Off Topic Children's Right's Day

A while back, I went to an amusement park (Disney) and there they had an actor in pirate costume who made the kids in the audience members of his crew - it was part of the show.

At the end of it, all the kids went back to their parents happy to have been part of the crew for a the duration of the skit. All except one little boy. He insisted that he was now part of the pirate crew, and he was going to go off with them.

Nothing like taking your pirate vows seriously.

I don't thiink it was part of the act. The crowd dispersed but this one little boy stayed. His older brother was standing next to me and his parents sent him to get the little boy but the little boy wanted to run away with the crew.

I guess in every generation, there are some of us who "want to run away with the circus".

At what age should a child be allowed to leave home and get a job on a ship? Join the Navy? Travel the World? Or just move to an apartment down the street?

18 long years kept as a child? Why 18 years? Why not 15 years?

Would it have to be the same in every state?