Yes, because they do believe in self-development 
They are divorced and father dont know what to do with his money. There s giving reasonable confidence to your kids and giving them boats and telling them "good bye, have a nice trip" before they re even 18. Old irresponsible hippies who gave birth to their daughters on a trip around the world...probably drug abusers... Poor girl obviously has to prove things...TO THEM cause she thinks they dont love her or regret having giving birth to her. Just another dysfunctional family , just happen to have more money than others hence being able to pay her boats as a coping strategy for the original lack of love.
Poor girl is alrdy borderline autistic and it's not normal at such a young age to enjoy spending so much time alone. Sounds a lot like hidden suicidal tendencies stemming from long term conflicts between parents deeply affecting her life goals.
She has proven nothing but that she 's another troubled kid, not surprising coming from such a family. There are a lot of other kids her age or younger who could do the same, but dont, because they actually care about life and their loved ones.
BTW, how would things have been protrayed had she been caught by somali pirates during her "trip" around the world?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laura_Dekker
Has nothing to do with self development, you fucking mental midget. Dont use big words if you dont even understand their meaning.
