To leave my 14yr old alone in a travelodge?

[beingchampion]

For a few hours tomorrow while I drive 25 miles away down the M1 for a couple of hours. He's very sane and sensible and would rather stay in the warm and dry on his tablet. Is it the done thing or should he come with me? Will stick do not disturb on the door and he'll have food, money and phone, but nowhere to go. Do I tell reception?

I would absolutely leave him in a hotel room alone for a few hours, he’s 14!

@Lizzie0869, a 16 year old young person with Autism is a lot less hassle for the staff than a 14 year old, in the event of room evacuation.

I’m going to assume this is ignorance but I can assure you that this really wouldn’t be the case. The noise and the crowds and the jarring interruption to the expected would be very difficult to manage.

Okay, chill out everyone, I did actually say the OP should crack on. And no, I'm not pissed but I am unwell with a virus so I'm not quite myself.

I also have a 10 year old adopted DD who is probably on the spectrum, we're pushing for her to be assessed. It's encouraging actually to think that we might be able to trust her to spend a few hours in a travel lodge when she's 14,

I know now why I stopped coming on Mumsnet for some time.

Lizzie this thread isn't about autistic teenagers being left alone. That was later given as a reason for someone who told the receptionist they had left a 16 year old in the room.

It's often hard for girls to get the diagnosis, they can be such excellent maskers. I hope you manage to get her assessed

Haha someone has linked this thread to the Travelodge employee fb group and warned all lodges in the M1 areas to be aware

So it would seem that the staff do care and will act accordingly if they know.

At the risk of being dragged into an unneeded online argument on a beautiful Sunday morning...
I didn’t drip feed anything/ this is not my post and I was simply trying to give the OP an option if she wished to take it for extra peace of mind.
I personally wouldn’t leave a 14 year old in a hotel room but that is my personal opinion. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions including the OP and myself.
Every child is different and capable of different things at different ages.
Every child who happens to be on the Autistic spectrum ( that is an old fashioned no longer used term but I use it here for simplicity) is also capable of different things at different ages. It is not as simple as ‘giving them a quiet place to wait’. Again as this is not my post I’m not going to explain that in any more details. Nor am I going to discuss my teens capabilities as this is not my post. Or the apparent ongoing lack of full understanding about Autism on Mumsnet in general. There are several posts already today alone which have incorrect/old fashioned and in some ways disrespectful debates about autistic ‘behaviours’. Again that is not what the OP asked about.

I went to Bangkok with my parents when I was that age and they went out for lunch with my dad's colleagues - I stayed by the pool, ordered lunch etc, went back my room. I had no phone - i don't think it even occurred to my parents this could be an issue and I was absolutely fine.

@greypetex thank you for the kind words. I know the thread isn't actually about autism, but I said what I did in the last post, because I was afraid that I had caused offence in one of my earlier posts about autism so I felt the need to clarify.

In the OP's case, as I've said before, there's no issue at all, where an NT teenager is concerned. I would have loved it at 14.

I'm sorry that I derailed your thread, OP.

@Potentialmadcatlady
Autistic spectrum ( that is an old fashioned no longer used term but I use it here for simplicity) what exactly do you think the “S” in ASD stands for???? There’s nothing “old fashioned” about “autistic spectrum”. Total nonsense.

5zeds... Actually it isn’t nonsense. Perhaps you should do some research

I don’t think that will be necessary @Potentialmadcatlady If you want to link to anything to back up your statements I’m happy to skim them but I know a fair bit about ASD by now.

I don’t intend on spending my time providing research for you to skim.

Not sure where you are potentialmadcatlady. In the U.K. Autism is still referred to as ASC or ASD.

www.autism.org.uk/about/what-is/asd.aspx

@Potentialmadcatlady

Every child who happens to be on the Autistic spectrum ( that is an old fashioned no longer used term but I use it here for simplicity)

Please, what is the term now used?

That’s fine @Potentialmadcatlady come back when you want to back up your bizarre statements. In the meantime I can assure you it ISN’T an outdated old fashioned term, and I see it in use daily. I’m baffled by your posts.

Well there's another crazy day of Mumsnet! All safely back in the room with absolutely zero drama. We all have a tracking app enabling so dh would've seen if there was a problem and was the point of contact if I went under a truck on the drive.