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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to be furious with my parents if they took part in 'Sun, Sea and Suspicious Parents' ?

14 replies

ringsofsaturn · 16/01/2013 00:23

I went on two holidays with friends when I was 17 and 18 - both to Ibiza.

Fantastic holiday and loads of great memories. We drank and went to clubs etc and I never did anything I was ashamed of, but if I had found out that my parents had been secretly watching me whilst I was away and it was being filmed I would be furious with them and wonder why the hell they let me go in the first place?

My DD is 16 and will probably want a holiday with her friends in the not so distant future. I'd like to think that I would trust her enough that if I gave her consent to go then I wouldn't sneak behind her back and be watching her.

(For anyone unfamiliar with the program -

BBC Three throws open the doors on the ultimate rite of passage for the average teenager - the first ever summer holiday abroad without their parents. But what these teenagers couldn't possibly have guessed is that whilst they enjoy their first taste of freedom, with all its temptations and excesses, they are being secretly watched... by their parents.)

OP posts:

ChippingInNeedsSleepAndCoffee · 16/01/2013 00:26

I think it's a vile programme and would be disgusted by any parents taking part in it, it is a complete and utter invasion of those teenagers privacy. I would have moved out and probably wouldn't have spoken to my parents for a very very very long time afterwards.

ShellyBoobs · 16/01/2013 00:27

Surely all aprties have agreed to the filming before hand?

The teens can't possibly be unaware they're being followed by half a dozen cameras everywhere, including in their hotel rooms!

SinisterBuggyMonth · 16/01/2013 00:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

CaptChaos · 16/01/2013 09:26

There is no barrel deep enough that TV producers will not scrape the bottom of it

ZillionChocolate · 16/01/2013 09:35

Kids know they're being filmed, so presumably know that their parents will see it at some point. Isn't the surprise element that the parents are secretly in the resort following them around? I think if you consent to be filmed then it's not an invasion of your privacy.

BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability · 16/01/2013 09:36

Yanbu

catgirl1976 · 16/01/2013 09:38

I saw thIs the other night and had to turn it off

YANBU

MrsRajeshKoothrappali · 16/01/2013 09:48

I cringe when they snoop around the hotel rooms.

Yes, one of them is there child, but the other people sharing the room too - do they mind someone else rifling through their possessions.

There was one episode (used to watch it at work) where the 'teen' (who was actually 20) said at the end how the holiday had changed her, she'd made big descisions and wanted to do a course and get a good job. They didn't show that bit to the parents. In comes in her dad screaming and shouting at her about sorting herself out and getting a job. All stuff she said she wanted to do anyway.

GraduallyGoingInsane · 16/01/2013 11:45

I don't understand it. I watch it, and it's a guilty pleasure - DD1 (16) watches with me, and sometimes DD2(14) - they use it as a chance to groan at others, I use it to gauge what behaviour they're shocked at!

BUT we always come back to 2 fundamental discussions:

Firstly, as you say OP, surely the teen, who is usually older (17,18,19..) is upset that Mum and Dad don't trust them to make the right decisions. I'd have been so upset that they thought that little of me that they had to spy.

Secondly, if the teen behaves exceptionally badly, gets blind drunk, smokes, has sex...and then is SHOCKED when Mum and Dad have seen...surely Mum and Dad have a TV, so would see anyway. The DDs and I laugh over one infamous (in our house) episode where the girl, who is drunk and smoking, turns to the camera and says 'Mum would KILL me if she knew I smoked'. Surely, even if the teen was filmed for whatever show she believes she's being filmed for, the Mum would watch, see the smoking, and begin loading her gun?

OR are these kids exceptionally thick?

Jelly15 · 16/01/2013 14:54

This programme is awful but I still find myself watching it, like Big Fat Gypsy Weddings. My DS was on hols in a bar when a film crew were following a group of three lads ans everyone was saying 'Sun, Sea and Suspicious Parents' so the lads must have known what it was about.

I would never do something like that to my DSs but don't tell them

InNeedOfBrandy · 16/01/2013 14:58

Oh I love this show, I really like worlds strictest parents to

JaquelineHyde · 16/01/2013 15:02

It's being filmed to be shown on national television, there is no invasion of privacy.

I think it's a free holiday or at least a sizeable contribution to one and that's all.

DoctorAnge · 16/01/2013 15:03

It's awful, really creepy. I watched one where they were really interested in their sons conquests and the dad was really " get in there son" it was fucking rank....

notallytuts · 16/01/2013 22:59

The kids know they are being filmed and after the first series all know exactly what its for. They get a free holiday out of it. Even for the first series they must have been daft if they thought their parents wouldnt watch the show when on TV.
In all honesty I thought what the kids got up to was pretty tame compared to the antics of some of my friends at that age!

DD1 said to me she would go on the show for a free holiday as she wouldnt plan to do anything more than get quietly merry and snog a few boys! And that it was down to me if I was stalkerish enough to want to watch - I would rather spend my holidays relaxing than having to follow her around even if that means I have to pay for the holiday

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