Little kids onboard

Strecker25

Well-Known Member
SILVER Sponsor
Nov 20, 2014
4,905
Rochester, NY
Boat Info
2002 410DA
Engines
Caterpillar 350HP 3126
Our son will be 1 this year (june 9th) so right in the beginning of primetime boating up north.

He was on the boat at 3 days old, so we’re not worried about the basics, but to all who’ve brought little people onboard — any advice? Certain toys, goodies, etc? Everyone wants ideas for his birthday and boat stuff will be perfect.

We have good life jackets for him, he’ll sleep in the aft cabin, and we have a dedicated boat baby monitor.

Our new marina is a very short walk from
the slip to solid land including a nearby beach, playground, pier, ice cream, and restaraunts. I grew up on my parents boat and I know that stuff was nice to have around once we starting walking/running.

Looking forward to hearing from all the seasoned parents on what worked best with your little ones.
 
Everyone loves pictures, so here’s a few.
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I'll give you the same advice a friend gave me when our twins were born. "Just don't drop them. You'll figure the rest out on your own". They are 21 now. You will do fine. Good looking kid you have there!

Jaybeaux
 
We have had our 8 and 11yr on on the boat since birth and we spend almost every weekend in the summer on the boat with them. Biggest thing for us is find out what they like to do when on the boat and do more of that than anything else. When my kids were younger they loved the beach so we went to the beach as often as we could. Now then enjoy going and seeing new places and finding new areas to explore and tubing/skiing so now that is more of what we focus on. To this day they love the boat and we all look forward to the summer.
 
When asked for gift ideas...I always tell people my daughters cant never have enough ammo. ;)

Snack cups that dont spill are great! But, on the boat they need gas money and shade. Mine used to sleep all the time while under way. We would always be searching for hats or sunglasses, so the more of those the better.

Think about where you go too. Pool or beach? Toys for each are great (hint, get a large laundry garment bag for all the sand and pool toys so they stay in one place and can dry).
 
We're entering our fifth season with now 8, 7 and 4 year olds. Our youngest was 6 months when we bought our first cruiser. Boating is the best family time money can buy (in my humble opinion).

When our youngest was brand new the most important things onboard were food, drink and nap related. A one year old doesn't generally do much? Is he walking?

If you guys are going to boat nearly every weekend my first recommendation would be to stock up on two of each of the toys your son really loves. Not hauling crap back and forth every weekend is a worthy investment. For our littlest dude we had a pack-n-play we left on the boat, plenty of things for him to fidget with and all sorts of bottles/cups. The only things that didn't stay on the boat were the beloved stuffed animals (which many parents know are not able to be duplicated nor replaced).

For the next couple of years I bet you'll find the time on the boat is far less stressful than the time in the marina. A boat is like a big cage for a toddler. With a life jacket on they can have pretty much free roam (supervised, of course). I find docks+toddlers to require ninja levels of parenting initially. And 24/7 life jackets, sadly. Money spent on a life jacket your toddler will actually wear is also money well spent. We cycled through 3 or 4 before finding "the one".

Good looking family too, by the way. Time to get started on #2 :)
 
Thanks all! We usually stay on the boat Thursday-Monday (wife’s a teacher, I work from home/boat) so the duplicate toys advice is a great idea. We have a couple jackets already, the infant one he’ll outgrow by May and a couple other vest style and we’ll see what he likes best (or hates least).

The jacket goes on before we leave the parking lot and stays on unless we’re tied up and he’s down below. I like the idea of associated the life jacket with fun, seemed like a good way to do it.

We took him on a couple trips last year, a couple hours each way. I’m planning on taking him on a couple Rochester-Canada Lake Ontario crossings this year as well. The looks non-boaters give us when we tell them that are pretty funny but they don’t get it. :)
 
Being on the board of directors (I am the current CEO) at our boat club we really struggle with making sure folks have their children under the age of 12 in life jackets once they are on the dock. The CG was crushing by one of our sister docks down river from us a couple of seasons ago and noticed toddlers walking down the dock with no PFD’s on. They pulled over sited the parents and then sited the dock master on duty. Holy Crap !!
 
Being on the board of directors (I am the current CEO) at our boat club we really struggle with making sure folks have their children under the age of 12 in life jackets once they are on the dock. The CG was crushing by one of our sister docks down river from us a couple of seasons ago and noticed toddlers walking down the dock with no PFD’s on. They pulled over sited the parents and then sited the dock master on duty. Holy Crap !!

