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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Kirstie Allsop's 15 Year Old Son

415 replies

ImAFemaleVersionOfRoyKeane · 20/08/2024 05:23

Kirstie Allsop has just posted on X (Twitter) that her 15 year old son has just returned from inter-railing around Europe.

He was accompanied by his 16 year old friend.

AIBU to think this is too young?

These situations may seem OK but at that age they think they are invincible, so they can be impulsive and not make the best decisions, especially when something goes wrong!

OP posts:
Edingril · 20/08/2024 05:26

I wouldn't do it but if she is OK with it not sure why I would have an issue?

Ozgirl75 · 20/08/2024 05:27

Maybe he’s young in the year? My son’s birthday is end of August and I can imagine if we lived in the U.K. that he could want to go travelling at the end of GCSEs and based on what he’s like now as a nearly 14 year old, I could imagine in two years he would be fine to go.
Probably depends on the child.

MrsKwazi · 20/08/2024 05:27

Well he obviously came back in one piece? You don’t know all the facts, maybe they met up somewhere, maybe he stopped at family friends along the way? Good for him and his friend!

KellyJonesLeatherTrousers · 20/08/2024 05:35

You can think what you like, doesn’t make it wrong though!

Lifestooshort71 · 20/08/2024 05:35

It sounds like an informed decision by someone who knows her child well. I hope they had a great trip.

StrangeFoodChoice · 20/08/2024 05:35

He probably stayed in the best hotels and traveled first class, I wouldn’t worry on his behalf

Stopsnowing · 20/08/2024 05:38

the best holiday I ever had was Interrailing although I was 19 at the time. This was pre phones.

now they have phones and internet. So if she trusts him then no issue.

Firenzeflower · 20/08/2024 05:47

They're rich, loaded with credit cards and connections. Probably travelled constantly through his life with that utter confidence public school boys have. It's not the same as when I did it. Rich inter railing is probably very safe.

I ran outogoney very quickly and slept in some dodgy places. Also hadn't travelled or have a mobile phone.

Allsopp is always loved being contraversal.

Neurodiversitydoctor · 20/08/2024 05:52

He is 16 tommorow, presumably home for his GCSE results. It all sounds fine.

leopardski · 20/08/2024 05:52

It says in her post that he turns 16 tomorrow. And that she wanted to build his confidence by letting him do this or something or other. He’ll have just done his GCSEs and as others said has stack loads of cash to do it properly and safely so I don’t see a problem. From one of her later posts sounds like his biggest takeaway was the variances at European McDonald’s 🤣 so I’m sure he’s had a ball.

Saracen · 20/08/2024 06:00

Sounds good to me! He could get in trouble at home too.

Zanatdy · 20/08/2024 06:07

Gosh no, I would not allow that. I’m surprised they could get accommodation being under 18. My DD is 16, and I wouldn’t let her go on holiday alone. I might drive her to a U.K. holiday and stay nearby, but absolutely no way to inter railing around Europe. My DD travelled to Bangladesh on her own age 14, so I’ve no issue with letting her do things alone, but I wouldn’t want her travelling around, or my son at that age.

babyproblems · 20/08/2024 06:08

Think it’s fine. Think kids need more of this to be honest. Not enough unsupervised exploring happens in my opinion and I think it’s one of the reasons young people struggle as adults these days.

pollyglot · 20/08/2024 06:09

4x gt grandfather went to sea, all alone, as a powder monkey at the age of 8!! Just a baby! He survived Trafalgar on the Temeraire which had 18% of the crew killed or wounded. i don't recommend it, of course....

Pussygaloregalapagos · 20/08/2024 06:09

I think it is ok. My friend and I went to Lanzarote on our own after our GCSEs. Both sets of parents ok with it. Had a nice time. Did run out of money midweek but we got to the end of the week and got home.

feathermucker · 20/08/2024 06:10

What an adventure. I doubt he's been roughing it in the cheapest places to be fair. I'd have let mine do this........cautiously and with boundaries etc.

BoobyDazzler · 20/08/2024 06:11

Sounds reasonable to me!

CormorantStrikesBack · 20/08/2024 06:12

The confidence this sort of stuff gives you is amazing. I encouraged Dd to travel by herself and with friends abroad from a young age. She went to Beijing with friends at 16yo for the summer. Went to Paris when she was 17yo with a friend for a week. Covid stopped play for a couple of years but then she was off again.

She’s travelled to about 20 countries on her own now. She thinks nothing of getting a flight to Slovenia or similar on her own and staying in a hostel and meeting people and doing stuff with strangers. She went to Vienna for a long weekend and met a guy and didn’t come back for a month and they went to about 5 different countries during that time. She’s currently in Croatia.

Marchitectmummy · 20/08/2024 06:12

Brave parenting. He's probably had quite an independent life so she knew he wouldn't be phased.

Would love to have that level of confidence in my children as they grow.

BunsenBurnerBaby · 20/08/2024 06:17

I did this at 15 with a 16 year old friend. It was after my o’levels. We mostly stayed with friends and relatives and had an absolute blast. That was two girls. As long as you have clear “this is what to do if it goes wrong” I don’t see the problem, especially in mobile phone era. Also: clearly he was fine and her judgment was right. Is none of your business and independence is a great trait to foster. My kids (DD15 & DS 17) not confident enough to do this yet, but certainly travel around the UK on their own. Not sure how this is different.

Vic6 · 20/08/2024 06:22

You can’t even stay in a Premier Inn by yourself unless you’re over 18 in this country, so how the hell does this inter-railing work abroad for a 15/16 year old?

DS (17) has only just flown by himself, staying with a friend and his family, but we made sure (after doing research) that he had all the relevant forms, address of where he was staying, our consent for him to fly etc, as he’s still classed as a child (put you still pay adult fares - another thread) and there might have been issues at passport control.

Pawsfourbyfourbyfour · 20/08/2024 06:22

Unless he is staying in youth hostels, I suspect he’ll be staying with friends and relations. Many hotels and air bnbs don’t let you sign for accommodation until you are over eighteen or twenty-one in some cases.

PointsSouth · 20/08/2024 06:24

Surely anything that puts distance between oneself and Kirstie Allsop is a good idea?

Pawsfourbyfourbyfour · 20/08/2024 06:26

I wouldn’t allow it this young but I did allow my dds to go to Italy and Greece with groups of close friends when they were eighteen, between school and university. But I knew the friends and many of their parents and there were sensible girls in both groups.

FinalInstructionstotheAudience · 20/08/2024 06:27

ImAFemaleVersionOfRoyKeane · 20/08/2024 05:23

Kirstie Allsop has just posted on X (Twitter) that her 15 year old son has just returned from inter-railing around Europe.

He was accompanied by his 16 year old friend.

AIBU to think this is too young?

These situations may seem OK but at that age they think they are invincible, so they can be impulsive and not make the best decisions, especially when something goes wrong!

And this is your business how?
So, she's bought up a confident, articulate and adventrous young man.
That's fabulous
She obviously risk-assessed his capability, and that of his friends
We need more parents like her. Many kids her age are either surgically welded to their phones or scared of the8r own shadow, won't take a phone call from a friend unless they have texted them to tell them they want to talk, and think the world owes them.