14 FAMILIES AFLOAT
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Families afloat: Raising children as liveaboards Polly Player speaks to three liveaboard families to find out more about raising children on the water, how they came to their decision to do so and what challenges, if any, they have faced along the way. THE proportion of liveaboards on the UK’s inland waterways makes up a small but significant demographic of boaters and within that group is an even smaller sub-set: Families raising children afloat. Understandably, many boaters make the difficult decision to move back on to land when they plan to start a family, but others weigh up the odds and choose to remain onboard and raise their children as liveaboard boaters from the get-go, or to move back onboard when their children get a little older. I’ve spoken to three liveaboard families to find out more about raising children on the water, how they came to their decision to do so, and what challenges, if any, they have faced along the way.
Katrina and Alan with their baby Callan whose place of birth is registered as the Coventry Canal.
pattern takes them across county boundaries, they have not been able to get a full-time health visitor assigned to them. Other problems have arisen along the way too, with Katrina mentioning the lack of availability of supplies such as baby milk and nappies in many canal-side shops, as well as the rather unreliable nature of public transport. Added to this, when the family registered to vote in the May elections last year, they were subsequently questioned by the police under caution for suspected electoral fraud, as there was some question over whether or not the family spent enough time living within their voting area to be truly eligible to vote. Fortunately, the issue was resolved, but this understandably caused a lot of stress and worry. While Katrina and Alan would ultimately like to have the option to move on to land at some point in Callan’s life, at the moment they consider themselves to be priced out of the local housing market. Also being self-employed without a current land address, they have found getting a mortgage to be virtually impossible. However, the family is also very clear on the benefits of raising Callan afloat, including the close proximity of nature (Callan is currently obsessed with swans) and the fact that he is learning from a very early age about water and energy efficiency and its practical applications.
Family one: Katrina Slomczynski (31) Alan Baxter (40) and Callan Baxter (11 months) Katrina and Alan have lived aboard for 18 months now, and were cruising around the Warwickshire ring when Katrina fell pregnant. When they found out that they were expecting, they did consider looking into buying a landbased home, but as most of their savings were tied up in the boat and also having the additional challenges of being selfemployed, chose to remain on the boat that they own outright. Callan was born close to midnight on January 6, 2014, with his arrival heralded by Katrina’s waters breaking while they were part way up the Atherstone flight on their way to Lichfield. Callan’s birth certificate reflects this under the ‘residence at time of birth’ section, being given as “The Painted Lady Narrowboat, King’s Head Pound, Coventry Canal”. Apparently, getting the registrar to accept this address posed something of a challenge, as this was the first time that the office had dealt with a genuine travelling family. Today, Katrina, Alan and Callan remain as continuous cruisers, partially because of the challenges of finding an affordable, formal residential mooring in the Nuneaton/Bedworth area, and are actively lobbying the council to look into establishing some permanent, family-friendly moorings in the area. The transient nature of continuous cruising means the family has ran into some difficulties gaining access to the necessary healthcare required for a young family, and as their cruising
Family two: The Cauldwells. Dan (34) Vikki (33) Lily-Mae (4) and Daisy (19 months) Dan, Vikki and family have been living aboard for only three weeks at the time of writing, although they were by no means new to boats and boating. Dan has spent his entire life around boats, and as a family, the Cauldwells have been instrumental in restoring various historic craft, including being part way through their current project to convert BCN1645 into a floating workshop. The family bought a pair of former hotel boats, Oak and Ash, to use as their home, and moved aboard in November 2014. Dan also mentions that the combined square footage of their two boats is greater than they previously had in their land-based house. The Cauldwell family is based on a permanent mooring at Billing Aquadrome Marina. Before living afloat, the family lived on land in Milton Keynes, and were regular attendees at all manner of boating events throughout the year, with Lily-Mae and later, little Daisy in tow. Dan and Vikki decided to move aboard with their daughters both because of the entire family’s love of boats and the boating lifestyle, and in order to take the opportunity to become debt and mortgage free at a young age, leaving them with more funds to invest in their daughters’ futures. The family spoke to the local council before the move to ensure that they would not run into any difficulties
Daisy has slept through the night since they moved aboard.
