Am I being ridiculous worrying about my child going to Reading Festival in this drought?

[BaskingSharking]

all my kids have gone to Reading Festuval at the end of GCSEs. It’s a rite of passage around here. But my youngest is due to go next week and I really want to say they can’t because:

(a) I have images of fields of burning tents due a discarded cigarette butt or similar and drunken teens falling over tent ropes trying to escape and dying en masse
(b) even if there is no fire the dust bowl effect will be so severe I worry for their lungs
(c) they are teens, they won’t hydrate, they will dance and sweat and get sick

Am I letting anxiety cloud my judgement or are these reasonable fears?

how can we ban disposable BBQs but allow huge festivals?

I’d be a bit worried too. Can you talk through basic safety behaviour with them, and help them plan things like checking wind direction to know which way to run in a fire. Camping right on the edge of the site. Importance of reporting bbq usage straight away. Not being so inebriated you don’t know what’s going down.

Surely the organisers of Reading will have done their risk assessments and have fire safety precautions…. Maybe you could contact them for reassurance op?

Sorry I think you’re being a bit OTT. I’m glad bbqs have been banned. But tell your DC to keep drinking water….thats it. Nothing worse than a soggy festival.

I would be worried too and my daughter went to Reading Festival years ago.

She intended to camp but came home after the first night and did the next 2 days without camping overnight ... would that be a compromise if you live close enough to collect her at night?

I work in the industry - you don’t need to worry.. if there’s even the slightest risk it wouldn’t go ahead and there’s no talk of cancelling. They’ll be fine. I know it’s scary but rest assured you don’t need to cancel because of the weather x

I think that's a bit naive ... when my daughter went to the festival she said people were burning stuff at night. Not BBQs - stuff like trainers and on the last night - sometimes even tents! This was confirmed when daughters of friends went there last year and phoned us to ask if they could sleep at our house instead after the fist night! We are local to the festival.

To add, the vibe at Reading festival is different to most other festivals because it attracts such a young crowd. It's common for people to go there after A level results, and some of them are much younger than that - lots and lots of teenagers there who are not used to handling drink/drugs and it can get a bit out of hand.

Yes it’s the anarchic vibe that particularly worries me. When my middle child went there were teens throwing burning things around on the last night which they all know as “the purge”. Media reports show that the fire brigade has had to be involved in the purge frequently.

Boomtown has gone ahead this weekend, can't comment on fire risks etc although I'm sure the organisers will be taking it very seriously. It is a massive dust bowl, you can see the clouds as you drive past, but it is in a giant hollow in the ground, maybe get them to pack masks or bandanas in case.

Nothing to do with Reading but it’s NEVRR ridiculous to worry about our children

I am too! I don’t even know how they’re going to get the tent pegs in the ground to get their tent up. The flip side of this is that, if they can’t get their tent up, they won’t be able to stay over and I’d rather they didn’t sleep there.

I’ve been to Leeds in 2003 when people were setting fire to tents and stuff. It was scary but I’m sure they’ll be fine.

@FoxandDuckwe’re camping now! No issues getting tent pegs in the ground

I did reading a few times in my teens and there was a lot of setting fire to stuff on the last night in particular. Hopefully with the dry conditions the organisers have worked out how to reduce it this year.

At a minimum, if you do let them go, I would insist on picking them up on the Sunday night.

My adult son is at Boomtown, he’s wearing a bandana round his nose and mouth because it’s that dusty. Could you get one for your DS? I know what you mean about hydration - I went to Reading for the day a couple years ago and as we had waited at the barrier for a specific band most of the day we were pretty dehydrated ourselves by the end of the performance. I can’t remember the rules on bringing liquid in, but suggest he takes a massive empty water bottle and fills it up at one of the water points and sticks some packets of ready salted crisps in his bag too

My DD was at Boardmasters last weekend and it was fine, no problems at all. I guess Reading can be a bit more crazy though.

@BaskingSharking I agree I would be worried sick .

Maybe leave early. They set tents on the last night. Can't imagine a risk assessment would stop drunk teenagers doing this.

Don't want to frighten you, but when my daughter went some years ago by day 2 her tent was covered in burn marks as she said people just put their cigarettes out in people's tents as they walked past!

I actually think that this year, that’s a legitimate concern.

Buy them a backpack water carrier and let them go, after suitable lectures.
PS the backpack carrier will probably either be lost or come back pristine and unused.

I don't know how organisers can predict attendees' behaviour though. I would be worried too, OP.

A canvas tent plus smoke alarm for outside and a fire extinguisher might be a good investment.
A nylon tent would make me very nervous.

But Reading is FULL of 16 year olds with access to loads of drinks and drugs. It’s bad enough normally

I’d be a bit worried unless you live close enough to pick them up or have friends nearby if it starts to get stupid. My stepkids and their friends have all been to Reading and it sounded wild.