Kirstie Allsopp reported to Social Services

[Eastie77Returns]

I know she’s worshipped on MN so will don by hard hat now😅 I think reporting her was absolutely ridiculous but I do question the wisdom of letting her 15 year old son travel across Europe on his own (well with friends). She mentioned lots of kids do this after their GCSEs. I think it’s usually after A Levels?

What about 16 year olds travelling to another city to live in university halls and attend university alone?

Seems like it's only "free-range parenting" if you've got serious funds, otherwise it's plain child neglect.

Is it? I don't think it actually is.

You do understand universities have staff there to help and that university halls are a fairly protected environment?
Very different from travelling around and exploring multiple countries without an adult close by.

It's ridiculous.

I know of a 14 year old that's been snorting coke since he was 11 and social services/the police do sweet FA.
His father is even known as the local dealer and encourages it.

But there you go that's the ridiculous world we live in.

@Noname99 out of curiosity, how did they get insurance? My DS went away after A levels , and being summer-born he was only 17. The only way I was able to get insurance was by linking his policy with one of his friends who was 18.

Really!! So you think getting to the train station, getting on a British train and getting off at the right stop is exactly the same as -

getting on multiple trains across different countries where staff may or may not understand you when you speak to them. Exploring foreign cities, cafes and countryside. Booking into multiple hostels or air bnbs. Interacting with the many other young people inter railing, most of whom will be great, but a few who may be looking to take advantage. Being obviously young abroad where pickpockets and petty criminals look for young people they can prey on.

I went interrailing at 19. I loved it. But it is an ocean away from a simple domestic train journey.

No, it's not. I say that as someone who has travelled extensively by train in the UK and Europe.

Sadly the threshold for intervention is incredibly high.

@PrimitivePerson You do know interrailing is more than just taking a train journey?

Of course I do.

It's not only young people who make stupid decisions under pressure. And if 16 year olds have a vote then it is not just one 16 year old who is voting. The total amount of votes cast by 16 year olds could influence an election.

Frankly if you are mature enough to analyse the policies of political parties and decide which you think would be the best choice to run the country then surely you are mature enough to research a journey to Europe and make yourself aware of the possible issues which might arise and ensure that you have done as much as you can to mitigate any problems which may arise. Issues such as drugs and dodgy strangers don't just happen in other countries.

The point I am trying to make is that teenagers seem to be regarded as capable of making adult decisions in some circumstances and not others. And yes obviously it does depends on the individual but, in my view, which you are absolutely entitled to disagree with, if you are mature enough to vote then you are old enough to go inter-railing.

South Yorkshire police?

More likely the trains in Europe will actually run on time though.

Well, that's a rather stupidly facetious comment - Deutsche Bahn are really bad at the moment - but the fundamentals of using trains are more or less the same across the whole of Europe, and I'm not sure quite why some people consider international train travel to be harder or more dangerous.

Nobody thinks the train travel is dangerous. It is harder when station announcements of platform changes or delays are in a different language.
But interrailing is far more than the actual train journey. It is holidaying as a child across multiple countries without an adult.

It's not more difficult!!! There's translation apps, online train trackers, and widespread English language announcements on European stations.

And staying in hostels, hotels etc. is perfectly within the capabilities of teenagers.

I have been in many countries where announcements are not in English. It is navigable, but it is a bit harder.
But this 15 year old will have been exploring multiple foreign cities and countryside with no adult, and meeting many people along the way. I don't know why you keep pretending it is just a train journey and a stay in a foreign hostel. Hotels would not allow a 15 year old to stay without an adult unless very dodgy ones.

Well, he clearly made it back in one piece, so I have no idea why you think it was such a problem.

Jeezo, its so easy even for a 15yr old who was very close to being 16. Experienced with travel, was not alone, mobile, and access to plenty money. I can't imagine he stayed in a dodgy hostel like I did inter-railing, or sleeping on benches like my husband. But we were 17/18. KA's son's experience will have been a million times so different from ours. We ate dry cornflakes between 3 for 2 days. Happy memories.

Im puzzled as to what the outcome would have been. He was hardly likely to have been taken into "care" etc or placed on an at risk register!
Having worked with children who are in desperate need of help and found the social care system unwilling to help except in extreme circumstances this baffles and annoys me.

I travelled to Canada on my own at 15! Had a wonderful time. I managed fine. Then I began living alone 6 months later once I turned 16.

Well I managed a trip around Canada alone at 15! I'd been raised to be independent which is why I then got a place of my own at 16.

I am sorry you were forced to live alone at 16. It is too young.

He will have been in dodgy hostels. Most hotels would not rent a room to a 15 year old without an adult. Or no decent hotel would.