As the mother of a kid in Alaska who is fishing for 300 lb. fish, sharks and hunting bears (I can't verify the bears because I confess I really don't want to know.), I appreciated Gail's piece in the Strib today, because it sees beyond the black and white borders of young sailor Abby Sunderland's story: http://tinyurl.com/2wdx3yy.
We do tend to go out of our way to keep our kids safe, sometimes at their own peril. Many of my son Nick's friends are hanging around the Twin Cities, jobless this summer. And I have to admit the dangers of urban bars and other temptations for bored young people make the wilds of Alaska more attractive from a Mom's perspective.
A couple weeks ago, he told me he was going to kayak on a glacier. "What does that mean?" I thought, quickly followed by "Do I really want to know?"
Last time he was in Alaska he told me he was going after a Salmen shark during his weekend off.
"This," I told him, "is the type of thing I'd like to hear about when you get back ... safely."
Ultimately, columnist Gail Rosenblum is right, every kid is different and parents' decisions need to account for that.
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