Abby Sunderland's boat got wrecked, otherwise she would be the now youngest to sail around the world.
IMO I think what she was doiong was great. Many in the world are coming down on her parents for letting her do this trip. I think that is stupid, I have wanted to learn to sail for a while, since I walked down by the boat club about 4 years ago and saw this really neat old wooden sail boat.
My kid is nine right now, Heck, If I start her out this summer I might have her able to go for it at 14 or 15.
I think kids theese days are treated like spoiled, incompetant little fragile things with no brain or ability to perform and think. They aren't made to be solid and hard working like the baby boom and prior generations. I think it all started with us kids of Gen X, but todays kids are being taken to a whole new level of spoiled.
In some countries kids as young as 5 are forced to work twelve hour days in sweat shops. Does it hurt them or make them grow up to be hard workers who know how to get a job done?
Now I am not advocating child labor (unless they want to at say 9 or 10, maybe two hours a day in summer break, my kid wants to work at subway, she loves that place so why not let her), so don't think that is what I am saying. I see no reason kids can't work, that's what an agricultural society here in th USa had done for years and nobody become phsycopathic from it, it is sitting on the couch with too much time to think that creates crazy.
I do think children should be raised as the intelligent and capable beings they are.
Abby has proven that kids don't need to be incompetant lazy couch potatoes.