Re: Sailing with children

We always fellt that the secret of sailing with children was that they are sensible beings that cannot understand the point of being wet or cold - and are only interested in real sailing  for about 5 mts at a time.
Our solution to this was to do any passage making at night when they were asleep - and then keep the watch system going to take it in turns to play with them on the beach - or rock pool or other child friendly place.
We also built two little lug sail dinghies which we towed around - although until they were 12 or so they again only used them for a few minutes at a time . We got huge fun out of them ourselves though!
We frequently found that they would spend hours inside the cabin PLAYING at sailing - using kitchen utensils for masts and and tea towels for sails. When we were sailing one of us would be full time playing/colouring etc with them , and of course singing passed many an hour.
On one occaision after an admittedly rough passage , they played at "catching the ferry home"! We took the hint and  had a day off in a funfair!
i suppose that our boat was a Wendy house where we could all play happily in our own particular way - but it meant  we spent loads of time together.
Good luck with your kids - do it at their level - join them in their games and fantasies and you will have a huge amount of fun.