Flying as an unaccompanied minor at age 7

The flight is ok IMO. My DS flew as an unaccompanied minor once around age 10, and it was not a problem at all. However I wouldn't send my 7 year old on a flight to go to camp with strangers for a week and not even hand her over myself. I know it's normal in some wealthy families across Europe to send your kids away for weeks on end but it feels like too much - she's too young, it's too long and she's got to fly there and back without a parent. Too much at once.

Middle (and upper) classes. OP and her DSis did this as kids so it’s considered normal in their world. The DC will be super independent by the age of 10!

Does it really matter what anyone else thinks OP?

Just turned 7? No flipping way!!

The unaccompanied plane trip doesn’t worry me. DSD used to do this long haul between mum and dad aged 7. A hostess takes them off you at departures and they are walked through to arrivals the other end. The only issue seemed to be if she was stuck next to a child she didn’t like.

I think the camp idea depends. Way to convey the message you are inconvenient but mostly too much upheaval for a 7 year old after being away at school. Is there any time with mum between school and camp ?

Absolutely fucking not. What a crazy irresponsible idea.

Perhaps I am being to mean to say this next part - but since you are perfectly fine and see no issues with your 7 year old niece doing this - I hope you don't have children OP

I would never do this with a 7yo!
I would also never send a child so young to boarding school

A 7-year old child? Not a chance! I wouldn’t be sending a child that young to a holiday camp for a week either.

I think “camp” in that meaning is really very less familiar in the UK where I think a majority of posters are from. It has always seemed an American idea to me, I’ve never heard of any such camp only heard of it in American films or TV. I would also agree seven is unlikely to be mature enough for the whole experience but you know the child better than random people on the internet…

I have a nearly 7 year old and the thought of him doing this is absolutely insane, I would never ever do it!!

And the social classes where boarding school af 7 was normal were notoriously well-adjusted!

You might get more positive responses on the Boarding School board

I wonder if this is actually the OP’s child?

I think it’s quite sad really. How good and essential can this camp be? (Unless military parents etc). Though if a parent is even thinking of the camp, then perhaps that says everything about the parent-child relationship and the camp is just a symptom of that 😐

can your niece speak the local language? Hard no from me!

The flight is fine, it’s a good service. I wouldn’t be so keen on the camp, but it depends on the DC. Is She looking forwards to it?

I did it’s of summer camps as a kid, from as early as 7. I also flew as an unaccompanied minor from about 10. There is no way I’d send my child abroad for a camp at 7.

it’s all been covered by PPs but for me it illustrated that I needed to be independent as young as possible and that there was no one to talk to when I was worried or scared. There’s obviously so much more behind it all, and my family was very complicated, so this was just the tip of the iceberg. Therapy has helped me sort all that out. Please ask your sister to find an alternative.

I wouldn’t. It’s a disproportionate response to the problem imo. I see similar camps advertised on a group I’m part of - Russian-speaking mums in London, with camps advertised in Europe for age 8+ - and I cannot understand the takeup.

I flew unaccompanied at 13, commonwealth country to NYC. The staff who should have come along to escort me didn’t, so I made my way off the plane, through immigration and out of JFK Airport. It was fine (just), but I was five years older and in a country that spoke the same language.

DD went to a PGL camp at 8, in the UK, 1.5 hours drive from home, with her brother age 11 and his two friends.

We took them there and collected them.

There is no way on earth I’d do what you’re suggesting. If this is true and the parents have that amount of money to throw on childcare there must be local options such as a nanny or student teacher or nurse who would be happy to earn some cash.

Not wanting your 7 year old to fly unaccompanied to another country to be looked after by strangers is not wrapping your child in cotton wool, it’s called responsible parenting and loving your child.

The fact a 7 year old is ok with this is, I think, a matter of concern in itself regarding the parent/child parental bond.

Serioudly, what is this person thinking.

I’m someone who has travelled a lot in my life, including stints living abroad, and I’m a parent who feels very strongly about my children having those sort of freedoms and adventures.

I would have no concerns sending a child to a camp abroad for a week or letting them use an unaccompanied minors service.

But 7 is far far too young for this. You only need one thing to go wrong on the flight or the camp, and she would be terrified. And because she’s young the “going wrong” doesn’t have to be desperately serious in adult terms for it to be really scary for a child.

Even if she’s only going to Switzerland, and even assuming your sister is reasonably wealthy, it would probably take 12 hours for a parent to get there if she broke her arm by the time they’ve gone home from work to get a passport, booked tickets, got a taxi to the airport, waited for flight etc etc, That would mean her doing all of the medical care etc by herself in a foreign country with a stranger adult.

Much more appropriate for an 11 year old.

How desperate is your sister to not look after her child if she's willing to do this

what's wrong with an agency nanny for a week

why does it have to be a camp

i bet I could find you a camp with 50 miles in about a 10 minutes

i call click bait

Because they are probably rich, detached from reality, and were themselves raised in this way and therefore think it’s fine.
poor child!
I wouldn’t even let my 10 year old do this, nor would she want to!

i can understand needing to be able to send a child unaccompanied on a flight, lives are complicated sometimes. I totally completely cannot understand sending a 7yo to an abroad camp for a week. I have a 7yo and no way!! They don’t even do school camp until they are about 9 and it’s one night until years 5 & 6. Because it’s a lot for little kids to stay away from home and not know their parents are there for them!!

Depends on the child. Mine would be fine with this. I genuinely don't see the issue.

Years ago (I was a teenager) my mum and I were flying in Europe and the female cabin crew told us to swap seats so that we were sitting next to a young boy aged 5 who was unaccompanied and had changed flights from an earlier connecting flight from Australia. They put him next to us because we were female and sensible looking. Moved a bloke away from him. I seem to remember the child had passports/tickets on a lanyard around his neck. He was terrified on take off and I tried to talk to him but he’d obviously been told not to speak to anyone so he ignored me but his bottom lip wobbled. We effectively supervised him for the flight with cabin crew taking him off at the end. Poor kid. But it was obviously a thing even back then and apparently his parents had put him on in Aus and another relative was picking him up in Europe. Cabin crew said they walked him through the airport, so technically he was never alone. No idea how it works now, before people say it’s changed and doesn’t happen! I always remember it though.

I was that unaccompanied child many decades ago. From the age of 9 to 15, I'd fly solo from Europe to North America every summer. I'd spend a few weeks in a camp, and a few weeks with relatives. I loved it. And it made me very independent. I was never the one to blub about homesickness anyway. Many airlines today won't take an unaccompanied 9 year old, let alone 7. Travel alone depends on the child, and a parent's judgement of them. Nothing bad happened to me, and the memories of that time are cherished.

The thing i don’t understand is why?
There must be other options. Stay off work, dh stays off work, hire a nanny/childminder, grandparents, other family members.
The fact that your sister has thought’ I know send her off on a plane to stay with strangers for a week’ speaks volumes. As pp have said it’s all fine until it’s not.