trouble somewhere in the Indian Ocean, and everyone started to panic. I have a seventeen year old that I have apoplectic fits about when I know she is out driving my car, I would never allow her to try to sail a boat by herself in Lake Webster, let alone sail around the world. I would not even let her drive cross-country alone--I will have none of it. Granted, this Sunderland gal has been "sailing" all her life, so she probably has a pretty good idea about how to do it, but I am reminded of a little girl, Jessica Dubroff, the seven year old whose "dream" it was to be the youngest pilot to fly across the country. At the time, my now seventeen year old was about five years old and I did a comparison of her to that little girl back then. I had a bad feeling about that stunt then, and sure enough, it ended tragically with the little girl flying her plane in terrible weather and crashing. Her life was gone. Just like that. The parents had the power to say "no, I don't think it is a good idea" but they chose to let the little girl have her way, or chose notoriety over common sense, and a life was lost. While it looks like this Abby is going to be okay, for now anyway, I think that any kid who is younger than eighteen really doesn't have the ability to see the dangers and mishaps that can come along with any risky behavior. Children and teenagers just don't have the ability to think things out in a logical way. They need parents to say they love them and their lives are more valuable than any risk or notoriety that would be attached to the risky activity.