Would you allow this?

[maccaroni]

My child is in year 11 and aged 16. They have asked if they can go on holiday abroad with 4 friends (2 male, 2 female) and stay in one of the friends parents apartment. There will be no over 18 present on the trip.
I was interested to know what parents with kids this age think? Would you allow your teen to go? This will be after exams are finished.

How would you expect a 16 year old to do that then?

Yeah because all kids wait to go to Spain before they have sex.

🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️🙇🏻‍♀️

No from me .

My DD went away with school friends after her GCSEs. No adults present. They had a great time. They were at least an 8 hour drive from any of their parents but we figured that if there was an emergency then there ARE emergency services around.

She than went inter railing with the same friends after A levels.

DD was very mature and sensible with very sensible friends though.

@maccaroni

nope, not overseas. I know Spain is close, but it still takes many more hours than I'd be comfortable with having to travel to get to her (unless you have your hen plane/helicopter 🤣🤣)

As for the parents giving you a hard time. The kids of parents like that are even less likely to inspire me to say yes!!

Should add that the only other girl dropped out so she was with a group of boys who all looked after her properly … and I’m not a granny even 8 years later @FlamingBells. She’s still friends with the same group but there’s never been any romance (shame because they all great young men).

Jesus, if I worked on that basis, she'd not get to the local shops! 🤣🤣

No. Haven’t RTFT.

Not a chance in hell!!!

No from me.

Not a chance in hell

No. I'm laughing at the thought because the teens of a similar age in our family are nowhere near capable of having a holiday abroad alone.

You are doing the twist and turn to make yourself right thing that some people do on here when they've been pulled up on writing a nasty reply:

First it was - oh but there are other ways of your kids being independent rather than send them abroad. No one said there wasn't.

Now - oh but in some countries 16 year olds can't holiday with without their parents. No one said there weren't, but given 16 years olds can and do inter rail alone (16 and 17 year olds are advised to carry a letter in English with their parents' permission) there will be some where they can.

Either leave it or accept that perhaps it doesn't reflect well on you that you wrote a silly dismissive reply just because a PP had a different view to you. Right now you are embarrassing yourself, not helped by the adolescent eye roll..

@Porcinimushroom

with a job. Part time of course, paper round, saving Xmas / birthday money. I would not fund this in full for my DD, my thoughts would be that if dishes was motivated enough to go, she would need to find the motivation to fund it - I would probably contribute 25% of the cost. I would not be expecting to fund the jolly in full.

It depends entirely on the teen.

One of my elder DDs - absolutely fine not a problem.

Her twin sister or older brother - not a chance.

In fact, my other elder DD is so absent minded and day-dreamy I don’t think I’ll ever not worry when she’s abroad or the likes regardless of her age!

One of my kids did this at 16 with a few friends aged 16/17. They stayed at one of their parents holiday homes. They were fine and had great fun. Some kids wouldn’t be ready for it and you know your child best.

What an odd thing to say. Surely it’s pretty obvious that boys are far more likely to pressure girls into sex/things they don’t want to do than girls are. Unfortunately even though these friends probably seem like lovely lads, things like that can and do happen and in a foreign country with no supervision things could go horribly wrong. It’s not a risk I’d take with a 16 year old to be honest. Hopefully in two years time they’d be less vulnerable and better equipped to cope with any potentially dodgy situations.

And yes, we all know 16 year olds have sex, doesn’t mean that parents should be borderline encouraging it by providing unlimited access and privacy without any parental supervision for days on end.

My son went abroad with a group of friends during sixth form so older than 16 but not 18. It was all fine although it took him a week to recover from the alcohol and lack of sleep when he got home.

Unfortunately even though these friends probably seem like lovely lads, things like that can and do happen and in a foreign country with no supervision things could go horribly wrong. It’s not a risk I’d take with a 16 year old to be honest

They can happen anywhere wherever there is no proper supervision or parents nearby. I am baffled by the amount of posters who are even saying they'd be fine with their 16 yo going on an unsupervised holiday in the UK.

Lol well that’s one way of making sure she doesn’t go abroad till she’s 30. Paying for a holiday abroad with a paper round 🤣

@Porcinimushroom £25 a week round here. Perhaps the funding of the holiday arrangement might be one way to find out if the DD was responsible and motivated enough to go.

When I was 16 I went to work for a month in France on my own in a hotel. Found the hotel myself and asked if I could work there for bed and board. Took the ferry across the Channel, a train to Paris, crossed Paris and took another train. All on my own.Admittedly at the hotel there were the adult owners but basically I spent the time with the other young waitress they had.
So I’d say why not. Given that you’ve said she’s pretty sensible.