To refuse to let DD go to Chessington with School

[RachelRagged]

DD has a school trip to the above coming up.

Due to Alton Towers I am already nervous. Now there is talk of attacks in the UK and theme parks would be a good place to cause shit load of damage. Am I being overanxious or would you be the same as Me ?

Any parent wound fret Rachel, and your health will make you more so, I think what your sister said is what many of us meant.
But just think you've given your daughter the chance to experience life and make own memories when she doesn't have the worries or frets that us adults do.

She'll have a great day and come home full of stories that she can't wait to tell you. My niece is 9 and she is so happy and excited to recount all the things she's done it makes me feel as happy.

Well, the terrorist threat isn't likely to disappear any time soon, so you are going to be restricting her life for a long time to come

Good for you letting her go.

My mum wouldn't let me go on school trips like this, or play out, or do anything remotely seen as risky by her. I wasn't allowed to go on a trip to the zoo with the school incase I fell into the lion enclosure, really this was part of her reason for not letting me go. I have a terrible relationship with my mum now and have zero sympathy for her anxieties, I had a miserable childhood thanks to her 'protecting' me. The only person she was protecting was herself, she just didn't want to have the worry.

You however I have a lot more sympathy for, you will worry all day and no doubt on the next trip as well but you have been brave enough and caring enough to not let your daughter suffer unnecessarily just because it'll make YOU feel better.

Well done OP from me.

Well done letting her go.

I hope you will eventually get the support you need to help you feel less anxious and more at ease in life - you deserve it.

Yabu, you have a much higher chance of accidents on the road than at a theme park in the UK. I doubt theme parks are a particular target - they are largely outdoors so not great for bombings - shopping centres, stations, airports are much more likely targets.

Well done for letting her go

maybe it's time to go back to the Dr make sure your dosages are correct or if there's a different or more effective one you can try to help your anxiety.

Theres almost certainly no safer time to visit a theme park than after an accident.

Denim . ,ty very much.

And Lynette, yes indeed

Mentioning of IRA bombings reminded me my own parents never stopped me from going London trips with school .. I imagine they worried themselves senseless all day but I survived. My DD is the same as I will not let my anxieties known to her. I am sure all will be fine and yea, in the wake of Alton Towers, I imagine the rides are safer than ever now.

YANBU I wouldn't let my child go. My child isn't going on the annual school trip for other reasons. Don't care what anyone else thinks. They are mine so my choice. I have live with consequences of my decisions, no one else.

Well that's not true, as they also have to live with the consequences of your decisions. When they grow up as socially inept oddballs and their lives are plagued with anxiety issues, OCD and phobias, I hope you'll be proud of yourself.

fieldtrip good reminder (or information for those too young to remember).

special same here, plus I was near NYC when it was 9/11, and outside Harrods when the IRA bomb went off and in North London when the bomb went off at the barracks - it woke me up.

My DCs go on trips to all kind of places, though it might be safer without me given I seem to be good at being in places where things happen!

Very well done op. Good on you. It's hard but it's the only way.

wolfie ds 2 was in Thailand on a gap year 7 years ago when the red revolution kicked off.

All our extended family refuse to travel with us now. We are magnets for disaster. Have to laugh or I would have gone completely under I think.

Look at it this way. We are all clinging to life by a thread and you can either go out and live the one you have fully and with gusto or lock yourselves and your kids away on a desert island.

Yes the second choice sometimes sounds good but the first is better.

YANBU I wouldn't let my child go. My child isn't going on the annual school trip for other reasons. Don't care what anyone else thinks. They are mine so my choice. I have live with consequences of my decisions, no one else.

On the face of it, you would seem to have some paranoia/neurosis problems.... You stop your child going on an organised, risk-assessed trip with no-doubt plenty of adult supervision. How on earth will you even begin to cope when your child choose to make decisions to go to these places when s/he gets older? Really, you may not care what others think, but you need to get yourself a reality check at some point, or you'll be heading for a breakdown!

BreadmakerFan your child will have to live with it...

To those who won't let their DC go on an organised school trip, at what age will you let them go.

I'm another one who courts disaster. Either something horrible happens or I get ill. I was in Yunnan just after the train station massacre, Taba, just after the bomb, I was supposed to be in Bali December after the bomb. Marrakesh bomb was after we were there.

I feel very lucky and know that you live your life. Because some people don't get to now.

Yes Denim. Do not go gentle into that good night!
I suffer with anxiety. You know what they say though. The only things that are inevitable are death and taxes! I'm going to live and love and laugh every chance I take. Life should be joyful.

Chance I get!
Bloody new phone. Will figure out how to type on this eventually!!!!

Some of these comments are horrible. I have anxiety and don't let my children go on trips until they are in KS2. I have been a helper on a trip and was appalled by the lack of supervision that I saw of reception children at a tourist spot in London. The other parent helpers (useless people that I wouldn't leave in charge of a dog) were really clueless and managing groups of 5 children. It was luck that nothing bad happened. I feel happier that by 7 yrs old I have taught them about staying safe and they rely less on the adults they are with.

Some might say I am paranoid and overprotective. I say that it is for me to judge where I allow my children to go and with who. They are my responsibility to keep safe.

My older children have been on residential trips and go out with friends etc. They are 14 and 11 and don't seem to resent me for not letting them go to the zoo with their reception classes!

OP, I so understand where you're coming from. I feel exactly the same as you about these things. It's dreadful suffering from a crippling anxiety (and I'm not medicated for my problem) I have to force myself to let the DCs do stuff that I fret about for days beforehand and I'm very anxious whilst they're doing them. I'm glad you're letting her go though. I think it is the right thing to do.

wrt terrorism, I remember the IRA bombed shops, fast food restaurants, railway stations. ISIS have attacked schools and places of worship.
So, terrorists basically target anywhere with crowds.

However, the individual risk is really really TINY compared to say traffic accidents, provided you don't visit certain obvious countries.

YANBU. Also - Chessington is shit, why on earth would a school think that that is a good excursion for the children anyway?

Wolfie well said there.

MrsT it's a funny old world isn't it. I just expect the worst now and so am generally pleasantly surprised. Thank god.

Kreesh you are doing very well to let your children do these things even though it's so hard. But please get help. Honestly you are not alone.

Well done for letting her go OP, she'll have a blast!

We all have to carry on living our lives as normal atm. There are terrorist threats every single day, we just don't know about them. Don't stop going to cities, theme parks, beaches etc because then they will have won.

Wrt school trips it never occurred not to let ours go. I saw it as an important part of school and growing up, even if it was a jolly to a theme park.

Thanks Denim. And you are right. We aren't alone. I have anxiety. I will seek help to manage it. It will not rule my life.