Kirstie Allsop's 15 Year Old Son

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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!

I think it's too young- they've got their whole lives ahead to travel. My dd is young in her year and went at the end of A-levels when she was still 17 but all her friends were 18. Even then I wished she was 18- we had to name one of her friends as the responsible adult looking after her in order to get insurance. There's also the issue of drinking underage and getting into nightclubs - she was the only one of her friends below the legal limit.

Very good point.

A lot aren't. I know as we phoned a lot of them (the kids booked the flight before the accommodation so I ended up getting involved when we realised they couldn't find anywhere to stay).
hostel accommodation in the uk often out too.

What @RhubarbAndCustardSweets said. When I went to school many left to go to work and start their adult life post 'O'levels.

DD and DS1 at that age wouldn’t have coped with that. However, DS2 (currently 15) would be perfectly fine as he is more sensible and a good problem solver.

Well there’s lots Ms Allsopp and I disagree on and this isn’t the biggest issue. Can’t stand the woman.

I should add, I do agree that kids need more freedom. 14/15 years travelling independently is fine - with phones, internet and being able to take pre paid cards etc it is so much easier than it was even 20/30 years ago!

Never mind monkey boys, most kids left school at 14 and were considered adults in my grandparents generation around WW1 period, around 100 years ago. A lot of young girls were in service in strange houses living there full time in charge of real fires, laundry with some nasty chemicals if you got it wrong. Most of them will have emerged unscathed and perfectly fine. We baby children more and more- as long as we risk assess, and put plans in place to mitigate risk, it will be as safe as them going into their local town for the day/evening.

Yes, this kind of trip is manageable aged 15 / 16. I'd assume that's what KA's son was doing

When I was 15 / 16, I went to Europe on my own three times, to stay with families on a language exchange. Quite an adventure, but nothing like my Interrail experiences as a student

Your post didn’t sound nasty at all. I think whoever replied must have mixed you with someone else!

I’m cynical about this. She always seem to a conterversial holiday/family story. Remember her and her husband traveling first class and the kids in cattle and breaking the ipads? The stories are always self reported and just as a new TV series is coming out.

My parents were very chilled as well about this sort of stuff. Allowed to wander off to cities hundreds of miles away from age 14, travel to London, Italy, Spain from ages 14/15/16. No mobile phone (around 2001)
It wasn’t very safe at all in hindsight BUT it’s made me very confident travelling, good at risk assessing and navigating unknown places, bookings, problem solving, picking up languages fast.
I hope I get let my own DD have some of that freedom, but with much more safety provisions like emergency credit card, mobile phones, trackers on bags etc

C’mon, she’s loaded and he’s been on hundreds of foreign holidays since he was a baby so it’s hardly trekking in Afghanistan, is it?

My same age DS on the other hand has never been abroad as we’re skint, so I don’t think he’d be up for inter-railing just yet as he doesn’t have the experience. He’s never even caught a bus on his own as there are no rural public buses around here. 🤔

I've already commented about both my son's trips at a similar age.
I think good for Kirstie to allow him to spread his winds.
He may ha e had a ' support team' close by, he may not. However it had given the lad a chance to explore and figure things out.

I have quite a few friends whose adult children are in their late 20s and mum is still rushing home to cook tea for them and treating them as if they were 9!

Well there’s lots Ms Allsopp and I disagree on and this isn’t the biggest issue. Can’t stand the woman Why make it personal? The discussion isn't about whether you like her not.

Maybe she is announcing this to bring him further into the public eye with the idea that he will present a TV travel show eventually?

As I regularly tell my five year old "different families have different rules"

Good for him! Nice to hear of a teenager who is not wrapped up in cotton wool by their parents, tbh.

Legal age is 18 across Europe.

For that reason it's a no from me.

It's foolish to let under 18's go. Yes, it went well and so on 1000's of other journeys, but I would not risk it.

I think its fine. Back in 1989 I went to Salou on a coach holiday ( 31 hours !) with my 2 cousins. Two of us were 16 and the other one 17. No mobile phones, one £2 phonecard between the 3 of us to call home in case of an emergency. 10 days half board, paid for by our grandad as a well done for finishing exams .
We had an absolute ball, the staff kept a discreet eye on us and we were sensible.

DD1 went on holiday to Turkey with a friend and her family when she was 16. On return to U.K. (she’s British) she was held up for hours by Immigration who refused to land her as she “couldn’t prove she hadn’t been to Syria.” He wouldn’t call her Dad, who was waiting for her or speak to the friend’s family. Also refused to look at the consent letter from us, and was clearly incapable of differentiating an ISIS bride from someone who had been on a hiking holiday. What he was doing was illegal as well - he can’t refuse to land a British Citizen.

My son broached this with me as it's something he would like to do next summer at 16. He is a sensible lad but I did hesitate. Decision was made for us when looking at hotels/hostels that the group needed an 18 year old with them......not sure how Kisties son got around that. I did breathe a sigh of relief, but will really encourage him to go at 18

I have to travel for work a lot around the UK and abroad. I am self-employed and I have to be cost-conscious. I can safely say that for the past 20 years hostels have been my solution. Unlike small B&Bs, they are clean, safe and welcoming. Some of them are former country houses - I am talking about YHA. In the past 20 years I have found that there are more self-employed professionals staying in them, who can't afford, say London hotels and who have to attend for several days. The other week I stayed in London YHA Oxford Street, which was full of French middle class families and YHA St Pancras is always full of Spanish families. The only dodgy hostel with needles I have experienced was Piccadilly Circus one, but it is now a 5 star hotel (it was shut before the London Olympics). Same goes for Geneva for me - safe, clean, and so central. Same goes for the Hague for me too.

Surely at 18 they are adults, and don't need parental permission?

She’ll have posted it to get reaction. He’s just finished his GCSEs. Nothing to see here.

We also sent children down coal mines. Basing any parenting decision on 14 year olds working in strange houses because “most were fine” 100 year ago is bizarre. Most were likely exploited and sexually abused and then forced to marry young.
What a pedestal.

I think you know your own child
i wouldn’t of let our oldest at that age but youngest would of been fine