How old were you kids when you started boating?

[dnicholas47]

One of the questions in our house about when to buy is timing it with kids ages. I, of course would pull the trigger tomorrow regardless of the ages. The wife, who will be packing them, etc., says we need to wait. We have 4 kids from 7-10 months. How old were your kids when you got into your first boat?

 

[jawsf16]

We waited until my youngest was just over two years old and oldest was four. They have loved growing up boating... Personally I think it was a good min age for us but I know several folks who started their kids boating as infants.

The real person who needs to be ready is momma. She is the one with apprehension and probably the one who has to deal with all of the kids stuff, at least in my family. I of course am the pack mule and master organizer once the stuff is selected though! Get her on board and your kids will love it.

 

[Zeus2013]

We bought our first boat in May 2013. My daughter was 8 months old at the time. My son was 6 months in 2014 when we took him. IMHO the kids were too young and we took them out for a very short periods of time. Here is why I think they were too young for constant outings. Heading out the water was calm but at times with larger boats creating big wakes or the tide coming in on the way back, the constant rocking back and forth and sometimes hard hits of the boat was not good for their heads and necks. Remember, their brains are very sensitive. We had an SX190. We would hold them tight but at times it was just to rough on the way back.

We had to adjust our boating times, routes and distance to minimize rough water. We ended up finding a cove near by we could get to and just hang out and enjoy.

I feel if you can stay on calm water you should be fine. Basically in the end it is a parental decision you will need to make with your wife.

Nick

 

[PEARCE]

Our daughter was 2 when we bought our boat and our son wasn't born yet. He's a January baby so we boated while my wife was pregnant with him. The summer after he was born we went boating as normal. We were sure to keep him in the shade and as cool as we could. He's loved being on the boat and on the water from day one. Both of our kids, like @jawsf16 's kids, love being on the boat. You just have to have momma happy and comfortable with having the baby on the boat and your good.

 

[Bruce]

Ours were 2 & 5 when we bought our first boat. They love to get out on the water and did well crossing the Gulf Stream to Bimini at 4 & 7. I have had kids as young as six months on the boat. As others have said, if the mothers are confortable the kids will be fine. But if the mother is not confortable it will be a bad day for everyone.

 

[Raphael]

Second wife second boat our kids were 7 and 9 when we bought our current boat and assuming the 24 foot FSH will be available in the next year or so they will be 12 and 14. I have a 21 one year old and when she was 5 I had a Sea Rayder jet boat that was 16 feet and had a whopping 90 hp.

 

[0627Devildog]

Had my (now almost 4) year old out on the boat at 12 weeks. . . . . . . There are several additional safety measure that can (and should) be taken with children on board.

 

[Volffas]

When we bought our first boat our oldest was 8 and our youngest was 2. Our 3rd child was due in July of 2012, we didn't get the boat out at all that year mostly because my wife was on bed rest most of the summer and wasn't allowed to go boating. But he was out on the boat the following May when he was 10 months old.

I say go for it. You just have to keep an eye on the kids at all times, but I have never been scared for them. Also when swimming in the river we keep them tied up to 2 dock lines so if they start to get too far away you can always just pull them back in.

Here's our youngest on the boat at 11 months;


And our daughter on the boat when she was 2;

 

[rocknracing]

We bought our boat in 2012 while my wife was pregnant with our first son. He was born in August and we didn't take him out till the next boating season. Our second son was born last year in May and we had him out Memorial Day weekend at 3 weeks old.Our lake is never really busy even on holiday weekends. If it was we probably wouldn't of taken the baby with us. they both love the boat and water my oldest always tells me my boat daddy!!

 

[robert843]

Our daughter was 2 1/2 before she really started going boating. She may have been on short runs before that. One key I would say was we bought a small port a potty for her and that worked out great. She loves it espically when she was younger she would ask everyday if we could go out to Sandy Island which is a little island here only accessible by boat. I will never be allowed to not own a boat as long as she is around now lol.

 

[Britboater]

We had boats long before any children came along, but when they did we would fit them in, I've a memory of my son, only months old, asleep on wet suits in front of the passenger seat, on the floor.
My dad gave us a fantastic bit of advise, "when you have children, don't change your life, just adapt your kids to it".

 

[OperationROL]

Noah-5 (back) and Jackson-1 1/2 (front) in 2007



7 years later.... Noah-13 (left) and Jackson-9 (front). Wow! they have grown so much.

 

[CAM212SS]

our daughter was born Christmas Eve and we took her out the soonest we could get the boat our of hibernation
toward the end of summer we had her in the water and she was loving it. Splashing around and having a great time

 

[jawsf16]

Yes dock lines and good life jackets are s must!

 

[soggyshoes]

We got the boat just before our daughters turned 2. They loved it from the first time we went out. They even just love sitting in the boat (ours is wet slipped). They like laying on the floor by the engines and feel the vibrations of the motors. It seemed to be very relaxing to them. Also take it easy with them. Don't push anything with them; you want all their first associations with boating to be positive. For us, it didn't take long to hear "faster daddy, faster!" Now it is my wife who is the most timid. LOL
Good life vests with crotch straps are a must and make sure you have people to watch them other than the driver. I would say at first, in addition to the driver, one responsible chaperone per kid.

 

[MikeyL]

@Raphael ........... Pretty kewl. I had never heard of a "Sea Rader" until you posted. I found some both 14' and 16'. Looks like a fun boat
Many Best Wishes your way ....... Mikey Lulejian - Lake Oconee, GA

 

[itsdgm]

My wife and I sold our PWC's after our son was born. We knew that it would be a few seasons before we could get back out on the lake and that PWC's wouldn't work well for us with kids. So we got back into boating a few years later when our twins (youngest) were about 4-5 years old.

 

[0627Devildog]

@Raphael ........... Pretty kewl. I had never heard of a "Sea Rader" until you posted. I found some both 14' and 16'. Looks like a fun boat
Many Best Wishes your way ....... Mikey Lulejian - Lake Oconee, GA

@MikeyL - This is basically the same boat as the Seadoo Challenger SE I went court over. . . . . Fun little bugger. Had my first born out on it at 1.

 

[YamahaForMe]

We bought our first boat 2 years before our first was born. It was a 1980 17 ft Baja with a 115 horse mercury outboard. It was brown with gold sparkles. It didn't take the waves too well, so we bought a different boat once the kids came along.

Our eldest was born at the end of March and we boated that year, so call it 3 months. I remember we would get the boat all ready to go, drive to the launch, and then pause for my wife to feed the baby just before launch. My youngest was born in January, so she made it to 5 months or so. Both of them napped on the floor in front of the copilot's seat while the boat was in motion.

He's a January baby so we boated while my wife was pregnant with him.

I'm jealous.... my wife's OBGYN explicitly denied our boating privileges during pregnancy. I feel like I've been unfairly deprived two summers of boating. You can't get that back.

--Steve

 

[Shuck Water]

I think my first born was conceived on the boat lol.

Both kids were on the boat within weeks of being born (it's ok, we were parked in our slip), but I found that around 5-6 months was perfect time to introduce them to the slow cruise. My son, now 5, can almost park the boat in the slip....he's turning into a good first mate.