Originally Posted by swise

Oh, as for a ferry boat ride, I'm really not sure why it was suggested that this may be unsafe for a 4-year-old. We wouldn't think twice about taking both of our kids on a ferry -- and have. They've also been on the water taxis in Baltimore, a glass bottom boat in Cabo, and our 4-year-old begins a sailing camp at the local yacht club next month (he turns 5 in August, fwiw). For us part of travel is teaching our kids about how to handle different situations they may not encounter regularly, like different modes of transport, including boats. We teach them safety, proper behavior, etc. We'll talk about what to do and not do before beginning the activity, and then they'll get reminders as we do it. But goodness, most ferry boats even have an interior sitting area if a kid was really bouncing off the walls and not safe out on the deck. But they'd have to really get rambunctious for that. I'm pretty sure most kids would be fine at an arm's reach from a grownup standing on the deck and looking out at the water.