I have to go back to my own childhood to give a child's perspective. I have told this story before, but here it is again.

When my sister was 2 and I was 6, back in 1948, my father decided we needed an activity that we could do as a family. So he joined Mentor Harbor Yacht Club (on Lake Erie), got a Lightning and started racing in the club Lightning fleet. My sister and I were banished to the cave under the front deck while our parents sailed the boat. Very unpleasant experience for all, since they were coming in last place and we children were, well, very uncomfortable.

So, then we were banished to the beach, much to our delight, because we could play in the waves all day, and we loved sailing because we knew that was what had made this idyllic childhood possible.

When I was about 8 years old, we got a pram dinghy. I first learned to row it, and then I learned to sail it. For me, that was the major turning point in my life. My father went out in it with me one time, with me on the helm, and he showed me how to make the boat go where I wanted it to go. And then he turned me loose by myself and just told me to not run into anything.

Our harbor was full of anchored cruising monohulls and was enclosed by concrete wall. I remember that I narrowly missed an anchored boat and was heading straight for a concrete wall as a gust hit me and I accelerated. I panicked. At the last minute I put the tiller over and the boat turned, the boom swung over, and disaster was averted.

That was an epiphany for me. It was so empowering to realize that I was able to control this little boat all by myself and go wherever I wanted.

I rarely if ever crewed on our Lightning, but when I was about 12 or 13 my father put me on the helm for a couple years, and he made me accept the trophies, even though I knew they were rightfully his, because all I did was steer, while he trimmed all the sails and called tactics.
My younger sister went through the same procedure.

50-some years later, both of us are still racing sailboats. So our father must have done something right.
But that pram dinghy that I sailed by myself was still the turning point for me. And that is why I think it is SO important for young kids (8 to 12) to have a boat that they can sail all by themselves and learn by themselves from trial and error.

Of course, if I had run into that concrete wall…or into one of those anchored boats… Actually, I would not have done much damage either way, but a little dose of fear is good for the learning curve.