So I watch videos on YouTube made by this family that sails a monohull yacht around the world. The couple do it because it was their dream when they met, but also because they want their three kids to see the world and learn that their limited perspectives aren't everything.

Mostly it looks like they're having a great experience, but it also looks like they're working really hard.

Mom is a badass. She's a terrific sailor, a great homeschool teacher, and a pretty good jackleg mechanic. Her husband is likely the better mechanic, but she's obviously the better sailor.

I'll never forget a conversation she had with one of her boys who simultaneously complained about having to do kitchen chores while patting himself on the back for "helping."

"Listen," she said (I'm paraphrasing) "When you get up at 4:00 in the morning to sit a watch with me, you're helping. It's nice that you do that, but I would be on watch whether you helped me or not. It's my job to stay awake in the middle of the night to keep you and everybody else in the family safe and alive, no matter how unpleasant it is sometimes. Whether I'm seasick or just tired and would rather go back to bed."

He nodded like she was stating the obvious but didn't understand what her point was.

So she continued. "When you wash the dishes, swab the deck, do laundry and all the other things you and your brother and sister have on your chore chart, you are not helping. You are doing your job as part of the family. You're not qualified to stand a night watch yet, but one day you will be. And when you stand it you will not be helping. You will be doing your job just like you're doing your job when you do the dishes. Got it?"

I think he did, actually. Get it, I mean.