Children are good at packrafting and bad at being cold, bored or rushed. Plan around those three and most trips go well.
The hull is not the hard part. The day around it is.
Start smaller than you think
A first outing does not need a destination. A sheltered corner of a lake, an hour on the water and a beach to land on is a complete day for a young child.
Trips that end while everyone is still enjoying themselves are the ones children ask to repeat. Trips that end with a long paddle back into a headwind are not.
Build up. A short flat-water paddle, then a slightly longer one, then a small walk in with the packraft on your back. Each step should feel easy.
Who sits where
A young child rides with an adult. That is a two-person job, and it is what the Seeka Duo is for: two people, or one person and a lot of kit.
An older child who can paddle their own line, follow an instruction on the water and get themselves to the bank may be ready for their own hull. That is a call about the child and the water, not about age.
Whatever the arrangement, an adult needs to reach the child quickly. On moving water that usually means staying downstream and close.
Buoyancy vests are sized by weight
Child vests are sized by body weight, and the bands are narrow. A vest bought to grow into does not hold a small body correctly in the water.
Look for a crotch strap and a head support collar, and use them. Do the lift test on land: do it up, pull firmly up on the shoulders, and check it does not slide past the chin.
Check the fit at the start of every season.
Cold is the thing that ends the day
Children lose heat faster than adults and complain about it later than you would like. A child sitting still in a wet seat gets cold long before the adult paddling does.
Wool or synthetic layers, never cotton. A windproof over the top. A warm hat in the pack even on a mild day. Spare dry clothes in a dry bag, and another set in the car.
Warm food and a hot drink at the take-out does more for the memory of a trip than anything that happened on the water.
Choose water with an easy exit
Look for banks a child can climb out onto, water without strainers, and somewhere to stop every twenty minutes. Fallen trees and undercut banks are the hazards that matter on the small rivers that otherwise suit families.
Stay clear of pushy current, cold water, or a long committing section with no way out. If the only exit is downstream, it is not a family trip yet.
Wind decides more family days than current does. An open lake in the afternoon is hard work for a small paddler. Go early.
Give them a job
Children who are passengers get bored. Children with a role stay interested. Filling the air bag, holding the painter line, spotting the next landing, calling out birds, carrying their own small dry bag.
A cheap waterproof camera or a pair of binoculars in the pack stretches attention further than any amount of encouragement.
Set the rules once, on the bank
Vest on before we touch the water. Stay where I can see you. If you end up in the water, get your feet up and float feet first downstream, then swim to the bank when I tell you.
Say it once, calmly, then let the day be fun. Rules delivered as a lecture at every stop stop being heard.
Where a Seeka fits
The Seeka Duo carries two people, or one adult and a child with the day gear. Solo and Tourer are single-paddler hulls. All three self-bail, so water that comes over the side leaves through the floor rather than sitting around you.
They are built for sheltered lakes, inlets, estuaries and easy rivers reached on foot, which is the kind of day families have. Open coast and fast whitewater call for a different craft.
Every Seeka self-bails and carries a two-year warranty on materials and welding. Or hire one for a weekend first.