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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To get DD out of a rave

256 replies

TheSassyHedgehog · 15/03/2026 01:56

We've just realised DD (17) is probably at a rave in the middle of nowhere. We knew she was going to a party with a friend but thought it was in the city we live in. However from her last location on phone, DH and I can see she's a good 20 ish miles away, probably in woodland, no houses for miles, and there's no signal now so we don't know how she'll organise to get home, plus have all the worries about whatever's going on there. We were young once though and know she could be having the time of her life but we want to get her home as it'll be getting cold. We think DH should drive to last known location and look for her but she may well be furious. AIBU?

OP posts:
CanineJesus · 15/03/2026 10:18

StephensLass1977 · 15/03/2026 10:04

My neighbour does this to her 19 year old daughter. She has a tracker on her phone and the poor girl has to be home as soon as she finishes work. Her other daughter left home as soon as she could but this one hasn't. There's definitely a lot of bitterness there. And it starts with parents checking up and turning up where their child is.

That’s really awful and sad

CanineJesus · 15/03/2026 10:17

Flowerlovinglady · 15/03/2026 09:20

Agreed, I am very surprised at the responses to this. I would defnitely drive out there and assess the scene.

I’m very surprised at this response to be honest.
how do you expect a 17 to develop independence? Kids like this risk turning into hopeless adults, sadly.

Topoftherange · 15/03/2026 10:17

I do wonder if half these posters actually have teen girls or are just basing their replies on how they were at that age.

My dd is 17 and I too would be as worried as you were last nigh op. And for those who think there are no raves happening in March again have no idea what teen life is like, my dd is often invited to these things throughout the year and as we live semi-rural they occur anywhere;- in woodlands, in fields, along creeks and by the beach. Luckily for my sanity she prefers comfort and declines the invites. And I am glad she doesn't go because some of her friends have had issues during these 'raves'.

DD's best friend's parents are as liberal and 'cool' as some of the posters on this thread but they also live in complete ignorant bliss, totally unaware their naive 17 year old is currently 6 weeks pregnant by a lad they have never met but were happy to let their child out every night with him to raves, car meet ups and God knows what else. She is due an abortion and her parents will never know.

SugarPuffSandwiches · 15/03/2026 10:14

FloofBunny · 15/03/2026 05:18

Oh my God, I am SO grateful this tech didn't exist when I was 17! It would have shown me in all manner of country lanes in the middle of nowhere at night, because I was shagging my boyfriend in his car!

I miss the 90s 😭😁 So glad there wasn't all this tracking your every move bollocks lol

StephensLass1977 · 15/03/2026 10:04

My neighbour does this to her 19 year old daughter. She has a tracker on her phone and the poor girl has to be home as soon as she finishes work. Her other daughter left home as soon as she could but this one hasn't. There's definitely a lot of bitterness there. And it starts with parents checking up and turning up where their child is.

liveforsummer · 15/03/2026 10:04

APC303 · 15/03/2026 10:01

Techno parties in woods with dancefloors under taurpaulins in February in sideways rain turning to sleet were a highlight in early 2000's.

I was living abroad in the early 2000’s enjoying the sun. Thank god I missed that era 🤣

NotnowMildrid · 15/03/2026 10:03

Glad she’s safe and sound.

As a good mother you can’t help but worry. It’s only natural, she’ll always be your DD even at 40!

In some ways, I think the days without mobile phones were far easier for parents, because they were totally oblivious to where we ended up!!

APC303 · 15/03/2026 10:01

liveforsummer · 15/03/2026 01:59

Surely there are no raves in woodlands in early March? It’s freezing! I know she’s 17 but I’d maybe go for a drive at least to see what’s going on. It’s quite odd to be in woodland at this time at any time of year let alone winter

Edited

Techno parties in woods with dancefloors under taurpaulins in February in sideways rain turning to sleet were a highlight in early 2000's.

Neurodiversitydoctor · 15/03/2026 09:58

Every days a school day

Imbusytodaysorry · 15/03/2026 09:42

Neurodiversitydoctor · 15/03/2026 09:14

Someone forgot where their car was then was ok to drive ! To be honest that is the most worring this on this thread.

Really? I do that in the supermarket car park all the time

Beachtastic · 15/03/2026 09:37

Glad she's home safe, OP.

FWIW, I think a rave in the woods is infinitely safer and more fun than a night out in town. If I had a teenage daughter, I might even deliberately introduce her to the rave scene rather than watch her go down the soulless route of pubs, clubs, and searching for taxis in the early hours.

The best parties are small, organised quietly, and leave no mess. And they do happen in woods, all year round. I once went to one in North Wales in January. Let's just say that shortly after, I invested in an insulated coat 😜

WhatAPavalova · 15/03/2026 09:30

This happened to me last summer with my 17 year old.
Lots of worry for hours one day due to location tracking.

He was fine but I’ve not looked since. I strongly recommend not checking location.

I’m glad she had a good night and I’m glad young people still meet like this.

Flowerlovinglady · 15/03/2026 09:20

Agreed, I am very surprised at the responses to this. I would defnitely drive out there and assess the scene.

Zoec1975 · 15/03/2026 09:20

TheTattooedLady · 15/03/2026 04:04

Jesus. A 17 year old child is in the middle of nowhere in the woods. The OP has no idea why she would be there or who she is with.

