During the summertime, your boating experiences may often include kids. Home from school and escaped from summer camps and other schools and programs, we often bring out kids onboard for a few hours of fun on the water.

Now most kids really love boating (some don’t and we’ll get to them in a minute)–they love being outdoors, they love going fast, they love going fishing, they love being towed around on a tube or a pair of skis. Most of all, they love being with Mom and Dad, other family and friends, having fun, being together, sharing experiences.

Knowing this is all true, most boating parents seek out opportunities to bring their kids on the boat as often as possible. It may have been one of the main motivating reasons for buying a boat in the first place.

So if your boating experiences include kids of any age, there are some basic to-dos that every responsible parent and boat owner should know.

Safety first.  It should go without saying, but we’ll say it anyway–make sure your kids are safe on board. Everyone should have a well-fitted PFD–Colorado law states that boat passengers under age 14 need to wear a PFD at all times– and wear it at all times on the water. The reason accidents are called that is because they happen without warning. So from the tiniest infant to the gangliest teen, make sure they wear a life jacket.

Other safety habits to ingrain: ride sitting down, inside the boat. Kids should be supervised at all times when on board. You don’t have to go all authoritarian on them, but you should keep an eye on them.  Use sun protection. Skin cancer is no joke, and protection now will help reduce incidences later.  Always have working communication devices. Either your telephone or the VHF radio should be at hand and working. Just in case.

Comfort.   Kids do not have the body mass of adults, so you need to make sure they are comfortable when boating. That means packing extra layers in case they get wet, making sure they are well fed and well hydrated, and have some snacks and drinks handy. If they take medications, have some extra on hand, just in case.  And keep an eye on the weather: driving your kids through a thunderstorm is scary and not fun.

Education.  Depending on their age of course, kids should know about boating safety and boating operations.  Children age 14-17 who are going to operate a boat or a jetski need to take a boating safety course, according to Colorado law. From the elemental (sit down during operation) to the commonsense (don’t throw trash overboard) to the advanced (how to call for help on the radio), your kids should get clued in on how to behave on a boat.  Older kids should know the boating rules of the road (how to read a chart, what the colored buoys mean, which side do you pass another boat on), and enrolling them in boating safety classes is not a bad idea.

Most kids will pick some of this up just watching Mom or Dad run the boat. And it never hurts to explain why you do what you do on a boat.  Their little sponges (also known as brains) will soak it up.

Participation.  Here’s where we get to those kids who are not terribly “into” a day on the water with Mom and  Dad (can you say ‘tweens’?).  It’s a phase most kids go through. They’ll come around, usually when they want to impress their friends with a fun afternoon on Dad’s boat.

But you can get these reluctant boaters involved by assigning them tasks. Junior can be put in charge of the fenders, learning how to tie them to a cleat, and storing them in the locker when underway. Sissie can be put in charge of the tunes (even if that means you have to listen to Taylor Swift for a while) or cleaning out the livewell. By making your kids part of the process, you will help get them involved, teach them that shared chores make for enjoyable experiences, and help them learn what boating is all about. 

Our Colorado lakes and reservoirs are beautiful, scenic places to enjoy great boating experiences, and kids get that too. By ensuring they are safe, comfortable, educated and helping, you should be able to share many years of fun with your family, and help create an adult who remembers their childhood boating experiences with joy.