By Robert Lawrence, President/CEO

I have two teen age sons 18 and 16, and one preteen daughter who just turned 12 this past Saturday. I would have to admit that I’ve been pretty tough on my kids; no doubt tougher on my sons than my daughter.  If you have teenage boys maybe you know why it can be a real battle.

To open up on an even more personal level… in retrospect, maybe I have been too tough; especially with my 16 year old boy who is truly a wonderful young man but who has butted heads with me often over the last two years.

Is it my fault?  Probably so. My expectations have always been high; average has never been good enough – even when sometimes average was probably the best he could do. I am prayerful he will come to understand my fatherly intent as he gets older.

Of this though, I am certain… I may not have always been right but everything I pushed him toward has only been in an effort to benefit his future. I never tried to force him to do something that would benefit me.

Today though, I see that Laurence Sunderland has been shopping a reality TV show about his daughter Abby’s recent failed solo sailing attempt around the world, and that perhaps the entire journey was planned for monetary purpose more than anything.

Trying to be as non judgmental as possible… WTH!!  I can only say that there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell, that I would ever let my 16 year old daughter embark on such an adventure. I mean my oldest son, who is actually almost 19, made a trek from San Diego to Lake Tahoe and back Friday night by himself and I thought I was going to pass out from fear and anxiety until he arrived back home 6:30 Saturday morning!

I have to give him credit though; he was very understanding and called me every hour from the road to update me on his excursion! Imagine sending your 16 year old daughter on a small boat to sail 24,000 miles around the globe, alone. It is beyond my comprehension.  I don’t care how much she may have begged to do it to compete with her older brother who completed the journey when he was 17.

To just think that not only did her dad approve but according to some reports, it may have been something he actually arranged to make money for himself, raises the question…”Is this child abuse?”  At the least it seems like child exploitation!

Maybe I’m old fashioned. Isn’t a father supposed to protect his children at all cost? Isn’t his job to provide food, shelter, clothing, education, and to teach them the best he can, and perhaps more than anything…to simply protect them from possible harm?

I’m baffled that it’s even legal to allow a minor to embark on such an endeavor and that child services won’t be there to whisk her off to safety at the dock. I really want to know what you think on this? Is this Ok? Maybe it really is just me.

As the General Manager of WPIX TV used to say every night at 11pm in his editorial, “What’s your opinion… we’d like to know.”