So...kids..how did they change your boating life?

[Mariner]

Jeff,

I'm 30 and I can tell you, it won't be you that changes your mind about the children thing. It'll be your wife. And it'll happen sooner than you think. Over the last year, I've watched five of my high school and college buddies that I still keep in close contact with go from "not any time soon" to "guess what, we're pregnant!". My strategy to hold off the inevitable has been to delay on presenting a ring as long as possible. But I suspect this will be the year I cave in and do it. She SAYS she wants to wait 5 years, but I know better.

[RicM]

For a different perspective, I will be 57 in March and waited and waited until the "perfect" time, for the "perfect girl", and financial stability. You know what, those three things never lined up together. I do have 2 step kids in their 30's that I love, I do have the perfect girl, but we didn't meet until it was too late for me to have kids, and I do have a modicum of financial security (whatever THAT means these days). My sister had her kids late and at 55 is trying to keep up with 2 teenage girls, and at 60 will be working to send them to college. I don't worry about what might have been, but just remember, you can wait too long, and you only go this way once.

[Jeff Lavallee]

Ric,
That was my line of reasoning when we bought the boat- you only come around once, and what good is it if I wait until I am too old to use it!!!

[Veebyes2]

I know that we are going off topic a bit here but why would having children slow the boating down? We had a 21' cuddy cabin at the time of the first born. She spent her first night onboard that boat at SIX days old. We carried on overnighting for the rest of the summer. Having a newborn onboard meant carrying more baggage onboard. It also showed that a 21'cuddy cabin was too small for the 3 of us.

We ordered our first Albin, a 27AC, in the fall of 1985. This boat served us well till 1999 seeing the second child come onboard in 1988.

Boating friends evolved with children & we now have a large boating family pullled together from friends of our children, old friends of ours & so on. A weekend raftup with 7 or 8 boats & a combination of 30 or so adults & children is not uncommon for us.

[jleonard]

We had our kids early and without a doubt no regrets on that...it gave us freedom the past 20 years to do as we please pretty much.
Now we have plenty of time for the grandkids (girl 6, boy3). I've been working on teaching them how to tie cleats, knots, how to run the dinghy you know the drill. LOL
At 57 I am winding down my work career as a mechanical/manufacturing engineer (worked mostly in the automotive field) and planning on retiring very soon...in 2 years (or less). Wife and I are planning to cruise/live aboard for maybe 2 years while we do the great loop cruise, maybe check out the Bahamas, yada, yada.
After that who knows? Maybe go back to work, maybe not, maybe get out of boating...definately downsize, we'll see.

[RobS]

At 38 I feel quite lucky to be going into my 3rd season (if you count the first season of driving her home Nov 30th and then 3 weeks later on the hard) with my 28TE. One key component of my economic comfortableness is that I “grew up” fast buying my first house at 24 and then upgrading to my current “I’ll retire in this house” house at 29 in 1999 before the RE market inflated. That has helped allow me to live on easy street and watch the majority of my generation shuffle two careers, a young family and huge mortgages, often with little to no equity. My perfect girls turn 7 & 9 in the Spring and I’m loving life right now. Those teenage years are here to come but Erika and I strongly believe that all of our positive parenting will pay off so that our lives as parents of teenagers will not be too hellish. Back to work…..

[jcollins]

This post was spawned from the "what do you do" post. I find it very interesting and hope we can get everyones input as well.

I married at 27. Sharon was 31. (love the older women) We never planned to NOT have children, 27 years later, it just worked out that way. Honestly when we see some of the heartbreak teenagers can cause we just smile at each other. Or the unruly screaming kids at the store. On the other hand that's all part of it. Good and bad. Other friends and family have perfect kids. Others have something inbetween.
Because we don't have kids we did have the cash for boats, land, and other "stuff". We also have nieces and nephews that have their own kids now.
So, when we feel the need, we can borrow them for the weekend. Have parental good times and send 'em back.

Life is good.

[Mariner]

My best friend's wife is pregnant. He sold his boat (a 15' Boston Whaler) a year ago to raise money for his tuition (he was returning to school). Now he's done and working again, and swears the baby won't slow him down. He's looking for cheap waterfront and wants to buy another boat. He swears he won't let the baby slow him down. We'll see. I think the first few years will definitely make boating as a family difficult. But hopefully he'll still be able to go fishing and crabbing with his friends. Mainly becuase I still need an experienced deckhand to help with hauling the pots!

[pcthornton]

We had the 26 Seaswirl when our babies were 3 and 1. They are now 10 and 8 and, of course, we now have the 28TE with much more space for growing kids than we had with the Seaswirl. Believe me, there were some times with the kids on the boat that really tried our patience, but for the most part it has been great for us and for them. The key is to not keep them "boatlocked" but get them off of the boat as much as possible when cruising, e.g., to the beach, etc.

I hope bringing them up on and around the water pays off for them.