Flying as an unaccompanied minor at age 7

If it’s only an hour away do you really need to be staying close by?

Parents just need to ask themselves, would I let my 7 yr old fly as a UM and be met the other end by strangers to take them to a kids camp for a week. Some will say yes, some no and some maybe. I’d be in the no group personally.

I don't really see this as particularly crazy thing. Airports and flights companies wouldnt have a process in place for this is it wasn't normal. I know kids that travel alone cause otherwise they wouldn't be able to see their parent/grandparents

Mine went to camp from 5 yo, Belgian coast, Ardennes etc. My employer subsidised it and a shiny brochure arrived twice a year. She had an amazing time, and at 16 did the training to become an animator herself. At 21 she has just completed the qualification to be a camp leader and in August, she ran the Pirate Camp at the coast that she first went to aged 5. This freaked me out a bit. Though not as much as thought of taking 40 kids to Plopsaland for the day. 😱

Abroad is one thing, but sending children as young as 7 away to camp for a week is quite a normal thing in many countries. Just because it's strange to you as its not your experience, doesn't mean its wrong.

Hell would freeze over before I let my child do this below the age of 16.

Your DSis is being really irresponsible; she needs to find a babysitter or similar for her daughter for the week.

What on earth are you talking about?

Unless your DD has specific needs, being too nervous for a 9yo to stay an hour away from home sounds almost as absurd as sending a 7yo abroad for a week.

What do you think is likely to happen that’s so urgent you couldn’t be an hour away?

Is your sister considering getting rid of her daughter for a week in a foreign country on her own because she can’t find childcare for the week she breaks up earlier than everyone else? Completely confused with the premise for this?

Its not safe now a days, like it used to be for a child of 7 to fly unacompanied.

Children can be targeted, and even teenagers are not safe either so a 7 year old would not stand a chance, an adult could easily over power them and the consequences could horrendous.

I have a 9 year old who is going on residential with the school for two nights an hour from home .dh and I are hoping to get a cheap travel lodge and stay near by just in case as she never been apart from us. This is the school and all the teachers and children she knows well. No way would I ever consider sending my 9 year old alone with people she doesn't know to a foreign country on a plane. I can't believe anyone think that a 7 year old can do that. It's too young but everyone is different.

Is this even real? As if anyone would even consider sending their 7 year old to a bunch of strangers for a week let alone abroad! Wtf!

No it isn't legally binding but if she has already made her mind up, asking others for their views with no intention of taking them on board is just wasting people's time. I'm guessing the views she wanted were those that applauded her behaviour and this has backfired spectacularly. It takes a special kind of person to wilfully neglect a child, brag about it and expect widespread agreement.

Are people doing a full facilities inspections when you drop your kids at camps? Do you personally check everyone’s DBS?

What would worry me most is that I personally hadn’t seen the accommodation/facilities at the camp or met the staff.
Which is very different to brownie or cub camps or even boarding school.
it does seem rather extreme. Could your niece not stay with you? Could she not spend days at a school friend’s house? Does your sister know any uni students etc who might be up for covering the days - perhaps taking your niece to a couple of museums or xmassy sctivities?

I do wonder what social services would say about your sisters plan to leave her child with strangers for a week just because she cba to figure out childcare or take time off work.

The idea that sending a child to an organized camp (a form of organized childcare) would in any way meet the threshold for social services involvement is ridiculous.

I had full-scale panic attacks when I went on an overseas school trip aged 15, it was awful. Probably didn't help that I'd never spent one night away from my parents until then apart from a couple of sleepovers at our next-door neighbours.

Whereas my DC have been son overnight trips with Beavers since they were 6 and have been away for 5 nights aged 8 and had the best time. I'm totally in awe of their resilience and confidence. Maybe they're just naturally more confident than I was as a child, maybe it's because they've had the exposure to these opportunities from an earlier age, maybe a bit of both.

Unless they're leaving them with some local drunk you dragged in off the street, I don't think anyone cares who anyone has got babysitting?

People seem to get very worked up about leaving their children with 'strangers'. Maybe I'm weird - I've not lost any sleep about the fact I didn't set eyes on my child's current teacher until half way through the school term. They go to various holiday clubs that I've only seen on the people who run it for 30 seconds when I hand them over at the gate. They've been left with agency babysitters on a number of occasions that none of us have met until they turn up at our door.

My 15 year old daughter made herself sick when she went on a school trip abroad she missed home that much 😂 and she was surrounded by people she knew.

All perfectly legal this of course and ever so slightly upper class so why would anyone have a problem with it? But god forbid a working class Mum leaves her kids with a babysitter they haven’t met before for the night while she has a rare night out. The school would be inviting her in for a chat to discuss what support they can offer, the WhatsApp groups would be popping off with derision. Just because you can do something and get away with it doesn’t mean that you should.

No way would I send a 7 year to a camp abroad nor would I let them catch a flight by themselves. I think most kids would feel very abandoned by their parents. I do wonder what social services would say about your sisters plan to leave her child with strangers for a week just because she cba to figure out childcare or take time off work.

So why did you post? You claimed that your sister wanted alternative views but it's quite clear that minds are not going to be changed here. Isn't this just rage bait?

There is no way I'd send my 7 year old on an unaccompanied flight and go to camp with a bunch of strangers I didn't know. Just because the service exists doesn't mean that you should use it!

My 2 went to PGL at when DS was 8 but his 10 year old sister was there too. MIL lived nearby so could have could have got there quickly if needed. He also Cub camps from 8 alone but that is a group and leader you know well. They only went for max 4 days too. I the 7 is very young to cope with all of this.