Can you imagine being given this opportunity

Norman has given his perspective on it from what he would have thought if this had happened to him, why the pile on?
Well, if you post a story you are sort of inviting people to comment. And you may find that people don't agree with your interpretation of the story. Then if you dig in and try to defend your take you will get others joining in. It can only be described as a "pile on" because dear old Normy has stuck to his take despite many people not agreeing with him. He also is going against what the writer has described as her experience of the "trip". I get that it might be interesting to get another perspective on the "adventure" but even that doesn't invalidate the view of the author. That was HER experience and it HER lasting legacy of the way she was brought up. Whether it was abuse or not guess resides with the person experiencing the event.

If I go for a twenty mile hike over the tops of the fells this afternoon in cold, then mist, then sun, then rain, I would probably enjoy it, if I dragged a seven year old along, I doubt they would have the same memory of the trip. Which one of us is right?

Both of us.
 
Norman has given his perspective on it from what he would have thought if this had happened to him, why the pile on? Plus the usual suspect implying someone else is advocating child abuse, in the same way they do for other subjects.

From what I recall Norman_C has spent a lot of time supporting youngsters who aren’t given the best opportunities in life for a number of reasons.

This is the problem with social media, too many people have zero interest in debate, no interest in others perspectives, insinuations and insults are part of their MO etc etc

There are a number on this board, makes it less and less appealing tbh,

Just because the majority of responses strongly disagree with the OP's perspective, it doesn't constitute a pile on.

This is literally a story about a child who had her childhood taken from and missed out on important aspects of development which every child should have access to and sustained considerable injuries/lack of access to important information and supplies for life along the way.

It is, what it is. Why would anyone read this and want to infer that the person who suffered it was in someway ungrateful? What do you expect people's response to that to be?

Norman might well have spent a lot of time doing that but it doesn't mean people aren't allowed to respond to his post airing their opinions, quite rightly, on neglect which IS a form of abuse.

I didn't seem to pick up on anyone suggesting he advocates for child abuse, perhaps I've missed that.

He has defended a pretty unpleasant case of neglect/abuse, though. People pointing that out are not piling on, bullying or anything otherwise. They're responding. And judging from the weight of the responses most people are of the same mind on the issue.

It isn't a question of do you like 3 or 4 at the back, or which is the best parmo or even Socialism v Capitalism etc. It's a quite an uncomfortable story about someone who was subjected to something against their will and lives with the consequences.

No interest in debate? What is there to be debated? If it had been put forward by the OP as something to debate or be discussed then maybe the thread could've taken that direction, if you read back though, it wasn't and his responses didn't do much to indicate he wanted that either.

I've no issue with NC whatsoever, good poster and nice bloke. Just seems a weird take from someone who is aware of the impact these things have on children.
 
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Personally I think it sounds horrendous. If the parents wanted to do this they should have waited until the kids were older/ finished school etc.
 
You were comparing it to a completely different situation, that's not a different viewpoint on what she went through.

Obviously it could have been a great experience if you take away all the awful things that she went through during it and included all the things that you'd expect a healthy childhood to include.

But that's not what happened.
According to one account. Hers.
 
According to one account. Hers.

What reason do we have to doubt a 56 year old woman's story about her childhood?

There were only 4 of them and a few crew members on that boat.

Her father clearly wouldn't see the story the same way, unless he was an absolute nutjob, he'll have thought everything was hunky dory and he's doing a great job, whilst overruling his children's request to return home after years at sea, denying them a proper education and feeding his daughter weevils.

Her mother is dead.

We've not heard from her brother.

The story was on public record already from her dad's side, she's just given her experience of it.
 
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I felt guilty taking my daughter to B&Q the other week as I felt we should be doing something she would enjoy more.

It would be interesting to see if the book follows the theme of the article in its entirety I think, as the article is certainly awfully damning (but is written to peak interest and sell the book). Also fascinating to read her fathers story alongside her own. Reading two very different lived experiences would be eye opening I think.

Really important we don't criticise someone's lived experience just because it's different to ours, or how we perceive ours would be. One persons adventure is anothers horror story.
 
I don’t believe NC delivered courses on abuse and neglect.

If it does happen to be true, he should never do it again.
 
I felt guilty taking my daughter to B&Q the other week as I felt we should be doing something she would enjoy more.

It would be interesting to see if the book follows the theme of the article in its entirety I think, as the article is certainly awfully damning (but is written to peak interest and sell the book). Also fascinating to read her fathers story alongside her own. Reading two very different lived experiences would be eye opening I think.

Really important we don't criticise someone's lived experience just because it's different to ours, or how we perceive ours would be. One persons adventure is anothers horror story.
I've preordered the audio book so will see
 
10 years at sea sound horrific, more so from the age of 7.. six weeks holiday would be a bit ott.. this would be something more suited to a gap year. 10 years!!

Tbh I wouldn’t go on a round the world boat trip for free now, never mind for 10 years from the age of 7 with crazy parents!
 
What reason do we have to doubt a 56 year old woman's story about her childhood?

There were only 4 of them and a few crew members on that boat.

Her father clearly wouldn't see the story the same way, unless he was an absolute nutjob, he'll have thought everything was hunky dory and he's doing a great job, whilst overruling his children's request to return home after years at see, denying them a proper education and feeding his daughter weevils.

Her mother is dead.

We've not heard from her brother.

The story was on public record already from her dad's side, she's just given her experience of it.
We don't.

You win.

I'm out.
 
I honestly thought I had put this to bed yesterday with my reply to MolteniArcore but obviously one or two aren't happy with that reply. I'm not sure what you want me to say other than agree with you that it was a nightmare from start to finish - but I don't believe it was.

I have previously stated that this could and should have been an opportunity of a lifetime with better planning and it finishing at the planned destination and then sailing home. In my opinion for what it is worth on here (and I have stated elsewhere in this thread) that this is when the neglect starts to take place and we can see from her own words that it is more evident when they are on land than at sea - after the two year voyage.

It is obvious that I have interpreted this opportunity differently from most of the replies on here but still feel it was a great opportunity that went wrong in the planning stages by a parent whose intentions were all good at the beginning.

I would like to state that some of my earlier replies have been flippant and tongue in cheek to the injuries she received and I thought that would be obvious to most. I would also like to add that I personally don't see this as people piling on (thanks for the support) but I do take exception to Sherlock casting aspersions regarding my past or suggesting what I should be allowed to do in the future.

And on that note, I think I will leave it.
 
I look forward to to reading NC's son's revelations about being made to help his dad grow tomato plants and carrying big sacks of fertiliser, while only being fed tomato seeds and being made to wear hand turned wooden protective headgear. :D
 
I look forward to to reading NC's son's revelations about being made to help his dad grow tomato plants and carrying big sacks of fertiliser, while only being fed tomato seeds and being made to wear hand turned wooden protective headgear. :D
I hope he doesn't include how I broke his trailer off his tricycle when I made him carry house bricks in it. 🤣 🤣 🤣
 
Norman has given his perspective on it from what he would have thought if this had happened to him, why the pile on? Plus the usual suspect implying someone else is advocating child abuse, in the same way they do for other subjects.

From what I recall Norman_C has spent a lot of time supporting youngsters who aren’t given the best opportunities in life for a number of reasons.

This is the problem with social media, too many people have zero interest in debate, no interest in others perspectives, insinuations and insults are part of their MO etc etc

There are a number on this board, makes it less and less appealing tbh,
Well said. I was surprised at the pelters Norman was getting here. I don't get it. He said a lot of reasonable things
 
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