Who is being unreasonable re: school trip incident?

[olddogsnewtricks]

DS (13) recently went on a school trip to a city about 2 hours away. While on the trip, the children were given half an hour's free time in the city centre on their own (a pedestrianised area) with the teachers waiting at a nearby café. Unfortunately, during this time one of the boys had his wallet stolen - this was spotted by a police officer who gave chase, got it back and arrested the thief. Obviously this was the highlight of the trip. Now the parents are divided on this. Half think it was an unfortunate incident but could just as well have happened walking back home from school (also in a city). The other half think that on a school trip the pupils should never be left alone. WIBU?

At 13 I would expect kids to be ok for such a short time. I wouldn't expect my 8 year old to be off completely unsupervised in a busy public place but a teen? I agree with PPs. They need some independence and to take some responsibility.
Well done that police officer! Awesome job.

If, at 13, they still don't allow their children to go out unaccompanied then they have let those children down badly.

It was unfortunate. 1/2 a hour free time is normal at that age - mine were going on the train to the nearest town to see a film with their friends at that age.

I have a DD who is almost 13 and would by happy with this scenario of teachers being in one place, with a set meeting time. She is allowed to go out with her friends places like the local McDonalds and local high street, she hasn't been into the city centre yet alone but I will do similar to the teachers - take DD and 2 or 3 of her friends to the shopping centre, park myself in Starbucks and make sure they know where to find me.

There are a LOT of helicopter parents though. And a lot of children round this way appear to have this weird medical condition which causes them to melt in the rain, so they have to be driven to school and dropped off as close to the gates as humanly possible.

When I was about that age we had a school trip to London which was an all day thing and included a show in the evening.

The day time activities were supervised and we were accompanied in groups to the show. However, at about 5pm we were gathered in Trafalgar Square (I think) given a £1 each and directed towards a few streets where we were told we would find several cafes where we could get a meal for that price (this was 1976!). We were also told we had to be back at this same spot in one hour so that we would be ready to go off to see the theatre.

I am thinking a few parents these days might raise their eyebrows at their young teenage DC, from a very rural location miles and miles from London, being let loose to feed themselves in the capital of an evening!

(Nobody got robbed, molested or lost)

I think it's fairly normal for school trips to have a small amount - about half an hour - of "free time" on school trips by year 8.

my dd certainly got that on a geography field trip to a nearby town when she was 12.

A thirteen year old can have a wander for half an hour. Maybe the boy should kee his wallet in a more secure place?

If you want children who can cope with the world, they should be more than able to be unaccompanied by adults for half an hour by the age of 13 and they should be able to cope with having their wallet nicked without it being a massive trauma.