Why you should go Sailing With Kids

Sailing has everything you want in a vacation in a single convenient package. There is so much you can do on a boat. But, every sailing vacation is always different. You can sail a yacht, relax on a beach, fish or explore an island. It also provides a good bonding platform with your family members. And sailing with your kids is one of the best things you can ever do. It provides treasured memories that they will forever cherish. You not only get a chance of repairing burned bridges, but you also get to teach them valuable lessons. Below are some of the advantages of sailing with your kids.

a) Educational Benefits

Sailing is among the best platforms for educating your kids. It has a priceless experience that brings a sense of achievement and pride to your children. Getting them to know how to sail a boat or any other large vessel is not something that they get to learn in their school curriculum. When sailing, you teach your children a lot of things, from the simple basics of map reading to adjusting to Mother Nature’s elements.

Sailing also improves their communication skills which are very important in preparing them for the outside world. Crew members and their captain communicate in non-verbal and verbal means for effective control of the boat. Each person on board has a crucial role to play. Getting your children to take these roles goes a long way in educating them about various things that they would otherwise not learn in class. It also enhances their concentration skills.

b) Bonding

Encourage your children to tag their friends along during sailing trips. This is particularly helpful when adults are having a side discussion about things that do not entail sailing. Not only the children won’t get bored, but they will also have company to talk about various things and share their adventures with. When you do this, you help your kids bond and maintain long-term friendships with their close buddies who they share happy memories with.

c) Patience and Agility

There are various tasks associated with sailing that improve agility and flexibility. Hoisting sails and pulling up lines are examples of such activities. They not only improve motor skills and hand-eye coordination, but they also help kids exercise patience. In some instances, sailing becomes somewhat like a yelling competition due to loss of patience. The captain (parents) tend to lose their cool and yell orders at their crew members (kids). When avoiding such behaviors, we learn and teach our kids to exercise patience. You can also encourage them to meditate and do yoga to help them achieve this.

d) Organizational Skills

Being on a boat or ship requires that everything is in shape. Preparation should always be set in advance. Teaching your kids this small but vital lessons instill a rigid mentality of organization in all other aspects of life. It helps them become more organized in other fields which will ultimately improve health and quality of their lives.

e) Responsibility and Independence

When parents sail with their children, they get an opportunity to teach them about independence and responsibility without sounding like they are parenting. Sailing gives parents a chance to show their kids that there are consequences for every action or decisions they make, whether good or bad. For instance, when you read the map wrongly, you end up in the wrong place. Hence, it is up to the kids to be independent and read the map correctly for them to end up where they want. The same applies to other life situations.

f) Instilling Habits

From organizational skills to teaching your kids about responsibility, independence and other values is of utmost importance. It helps instill good habits that they will forever practice. Cementing of such values can be done when spending time with your children while sailing. The simple practices they engage in while sailing like putting things away or coiling will help them adopt such behavior in other parts of their lives.