Babs Müller was quoted in the Volkskrant daily Saturday as saying she has kept quiet until now because Laura had threatened not to see her again if she stood in the way of the trip. Laura's parents are divorced, and she lives with her father, Dick Dekker, who supports her ambition to set sail this year for a trip that would take two years.
However, a court has placed her under supervision of the Dutch Child Protection Board for two months, and appointed a child psychologist to report on her capacity to cope with the risks of the voyage and the possible harm of a lengthy isolation during such formative years.
A spokeswoman for Laura and her father said Müller's comments came as a surprising reversal. Müller had earlier told the child protection authorities that the trip was "scary," but that she was not opposed.
|
The mother's opposition is likely to weigh heavily on the judge who must consent to the trip, since Laura would miss two years of mandatory schooling. But that doesn't end Laura's hopes of undertaking the trip and she is going ahead with the preparations.
Müller told the paper Laura has the technical capability to make the trip, but that the teenager is not yet mature enough to deal with the psychological challenges of two years of being on her own. "If it were up to me, Laura wouldn't go," Müller told the paper. "She can sail like the devil, that's not the problem," she said. But Laura "is not yet grown up."
"It breaks my heart that I may lose contact with her. I have never in my life had to make such a difficult decision," she was quoted as saying. "But I would rather have a living daughter whom I do not see than a dead daughter." She said she also was worried about Laura's safety in ports in some developing countries.
Müller also said she fears Laura's father has put her up to the plan. "I've got the feeling that he has been drumming this idea into her for years."
The spokeswoman said Laura "was surprised and disappointed" by Müller's interview, "but understands her mother's emotions." She said Müller had exaggerated the fear of losing touch with her daughter, and that Laura had never threatened to sever contact.
If she were to set off on the voyage and successfully complete it, Laura would break a record set one week ago by 17-year-old Mike Perham of Britain, who sailed 45,000 kilometres in nine months.
