Reading Festival - the teen is going how bad is it

[SouthWestmom]

Ok ds is going with three mates and taking tents (two in each).

They've bought weekend tickets.

I'm trying to persuade him to get some gold toilet and shower package but he won't unless they all do 'and they won't sell out'

Do they pay for a camp space? Pitch?

How violent is it? If at all?

I did it when I was 16. Yes yes to the cheap phone and spare emergency cash.
I would say my most honest advice is just to talk to him. No drugs are bad lectures but a proper on a level chat about why not to take drugs you buy there (Or at all, but especially don't buy there!) And what to do if he drinks too much, gets lost, someone else drinks too much etc etc. My parents didn't really have a clue so I had to figure it out. A less judgemental more informed conversation before hand would have helped! You sound like a great mum though so sure he will have a ball!

My 16 year old (will be 17) is also going so I'm also nervous! Thank you for this thread as it's putting my mind at ease (a little!)

Thank you everyone who has replied, I've read all the posts now. Sounds like he's most at risk of someone nicking his stuff or waking up with a random having got lost.
I won't worry about the showers then

Drugs are a huge worry generally I think , in my youth I saw some awful outcomes for fellow students/friends. He won't engage in conversations for long, just rolls his eyes at mum wittering.

The only word of advice from me is on the Monday morning do not let him into your home until he has stripped off outside and left his stinking, filthy clothes outdoors. The one and only time my DS has ever smelt like a tramp was after the Leeds festival, which is Reading’s northern sister.

Apologies I haven't read the full thread but just to say the fancy toilet packages do definitely sell out!

Maybe buy that for your DC as an insurance policy?

Please make sure they bring the tents and their rubbish back. It is bad when all the disguarded stuff is left everywhere :(

The main thing I'd say about drugs is just to reassure him that if he takes something and has a bad reaction, that he can call you/go to the medical tent and he won't be in any trouble.

My mum would have sworn up and down that I never touched anything and would only drink occasionally. But I was a total fiend, I was drunk/high on whatever substance I could get my hands on every time I went anywhere.

I don't even think I was particularly bad compared to other people, lots of people I knew took way more. But trying to tell teenagers to be sensible is like trying to shove jelly into a smarties tube. It doesn't work most of the time.

I went as a teen (16). Lots of drugs everywhere. my tent was pissed on and set on fire. He’ll be fine 😅

It's amazing how on mn, everyone has very sensible children who would never take drugs because they are so horrible and scary.

Aye right.

LoveIsLovely agree

My DS said most folks were either a drunken mess or drug fuelled mess or both. I know one mum drove down to get her DD is it all went nuts. Girls ending up in random boys tents, boys vomiting in others,etc etc I am thankful that my DD isn't interested in going as the line up is crap .....😂

Haha was thinking the same thing. ‘My kids would never touch those nasty drugs’ haha yeah right!

@fet2020 I think it's a pretty dangerous way to think, I would NEVER have told my parents if I took too much or something dodgy or whatever, I'd just have hidden from them because they were convinced I was a good girl.

I worked there as a campsite steward for three years on the trot about 10 years ago. It was exactly the behaviour as you'd expect from kids away from their parents for the first time. It was usually fine until the last night which was always, quite frankly, total chaos with tents getting set on fire, people chucking gas canisters on bonfires and covering them with tarpaulin so it created a huge explosion, crying girls, drug and drink dramas (their parents probably thought their kids would never touch the stuff ), a few people were bottled, lots of thefts. Having said that there is a lot of help around. It's just teens gone mad, basically.

My Dc went aged 16 and 17 (last year).

I can’t pretend I am not a bit worried the whole time, but in the end thousands go and thousands come home again.

Take wet wipes. And hand sanitizer.
Sunscreen, little packets of sunscreen wipes. Sun hat. Cagoule.
Minimal use of phone to preserve battery and a good power bank. I asked for one text a day. (I am also friends with the parents of the group so we let each other know when any of us had heard from them).

They need money for food, the food trucks are expensive and not big portions. Flapjacks, packs of brioche rolls, packets of nuts etc , and walking to the local Tesco for ‘meal deal’ lunches.

There is some ridiculous rule about water bottles in the arena. The stalls were removing the tops from the bottles so that they couldn’t be re-filled and easily carried about. And you can’t carry bottles in, or something.

They do not adequately check U 18s for alcohol on the way in band sine we know took huge quantities of beer.

I was there last year for the Sunday - Foo Fighters were brilliant! I thought it was great and didn’t see any trouble at all. I didn’t camp, so can’t comment on that, though the camping area looked ‘tired’ by Sunday. Based on who is playing this year, I will go for a day again. I wasn’t the oldest there either, by a long way. 😁

Please make sure they bring the tents and their rubbish back. It is bad when all the disguarded stuff is left everywhere

Or pack them up and leave them neatly for our local homeless charity to collect.

I have no clue on the drugs front - I could well be naive it just hasn't been an issue for us. I'm not saying he does or doesn't, just no sign at the moment. He definitely drinks. However he does know his sport dugs tests and is committed to it so he's not totally feral.

God, it sounds like a mud bath of thieves and pissheads!

If you're really worried you can get drug testing kits. That seems to be the main danger at festivals (bad drugs). Souldnt worry about the rest. This sounds disgusting but after the first time of going to the toilets and seing the mound of shit and being unable to go without vomiting, I took bin bags, disinfectant and utilised that and a beer box next time.

www.reagent-tests.uk/product/mdma-reagent-test-kit/

Here we are. These used to be a big thing back in the raving days. Dont know why they dissappeared, especially since there are more experimental drug being mixed into MDMA than ever.

Oh that's a good idea. Isn't there a campaign in somewhere like Sweden showing people who didn't die because they tested the drugs/stayed with friends etc?

God, rather him than me

My daughters have been to Reading festival a few times. They never mentioned any violence and fights but said drug dealers were everywhere. Lots of teenagers are on drugs. I am shocked that security let it go on. Drugs worried me the most.

DS16 came back from reading last year with proper food poisoning, never seen him so ill. They bbq'd chicken themselves, and it was raw. He will be going again this year at 17. Their chairs got stolen immediately but nothing else. They kept everything of value with them in bum bags borrowed from sisters. They had a great time.

Ds is vegetarian so at least that's not a worry. Hopefully dodgy veggi burgers is the worst of it.
Drugs really scare me. Just the randomness of who might come off badly.

Have told him I've sought Mumsnet advice and received an ...

Waves to all my fellow Readingites! I too can hear the festival from my back garden and am seriously considering renting out a room for the event in 2021. Last year's festival goers seemed to be a lovely bunch of young people when I was wandering around the town.

I have always thought that there is a role for a "Festival Mum" to dispense hugs, advice and an ear.

It sounds horrendous. Wouldn't have been my scene at all. Glad ds has never shown an interest. But each to their own.