Encouraging children to be heroes

Wow, this story is amazing to me. A thirteen-year-old girl in the Netherlands is planning to spend two years sailing around the world alone but is being blocked by social services who feel that A.) her father is not acting in the way a concerned and cautious parent should in allowing his daughter to go on such a perilous journey, and B.) that she is not old enough to make such a huge and certainly life changing decision on her own.

Here's the link to the story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090828/ap_on_re_eu/eu_netherlands_young_sailor

I think it's great that she wants to do this and feel its sad that they are so far blocking her attempts. The girl is a national of Holland, but because she was born in New Zealand and her mother is German, she is a citizen and national, respectively, of those countries as well. She has determined to flee to New Zealand and sail from there if Holland will not allow her to sail alone from her home country.

Personally, I think she should do it.

Already an accomplished sailer, Laura Dekker sailed to England, where she was detained by officials who called her father and told him to help her sail home. I almost burst out laughing when I read that though he did meet her in England, he let her sail home alone!

This makes me wonder if adults really have the wrong idea about children. With all this research and medical information we have about the way teenagers' brains work and the idea that their minds are not fully developed until they are 18 years old, do we unjustly underestimate their potential? In centuries past boys hardly older than 10 were sailing on ships, working as adults do and getting along just fine. If Laura were a boy, would the Dutch government be reacting the same way? I grant that a young girl probably does face a lot greater danger than a boy does, and that's just disgusting — but it's nonetheless true. That's the way it is. Still, do you think she should be allowed to sail around the world if she wants and is able (which it seems she is), whether she departs from Holland or New Zealand? And, do you think that teens are generally underestimated? A 13-year-old, centuries ago, used to be allowed to marry and begin the trying task of parenthood. Why should it be such a stretch of the imagination that the same girl should be up to the task of sailing around the world?

Just something else to consider: Laura was detained in England after sailing solo across the English Channel. The current holder of the World Record for youngest person to sail around the world is a 17-year-old boy. When he was 14, he became the youngest person to sail alone across the Atlantic. How come he can do it, at 14, but she can't at 13? Is there that great a difference in brain function between a 13-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy? I don't know his story, so I don't know if officials in his country (England) initially tried to prevent him from sailing. Nor do I know the story of Zac Sutherland from California, who made a similar journey across the Atlantic at the age of 13. But why can he do it and Laura can't?

Would you, as a parent, allow your child to make a landmark journey, whether on land or by sea? Would you support your child in achieving his or her dream, whatever it might be, assuming he or she had the skill and experience to achieve it successfully?