Brighton to London - Too Young

[LibbsnLoos]

This summer we are moving from London to Brighton with our 2 DC aged 7 and 11. DD is starting senior school.
DD currently does a hobby 9-12.30 Saturday mornings then another 2 - 4.30.
I was very much under the impression DD would be giving these up and finding replacements in Brighton, turns out DH has been trying to come up with a plan for her to keep going and tonight has suggested we let her get the train to London on her own! Then get the tube 2 stops to activity 1, do activity 1, get the tube another 4 stops to activity 2, where she will be ok to arrive early and eat lunch, do they activity tube and then train home.
He grew up getting the train from Bedford to London then the tube for School everyday so thinks this is fine.
DD is confident an capable but I worry about what she would do if the trains got cancelled (obviously we'd go get her but in the meantime!)
It isn't viable for one of us to go with as I work Saturday and someone has to be with DS and dragging DS to London every week wouldn't be fair.
AIBU to think this is way to young for a journey like this?

It’s not just the train journey, that’s a whole day in London every weekend. Why are you moving if DD is just going to be trekking back every Saturday? Is it not feasible to do these hobbies in Brighton so she can meet some local friends? I can imagine it will feel tough to stop doing them but that’s a lot of time and money just so she can continue.

That line is frequently closed for trackwork on weekends.

She can do them in Brighton, DH just thinks it will be nice for her to keep going with her current friends, DD is up for it.
The only thing that bothers me is the travel.

I live on that train line (not literally!) and it’s dreadful for delays, cancellations, and total closures.

It really is a nightmare, and doing the activities in Brighton will enable her to make local friends outside of school, which can be a real lifeline at times.

This is a good point too.

Still curious about age though as DH thinks we can work around cancellations. I still think she's too young!

I also regularly take that train line and second the comments about cancellations etc. The current plan sounds like a recipe for trouble and you might find yourself running interference more often than your daughter actually catches the train.

It’s a nice idea to keep things consistent for her but not practical I think.

What are the activities. I'd definitely look for them in Brighton

I live in Brighton and have a 12yo. There is no way I would send them to London on a train on their own. I say that as someone who lived in London for 15 years. Way too young.

People frequently are boozing at 10am on the weekend trains to London

Unless it’s something that can’t be replicated in Brighton, or the London hobbies would give her a lot more opportunities, I wouldn’t be doing that on a Saturday. As others have said, it’s not the most reliable train line and there’s often engineering etc on the tube as well.

Way too young. My DD went to see a friend in Brighton when she was 17 and got followed back to London by some freak. It was awful, changing carriages and him still there.

Engineering works are frequent and often doubles the journey time each way, worse when delayed further.
Trust me, the journey will become a complete ball ache after a while , especially when winter weather and dark evenings set in.

We aren't on that line but similar distance and we allowed our DD to do this age 11. She was a late birthday too so was literally just turned 11. She's now 12 almost 13 and still goes.
It's a specialist programme so not available elsewhere. The independence has been great, if there is a cancellation I will take her. Only once has her train home been cancelled after she's gone and DD called us from the class, we agreed on somewhere for her to wait (a Costa in our case) then drove the hour a half to get her.
It's not ideal but it's working for us.

I should say DD is really tall so none assumes she's as young as she is.

She's way too young. Obviously. He's living on another planet.

Apart from anything else, the cost of that will be silly!

Weird plan all round and yes she's too young, but you'll get cool Mums coming on to tell you that they put their 5 year olds on a sleeper train to Glasgow every other day and you need to unclench.

It’s not that expensive on a Saturday! Weekdays are a different matter.

I'm gung ho about these things. My mother used to put me on a train from the south coast when I was 7/8 (few Bob for the steward to keep an eye on me), 2 hrs later my gran used to collect me from Victoria. DH's did similar from Yorksgir to London!

I'd say no and certainly not every week. Whilst everyone has a mobile, trains no longer have guards or restaurant cars.

Absolutely no way

I out my daughter on a train from Brighton to London when she was 11. But to be met at the other end by a friend and her parent. I think it’s ok to do it occasionally but chances are that things will go wrong if it’s weekly.

I kind of think the opposite to your DH - won't doing the activity in Brighton help DD to make local friends?

I don't think I was precious about my children doing things but that would be a hard no from me. One of my children was very mature for his age, the other less so, but I wouldn't have even let the mature one do that at that age. I just think there are too many sick or evil people who may be on the train or potentially follow them off the train. The upside of this is small, seeing some old acquaintances, and the possible downside doesn't bear thinking about. In any case, I think it's important to make new local friends rather than looking back.

I don't think it's too young especially for a child who has grown up in London, most children that age will be using public transport for senior school and some will be doing more complex journeys than that across the city. But it seems a bit pointless if there is an equivalent activity in Brighton - I'd only consider it for a niche or high level hobby that couldn't be done locally. And think about if there are additional sessions that would have to happen in addition to the Saturdays, eg performances etc. It would just be a pain.

Doing stuff with old friends sounds nice... at first. But soon she will have new friends... and doing stuff with them will also be fun. Unless the activities is at a lot higher level in London.

I don’t think she’s too young but I do think it sounds exhausting and not much fun. She’ll just be starting a new school in a new area and Saturday would be a good day to see the new friends.