boats and kids I found to be a magic mix - not much beating needed.
I observed kids on boats for a long time - and, IMO - it came down to a couple of things.
First up experiences for kids on boats if they don't follow an order usually results in pain - which seems to have a rapid learning response.
So, the kid who responds to the command 'duck' and either says 'why' or 'huh' or whatever or is slow to respond - often gets clocked with a boom rapidly travelling from one side of the boat to the other and doesn't care much what's in it's way
this happens exactly and precisely once --------- after that - the rapidity of the ducking compliance is astounding.
Also - after not too long a period - one finds that on a boat - everyone has a role - and, often roles can and must sometimes overlap.
I remember watching young kids - about the 6 or 8 mark - pretty well unconsciously observing things as they walked by on the boat - because - well, everyone did - it was just part of boat life.
One story I remember was with a family of 3 - mum dad and a young boy - ?? maybe 8 ish. They got caught in a storm somewhere in the Pacific - and they just went with the storm - which was off shore - mum and dad didn't get any sleep for a couple of days? maybe 3 days - the storm passed and they were steaming back towards port - and they needed sleep badly - so, the boat was left with the boy for a while so they could have a catchup on emergency sleep.
They slept very soundly and all of a sudden the father was woken by a light bump - the bump was from the boy docking the boat safely in port - they had slept through the rest of the trip and the kid had skippered the boat all the way in and docked it - not bad at all. He had no need to wake them as he knew exactly what he was doing.
That was one story - there were many others. - Boats and kids -------- good mix IMO.
