TV and internet chat is a killer for the kids development. I must say that I recognize what Darryl describe, and if I had it my way the TV and the computers would be hooked up to pedal powered generators in our home.
Our oldest is 12 years old, and not easy to motivate for outdoor activites. When I was a kid (I am of the same age as Jake) we planned our afternoons while at school and we were always 4-6 kids together having fun. Today they come home from school, drop down in front of the computer to chat about what to do after dinner, dont agree with each other and stay home, chatting on MSN and watching TV.. When I succed in motivating our 12 year old to come with me outdoors for some fun activities, she always have a blast whatever it is. But the kids dont manage to come together and create fun activites for themselves.

I dont think our kids learn a lot from using internet chat and obscure web services that will be useful in their professional lives. IT systems dont demand a lot of knowlegde to use today (not counting CAD or other professional systems), so if they know their profession they will quickly master the software they need.
Both my wife and I are IT professionals and watch her internet activites closely, it's frightening what our kids get in contact with at early age! I think many parents who dont have the knowlegde or systems to log and survey what's really happening would be shocked and terrified if they knew whats going on.


My personal opinion is that there will "always" be a small group of catamaran sailors and racers, but we will never be the dominant group of sailing. Even if the extreme monohulls are growing more like multihulls every day, most are too stuck in tradition to appreciate multis high enough.

For me, part of what motivates me is mastering something that's difficult to do. For many the initial learning curve is too steep and they dont even want to try to understand where all the lines on the boat go. Earlier you was told to do something well and use the time needed, and what you did/buildt lasted a long time. Today you are told to do it "good enough" and fast, as it will just be thrown away shortly anyway. That is the way our community is evolving, and as a consequence sailing will for many be viewed as too time consuming to learn.
I think I'll stop now, before I become political

Both our daughters will have the opportunity to try cat sailing at least, but must decide for themself what they want to do.