Teenager wants to go to reading music festival

[Reynolia]

My 16yr daughter wants to go to Reading music festival with a small group of her friends in the summer. Apart from the cost (£200) I am uncomfortable with the idea of her being there without any adult supervision. She thinks I'm being unreasonable and tells me loads of girls from her school go each year and to quote her ' have the best time of their lives'. I have voiced my concerns about drunkenness , drugs, sex and she scoffs at me and says she doesn't get involved with this sort of thing. I do trust her in this respect, but still very worried as i am fully aware that this sort of thing goes on.Does anyone have any experience of their children going to music festivals (especially Reading) at this age. I'd really like some input.

At 16 she can leave home and get married without your consent ( least in Scotland, is it the same in England?).

I camped all weekend at Leeds fest when I was 16. I would never have expected my Mum to shell out the money for the ticket though (and she wouldn't have either!). I guess it depends on how mature your daughter is and how much you trust her.

I too went when I was 16 to celebrate good GCSE results, can't say I didn't get up to any of the things you mentioned but then it was nothing different to what I did at home. The only thing I would say is to tell her to be wary of mosh pits, we went right into the middle of one and got knocked to the ground, was quite difficult to get up again and pretty scary!

I went at 16...I'm 33 now and still go . It's a great festival for youngers, security is high, and I didn't see too many incidents involving youngsters, however, I was battered

Go let her have fun, as long as she buys the ticket!!

DS1 went at that age. Share a tent with friends, obviously, dont sleep alone. Definitely cheap mobile, their tent will be robbed. If (when) the loos are rank, macdonalds in town is the place to go to clean up and have a poo. Worth picking them up at 2 am on the last day, there was a bit of mayhem from memory, people setting fire to tents and so forth.

Yes definitely no valuables, DS's friend got his tent ransacked at a festival when it had finished.

Dis went for the third time this year he was 16 in July. However we live in a neighbouring suburb so 20 minutes by car if that if we'd needed to get him and walkable albeit about 60-90 minutes.

He's booked for next year. I pay on my card and he pays me back only way id pay is if it was birthday and Christmas presents.

I went when I was 16, picked my GCSE results up on the way! She'll be absolutely fine, I'm still alive!

I went at 16, was absolutely fine. My birthday is around that time so the ticket was a birthday present but otherwise I would have had to pay for myself (also they were less expensive then! think around £100 for the weekend or so). I'd been the year before, supervised, for one day.

I was with a good group of friends who my mum knew, we shared a big 7-man tent and looked out for each other. I think it depends on the individual and how responsible they are. If you trust her not to get involved in 'shenanigans' then let her go.

My parents were generally fairly protective so looking back I am surprised they let me go but I SO appreciated them doing so and did not get into any trouble - a wee bit of drinking but no drugs or sex and as I say, us friends all looked out for each other.

I don't have a 16 year old so I'm not in your boots & I can't quite relate. But I would also be nervous. And I would force her to earn the 200 before I even considered this.

My daughter went this year and so did I - although we didn't 'hang' together. Unfortunately she smoked some dope and I was fairly furious - she has mental health issues and it caused some problem. Message me if you want to ask any questions - I observed quite a lot but also my daughter told me all about it.

I went when I was 16. i was very sensible and I went with a group of people trusted by my parents. I still go with the same group nearly 10 years later. yes there's drink but inside the arena they're very strict with ID. ( at download festival 5 years ago I was asked for ID 4 times before I had even gotten to the bar)

I would let her go. it really is a great opportunity. I have very fond memories of my first reading

DD went last year at 17. SHe had an amazing time, and made new friends. If you trust her to be sensible about drugs and sex (she will drink, despite the strictness) then let her. She should pay herself, though - there is time for Christmas money to come into play.
I disagree with whoever said all 16 year olds should have a job, though. I'm a teacher, and I see the effects of this on academic achievement all the time. DD works in the summer (tourist area) but I give her an allowance the rest of the year so she can focus on her studies and hobbies (which are helping her with her career aspirations).

I went to festivals at 16 & had a great time
safe,sober-ish & sex free!

Im only 21 btw so wasnt a million years ago

It's good value, and really well policed. She'll have a brilliant time!

DS went this summer the day he picked up his GCSE results. Echo all posters above, that if they go as a group and stick together she'll be absolutely fine. He knew loads of other people there - it seems to be a very common post-GCSE celebration. One of his friend bought a cheap tent on Ebay so if it got trashed it wouldn't matter, but they all came back with all of their possessions - apart from his Vanns which came back like flip-flops but they'd passed the point of no return some months previously...

I've name changed as if you put together what I've posted under my own user name and what I'm going to post now folk who know me will know who I am here and I really like my user name :)

I've been to load of festivals and also worked in A&E during some as well. I've not been to Reading but did shifts in A&E out there for a couple of years over the festival.

With that perspective (and I'm totally happy to be told I've only seen the worst of it) I think Reading is quite a brutal festival, I saw a couple of nasty injuries caused by big guys stamping (entirely on purpose in one case at least) on much smaller people in the mosh pit, the car parks were a bit frightening to walk through even during the day and as some one said further up there seems to be a tendency to set fire to things on the last night that I've never seen any where else.

There's a lot of good advice on here about staying out the mosh pits and picking her up on the last night but maybe for her first festival it might be better to go to something less scary.

I went twenty years ago when I was 16. It was wild, which is probably not what you want to hear.

I would agree wit Yipeekaiay. Took DS there when he was 12. Lots of 20something men, hard drinking, big and scary crowds, limited stuff to do outside the arena and a reputation for people setting fire to tents (Don't camp in the field nearest the arena) Some very nice people too, but it was definitely a bit of a zoo compared to other festivals.

I went at 16 with a group of friends - but I paid for my own ticket by saving my Saturday job wages.
Loved it though :) Genuinely no drinking, smoking or drugs, just the best weekend of my life up to that point!
Just remember that she can't take anything she isn't happy to lose or have stolen, and don't queue for the showers - people use them as poo toilets!!

I was working at festivals all over the country aged 16. that was in 1990. Loved it, what an experience, loads of alcohol and drugs.

As people above have said, it's all very corporate now.

Let the kid go, you are only young once.

If not Reading, how about Bestival ? Totally family friendly and lots of camping options including family zone, quiet zone etc. Might be better for 16 yr olds.