Exactly this

youalright · 15/03/2026 09:17

Op you need to say to your daughter i honestly don't care what you do you're old enough to make your own decisions but please just tell us where you are going so we don't panic and think your body has been dumped in the woods at 2am

Neurodiversitydoctor · 15/03/2026 09:14

FiveGoMadInDorset · 15/03/2026 08:04

You obviously haven’t had a rave near you. They are all self contained vehicles that provide their own power, they cut fences to get on to land, the rave in our village was on military land, the police have no powers to shut it down, they just sat in their van looking really pissed off, my sister rescued one teenager who couldn’t remember where her car was, drove her around until she found her car

Someone forgot where their car was then was ok to drive ! To be honest that is the most worring this on this thread.

youalright · 15/03/2026 09:12

UniquePinkSwan · 15/03/2026 09:08

it really is unless you are very sheltered

Its nothing to do with being sheltered or even an age thing if someone has said they are going to a party in a city and then their phone is showing them in the woods at 2am i would panic they've been murdered and their body dumped i would think this whether they where 17 or 37

UniquePinkSwan · 15/03/2026 09:08

TheTattooedLady · 15/03/2026 03:37

If you ever find yourself in this situation with a child of your own, come back and tell me this is ‘normal’ and that you’re completely fine with it.

It might be something that you yourself did, and I’m sure the OP’s dd is fine, but it’s not normal for a 17yo child to be out in the woods at 2am.

it really is unless you are very sheltered

CanineJesus · 15/03/2026 08:57

Mummyoflittledragon · 15/03/2026 08:53

I have scanned through the transcript and I agree. It’s about peace of mind, not safety. For example, 17 yo dd went to a rave in Manchester and stayed in a hotel overnight with a friend. I woke up in the night - as I always do rather than through worry - and I could just check where she was. Knowing she was safely back at her hotel, I could go back to sleep. I don’t think I’d have let her go to the rave without this as a tool. She has been using someone else’s ID as these venues are 18 plus, albeit a large proportion of teens apparently aren’t and some 16 yos are allowed to go as well. She’s year 13 for reference. Wouldn’t have let her go in year 12.

Yes. The thing that is actually keeping them safe is knowing they can call their parents when they need help - this only happens when there’s trust.

3luckystars · 15/03/2026 08:54

If my child was not responding and their phone was showing them in the woods in the night, my first thought would not be ‘a rave’ 😯

Maybe I have read too much Take A Break magazines.

Mummyoflittledragon · 15/03/2026 08:53

CanineJesus · 15/03/2026 08:36

There is a great podcast episode about this topic that I’ve just listened to - definitely worth a listen, talks about exactly this scenario and what actually keeps teens safe - it’s not tracking.
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/ask-lisa-the-psychology-of-raising-tweens-teens/id1525689066?i=1000754415778

I have scanned through the transcript and I agree. It’s about peace of mind, not safety. For example, 17 yo dd went to a rave in Manchester and stayed in a hotel overnight with a friend. I woke up in the night - as I always do rather than through worry - and I could just check where she was. Knowing she was safely back at her hotel, I could go back to sleep. I don’t think I’d have let her go to the rave without this as a tool. She has been using someone else’s ID as these venues are 18 plus, albeit a large proportion of teens apparently aren’t and some 16 yos are allowed to go as well. She’s year 13 for reference. Wouldn’t have let her go in year 12.

Fidgety31 · 15/03/2026 08:51

OP id guess you don’t have any older children because you seem very nervous about your 17yr old having a night out ?

I can’t believe your husband drove around at 3am to look for her !
Maybe get some help for your anxiety. She’s 17, not 7 !!
You need to loosen those apron strings else she will just end up lying to you about what she is doing . The thought of mum and dad barging into her night out !! She would be crucified by all her mates !!

herbalteabag · 15/03/2026 08:41

Glad you have heard from her - it's hard to relax sometimes if you don't know where they are, but it's not unusual for them to do things they haven't told you about. I think phones are great but make the worrying worse if they don't answer!
Looking back, I did some ridiculous things at that age, or slightly older, including also going to a rave in the middle of nowhere, driving to London in the middle of the night (two hours away), driving in a friend's car to the south coast and getting a ferry to France on the spur of the moment, going to France for a few hours and coming back (didn't tell my parents or anything like that!), going to beaches after going out all night. It's lucky my mum couldn't track me, or she would have been very worried!

Tillow4ever · 15/03/2026 08:41

Aslighthead · 15/03/2026 07:14

Last point
from me… it’s a quid pro quo. She’s ringing daddy at 6am for a lift home. So him tracking her location seems reasonable to me.

once she doesn’t need dad to come and collect her, then dad doesn’t have any grounds for tracking

You know that they could just send their live location and share for a specific amount of time when they’re ready to be collected? If they’ve got signal to ring, they’ve got signal to send that. If they don’t have signal, the tracking won’t show you where they are anyway, just where they were when they last had signal.

We as a family have family sharing for app purchases etc. That then shares all device locations too. We only really use that for when my eldest contacts me from a friends phone at uni to say he left his phone somewhere the night before and can I see where it is for him, or if someone’s travelling home and let us know when they left, we sometimes look to see how far off home they are if we are coming dinner for when they get there (on Friday my son was running late travelling back from uni - luckily I checked that and saw he was about half an hour behind so I didn’t put the dumplings in the casserole too early or the baguettes in the oven so they were still warm when I served up later).

You definitely don’t need to be tracking them constantly. You shouldn’t be tracking them to keep tabs on them ever.

Imbusytodaysorry · 15/03/2026 08:39

Aslighthead · 15/03/2026 06:35

A 17 has rung you at 6am from the woods and is surprised that her parents were worried that couldn’t contact her?

Dd said she was going to a party. Dd said she would be back really early hours in the morning .
If op hadn’t checked the location. , there would have been no worry .
Dd did what she said she was doing .

I get op’s worry however she did check and did see there was a get together . So she got some peace of mind untill dd was ready to come home .