AIBU to not see music festivals as a teenage rite of passage?

Well no, I’ve heard many people say that the festivals are a learning experience that kids should do, as though it’s a way to experience responsibility.
Can't say I'd understand that POV either but I've never heard anyone claim anything similar (and I've read many a festival thread on here, and was a festival-going teen).

I think you're arguing against a proposition that hardly anyone would agree in the first place.

Do a lot of things in life confuse you @musemusemuse ?

Do you have kids? Teens? @musemusemuse ?

Surely festivals the absolute opposite of responsibility! That’s kind of the whole point! I suppose you bear the consequences of your decisions. Mum says take the camping chair you don’t you can’t sit with your mates in the day etc.

I’m old enough to have been to the first Isle of Wight festival, as a young teen, with a group of mates😳

I had a great time, with no problems, but I wouldn’t say it was a rite of passage - my kids never went to any. Neither have my grandchildren. Their choice though.

Can you still get free tickets of you volunteer? Me and my friends went to one when we were younger where we got free weekend tickets in return for 4h litter picking each day.

Op… do you have kids?
how old are you?

I doubt you’ll answer either

What do you understand the phrase 'rite of passage' to mean? I ask because I'm not seeing why this is confusing.

A rite of passage is typically defined as an event that marks a transition from one stage of life to another. Surely it's pretty obvious why lots of people would view a teenager's first trip away without parental/adult supervision (and, in many cases, the end of compulsory schooling post-GCSE and a move into further education or employment) as that type of transitional event. Teenagers are generally also rather keen on popular music (and have been for around 70 years, since the 'invention' of rock & roll in the 1950s).

So for many people a non-parentally-supervised trip to a music festival post GCSEs is regarded as a celebratory, transitional event between one stage of a teenager's life and another ~ i.e. 'a rite of passage'. What's confusing about that? It might not be something that you'd be interested in or that has featured much in your personal experience of the world, but it's surely not difficult to understand that lots of people have experiences/viewpoints that differ from yours?

I’m an avid festival goer and have been since my teens although it’s a campervan now and not a leaky tent. All my kids enjoy various festivals too. It’s not a mandatory activity though, whatever your age and musical taste. You also don’t have to drink alcohol or take drugs to enjoy yourself, but a desire to experience live music in a crowd is imperative.

so no teenagers

and you haven’t said how old you are

It wouldn't be safe for DDs to go alone. There's every chance drink will be spiked and a man is probably unfortunately going to grope her in the crowd.

In what sense does a teenager's first weekend away with their peers and without parental supervision not fit the definition of "a ritual or action which indicates a transition from one stage of life to another"?

Godspeed your tent 🤣

Make sure you get it cleaned though. There’s always that weird vinegar mud smell that permeates through everything by day 3. Feel nostalgic (and nauseous) thinking about that scent on canvas. Ha!

Dd1 is there for free. She’s crew so does some shifts unpaid. Gets food vouchers and can camp in the crew area. Her friends done this for several festivals DDs first time doing it. You have to be 18 plus I would think.

It's fine if you don't like them, don't go. Others do and that's fine too.

DD1 isn't as into live music as DD2 at 17, and DD2 has probably been to more concerts and festivals than her 21 year old sister as she is really into that whole scene.

DD2 also pays me for her ticket. I buy it and pay in instalments, she pays me when the instalment is due.

Weird to be about cagey about your age 😆

It is a rite of passage for many teenagers, but not for all … I went to several festivals as a teen/young adult and had a blast but when I asked dd if she wanted to go to Reading with her friends after GCSE results she looked at me as if I’d grown another head… she was very introverted and shy as a teenager, hated crowds, hated camping and wasn’t that keen on any of the headliners so I could see her point.

I’ve been to a few from around the age of 22. Glastonbury twice, Leeds twice, V, Moseley folk festival, YNot. I wouldn’t say they’re a teenage rite of passage. My DD came to a couple with us from age 8 and she wants to go to Glastonbury. However she has friends who are not into music and wouldn’t be interested. I think it’s just something you do as you get older.

I think they look horrendous - all the footage coming out of Reading this year is just grim.

I imagine it’s very different if you get glorious sunshine and dry fields but that’s very much a gamble I am not willing to take 😂

My instinct is that the last place I'd want to send a 16-year-old for their first solo overnight trip is a place full of other 16-year-olds, various slightly older kids, no organised adult supervision and limited facilities!

However clearly plenty of them manage it.

It's the slightly older ones being around that worries me most. A 19-year-old is old enough to know how to take advantage of a naive 16-year-old without necessarily being old enough to set off the creep radar. Obviously most of them won't try anything but at a big festival there's bound to be a few.