Did you actually witness this? Sounds like a tall tale to me. I can't imagine USCG having jurisdiction of any kind on a dock? Is there a law requiring it in your area? Age 6 is the limit in Michigan and has nothing to do with anything other than being on a boat.

We'll go another year with our 4 year old in a jacket at the docks (this year) but our older two can swim better than most adults. Particularly the ones that have been drinking all day :)

I have to be honest...if I saw a 12 year old walking around the docks with a life jacket on I'd initially think 1.) that poor kid needs some swim lessons or (if the kid can swim) 2.) those parents need to relax. 12 seems excessive...IMO only.
 
Here's one of my favorite photos of 3 of our 6 grandkids. We had them on the boat for a day and their favorite activity was fishing. In this photo they're watching their lure, which is only about a foot below the surface of the water, waiting for a fish to come up and
bite on their lure. No such luck, but it kept them occupied for quite awhile.
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Our kids started off taking lots of naps down below and playing with just a few favorite toys when awake. Later they graduated to swimming off the back of the boat with us in the water or on the swim platform. They always wore a life jacket and a tether tied to the boat. Still later swimming with supervision gradually with out the life jackets if the environment was safe and the water not too cold. Then came the remote controlled boats followed by water skiing. Then the too cool to be seen with parents phase. Now they always want to go for a boat ride when they come home to visit. Starting a new cycle with the grands.
 
Been there, done that. Our youngest is now 8. We've cruised each year with him since he was a new born EXCEPT when he was 1-1/2 - he was just too mobile and we were in between boats. The oldest is 14. There has never been a problem with them wearing life jackets. We've cruised all over Lake Ontario and the thousand islands.

Top suggestions:
1. 12 volt TV/DVD combo. Best money spent. No internet or shore power needed.
2. Extra life jackets, like 3 per kid. One gets wet and when the small fry get out of the water they want to take it off. Put a dry one back on them. Start drying the wet in the sun
3. Shade and 12 volt fans. Be creative here. They sleep 12 hours a day.
4. 12v white noise machine
5. Folding portable wagon for shore excursions. Doubles to bring provisions back to the boat.
6. Plenty of watersports toys. Noodles, floats, etc. The relaxation station was good money spent.
7. Find ports with beaches or sandy destinations. Kids get bored on a boat after a couple days.
8. Cruise with other kids their age or let them bring a friend if you have the room.
9. Have a secret surprise for them 3/4 the way through the cruise because they can burn out on day 5 or 6.
10. Lots of water, drinks, snacks and treats in their own little cooler that I give them full access to. This keeps them out of the important coolers and fridge. Nothing red, chocolate, purple, sticky, or that melts. Keeps the Captain partially stress free.
 
We had our grandkids near every weekend for years since before they could walk. Some things I felt important....while cruising I didn't put them to sleep in the cabin for fear of CO, they will fall asleep anywhere anyway while cruising, it's easier to keep an eye on them up in the cockpit.

Learning to swim...we insisted they learn to swim, lessons started while in diapers, for the one, before she could walk.

Rules on how things must be done, I'd assign them 'very important responsibilities' and made them part of the crew. No matter how small their task was, it worked better than telling them to sit down, shut up, and stay out of the way.

As soon as they were tall enough I'd let them drive. We'd be 15-20mi out and I'd point to a smoke stack or hill on the horizon, that's where we're going, now hold 'er straight and watch out for other boats, and logs, and stuff. They ate that stuff up, they were part of the crew, the boat was theirs. Sorry Suzie but I can't come to your birthday party...I'm going up to the boat this weekend.:cool:

We'd talk about what to do if's....once in awhile I'd even test them,....your sister is in the water, she's needs help what do you do? What shouldn't you do?

Anyway, that was my approach, it seemed they accepted/learned, we all had a blast exploring Lake Superior until they got near the teenage years and discovered Gramps really ain't that cool.:(
 
This thread reminds me of one other important thing to do in addition to all the other good pointers. After things settle down after an active day of boating, go through the boat and look for open, partly finished, soft drink cans that are put down in nooks and crannies. If you can remember to do this when you see a beverage being consumed, all the better. Those cans end up tipping over if the seas get rough and you forget they are out there some place.
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