16-Year-Old sailor, Abby Sunderland, attempted to sail across the world with permission by her irresponsible parents who wants to “realize their child’s dreams.”

Abby Sunderland, the 16-Year-Old sailor with outrageous dreams of sailing across the world. According to Abby’s father, “…it’s a parent’s job to realize their kids’ dreams.” So it’s basically saying, if your 10-year-old kid wants to climb Everest, then it’s your duty to say go for it! See how ridiculous this is? I don’t think anyone with common sense would let their daughter sail across the world ALONE!

I STRONGLY believe that Abby was too young to sail. We can make a whole entire list on the possible things that can go wrong if you let your 16-year-old daughter go sailing across the world. Just because Abby has safety equipment, it doesn’t mean she has the maturity to sail ALONE.

Not only is she doing something dangerous, she is also not going to school anymore due to her “attempting her dreams.” So she is not going to school just to try to sail across the world. If Abby was really “mature,” then she would have enough common sense to realize what she is doing, is very dangerous and stupid.

Let’s talk more about something that Abby doesn’t know, along with common sense. The difference between fantasy and a reality. If Abby really was “mature” to go on this trip, then she would realize what she is doing, is a fantasy. A difference between a fantasy, and a reality is: a fantasy is a dream, that you don’t want to work for, but it’s something you just WANT to happen. A reality is a goal that you try to achieve with hard work, and enough maturity. Reality is also knowing whether your “goal” is actually serious or not. Like sailing across the world, you should know that’s a fantasy.

Not only is it Abby’s job to realize the difference between fantasy and reality, it’s also the job of the parents to tell your child the difference between fantasy and reality. Its not “crushing” your child’s dream, its called “waking them up” to the real world. Unfortunately, Abby’s parents failed in this category of parenting.

On an editorial of this event, written by Joanna Weiss, Joanna made this statement, “Perhaps someone should have stepped in to impose some parenting standards.” I strongly agree with that statement. Instead of people encouraging her parents to allow Abby to sail across the world on her own, someone should’ve knocked some common sense into the parents, along with Abby herself.

Abby and her parents aren’t the only ones in this situation with no common sense, it’s also the media. When Abby posted what she was doing on the internet about the trip, before she set off, followers of her blog did not oppose her fantasy, instead they encouraged her to continue with it. And it didn’t stop there, a bunch of people DONATED to her, before and after her boat crashed.

Now what age should’ve Abby have been to sail? My answer is when she is an adult. Teenagers do not have the maturity to do stuff like this, as much as you hate to hear this, teenagers are irresponsible, and not mature. They should not have the responsibility of something big like this, like sailing across the world. When Abby and her parents finally get some common sense and maturity, (which is in the very distant future) then maybe it would be the time that Abby can sail across the world alone.

In conclusion, I disagree with Abby Sunderland, and her parents. Abby WAS too young to sail.