Vikki and Dan with daughters Lily-Mae and Daisy.
Lily-Mae outside their new home.
The Cauldwell’s boats Ash and Oak are former hotel boats.
registering the girls in schools, and chose to moor at Billing Aquadrome because of the family-friendly facilities on site. Already very familiar with the canals before moving aboard full time, Dan and Vikki said that part of their decision to move aboard was down to the welcoming and accepting nature of the canal community. The girls are loving life afloat so far. Daisy has begun sleeping through the night since they moved aboard, which she never really managed in the house, and the girls love their own cabins and dedicated playroom. Lily-Mae was counting down the number of sleeps left before moving afloat with great excitement, and while Dan and Vikki were concerned at first about whether or not she really understood that the boats were now their permanent home and that they would not be returning to the house, they are now confident that she understands their new living situation, and the whole family has taken to life afloat very cheerfully.
Family three: The Adlems. Rob (38) Charlotte (28) and ‘The Bump’ The Adlems are expecting their first child in March 2015, and until he or she makes their debut into the world, is currently referred to as the ‘Pop-up Pirate’. Robin and Charlotte have lived aboard full time for eight years, and moved aboard in the full knowledge that they planned to start a family one day, with all of the challenges that would bring. Once they found out that Charlotte was expecting, she and Rob, of course, discussed whether or not moving back on to land would be the more sensible option, but ultimately reached the conclusion that they would miss the cut too much. They feel that the community nature of the canals is the perfect environment in which to raise a child, and that boat life is a lot of fun and the ideal experience for their kids to benefit from as well. While Rob and Charlotte are very clear that remaining on the boat was a personal decision rather than a financial one, they also mention that it would be
Liveaboard boaters Charlotte and Rob are expecting their first child in March. logistically impossible to be able to find a house or flat of an equivalent size in London for the same sort of money that living afloat coats them. Both Rob and Charlotte were brought up in the countryside, and feel that retaining a close connection to nature is important to them. Living afloat in the capital provides the best of both worlds for the family, with easy access to the city on the one hand, but the countryside right outside their windows as well. Rob says: “We want our kids to grow up with a full and adventurous life. Childhood is short and we want our kid/s to experience all of the things that make childhood so special. Grazed knees, tree climbing and messing about on boats, Swallows and Amazons forever. “We have discussed safety a lot and of course it’s a worry to have kids near water, however, there are risks everywhere, we just need to be responsible parents like all of the other parents we know.” When they found out that they were expecting, Rob and Charlotte moved from their leisure mooring to a private residential mooring on the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal. This provides them with many of the advantages of a land-based address, such as being able to register with local services. Looking to the future, Rob and Charlotte are aware that space could become an issue as their family grows, particularly as they are now beginning to realise just how much stuff babies need, but they feel that boating life can offer their children a more connected way of living than is possible on land. Boating life forces you to have to think a little more about fulfilling your needs on an ongoing basis, and relying on more of a community effort. They are also aware that for children, being ‘different’ can be difficult, and are concerned that in the future their child, or children, might potentially be singled out for being raised in an alternative lifestyle. However, as Rob says, these are the concerns of every parent, and the opportunities that they feel are provided by life on the cut far outstrips any potential concerns.
The challenges of raising a family afloat Raising a young family while living aboard does not come without its challenges, and all three of the families that I spoke to were very aware that it is likely to pose additional difficulties over and above those they might face on land. Katrina and Alan’s difficulties in gaining access to a complete healthcare package for their family is one such problem, as is access to affordable, family suitable moorings. Continuously cruising with young children poses additional challenges over and above raising a family with a designated home mooring, although Katrina and Alan are by no means the only family afloat making a continuously cruising lifestyle work out for them. Katrina says that bridge/road access and the quality of the towpaths in some areas makes life challenging when it comes to choosing moorings that are accessible and safe for Callan, and that cyclists and even motorbikes on the towpaths can be menacing and potentially dangerous. However, one thing that all three of the families I spoke to have in common is their view that the canal community itself is an excellent environment in which to raise a family, and that their children are, or will, be learning valuable lessons throughout their childhood as a result of living afloat, which they would not be exposed to on land.