Thursday, June 10, 2010

Teenagers Sailling Solo Around the World?

Is it responsible parenting to allow your teenager to attempt to sail around the world alone to set the record for youngest person to circumnavigate the planet? I'm gonna say no, as authorities search for a 16 year old American girl who went missing in the Indian Ocean attempting to do exactly that. Her brother Zac only shortly held that record at 17 before a younger teenager beat his mark. His sister set out even younger to reclaim the record for the family. Her last blog post said that the weather was really bad so she was going to try and get some sleep before it got even worse, then an hour later an alarm beacon was activated.

Look no matter how they justify it, sending a 16 year old girl out into the deep blue sea by herself is just a bad idea. Are kids trying to set these records younger and younger? Is there a 14 year old kid somewhere in the world now getting ready to take on pirates and Mother Nature in an incredibly dangerous adventure? Wasn't there a Chipmunks movie about sailing around the world in balloons? I have a 2 year old nephew who is really into toy trucks. If my sister gets him sailing now, he can crush that record by the time he's 8. Hey, how many times will the youngest Marco Polo record be set in the next 6 years? By the time my nephew is ready at age 8 to sail around the world, the record should be around 12 years old.

This is crazy.

UPDATE: A plane spotted her, and she is okay. There may be similarities to the balloon boy story, but ultimately they are cutting her trip short and supposedly taking her home. This is good news.

4 comments:

  1. I saw on the news that her parents not only approved, they encouraged her. Her 17 year old brother's record only lasted for a few weeks before being bested by a British teen. Then that teen was bested by an even younger Aussie teen. Recently a 13 year old became the youngest to climb Everest.

    There is a growing trend of trying to become "the youngest person" to do something significant. Who is the youngest person to fly around the world in a hot air balloon?

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  2. That's what happens when you spend your life impressing yourself by trying to impress others.
    We all do this to a certain degree, but some people go way overboard and are willing to offer up their kids and their future grand kids lives in pursuit of their own self glorification.

    They don’t call’em the Me Generation for nothing.

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  3. Did you hear about the 18 year old Indian kid who became a doctor in New York?

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  4. Reminds me of the young girl who was, with the encouragement of her parents, trying to become the youngest person to fly around the world or some such feat. She crashed.

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