It is important to understand what dreams mean.  First, they show you where you are in consciousness and second, they will also show you where you are heading in consciousness.  Within each dream are special ‘symbols’ that are unique to you and there are others that are common to all.  If you can understand these symbols they will give you the inner knowledge of how to control your destiny.

A rock is a symbol of truth; it’s where you stand in consciousness with certain aspects.  Here - you are by the sea, which is the symbol for emotions.  Your dad, who has passed, is still in your emotions yet you view him as being separate, still a higher figure from your emotional stand point, but yet kept at a distance because you feel he is no longer reachable.  This is your truth from the ego’s standpoint.

If you look at the dream from a higher perspective it will have another meaning.  The rock is still your truth, and the sea is the vast primordial substance, which is a part of the one Infinite Reality.  Our divine Self, will often take on a form in a dream that you can relate to so a ‘communication’, or an ‘actualization’ of the knowledge of what your higher self is trying to get across to you can take place.  In this case, your dad is a symbol of your higher Self (It could also be; a king, queen, teacher, an elder, etc.).  The child, is a new ‘higher thought’ that is being impressed upon your mind and it came to you in a boat, which symbolizes that it, the new thought, is above your emotional state.  It’s helping you to come to a clearer state of consciousness through meditation.  The direction that you are heading is right, and it is shown through you meditating.  Keep up the good work.