Flying as an unaccompanied minor at age 7

[CrispyClo]

I’m posting on behalf of my sister as she is looking for some external views on the matter.

My niece is 7, birthday was in August. She started a new school in September, which closes for Christmas a week earlier than most state schools. There don’t seem to be a lot of options for childcare during that week as not many schools here close that early so there aren’t any holiday camps.
My sister has booked my niece onto a week long camp abroad for the week. The camp is well reviewed and offers a pick up service for children flying as an unaccompanied minor. My sister initially felt this was a good idea, and booked it.
Now she is having some concerns and is unsure it’s the right choice, mainly as she appreciates 7 is quite young and while the flight isn’t particularly long, they don’t actually have someone sat with them, just cabin crew checking in. She has admitted herself she was fine with it until other people seemed to think it was a reckless parenting choice. I think it will be fine, my sister and I flew as unaccompanied minors often as our dad lived abroad, we were a bit older (maybe 10 the first time) but managed it fine.

AIBU to think my niece will be fine? She’s looking forward to the camp and doesn’t seem phased by the thought of it.

I’m not in the same position. But I was far from the only child at my school doing similar. Some military, some diplomatic, some business, some educational choice. My point is that cultural norms and expectations vary. And children vary significantly. A 7 year old in that type of culture who is keen to go is not going to be harmed in any way by the experience.

Did you get handed over to complete strangers at the other end?

Traveling unaccompanied is one thing, being then parked in a camp, at 7 years old, that the parents have never been to and where the child doesn't know a soul, is quite another, and anyone who can't see the safeguarding issues with this, has serious issues themselves.

Edit - sorry, that reply was meant for @AirborneElephant .

Other than wealthy families, it would be unusual for a UK family to do this. My DH went to an independent school as a day boarder, they had international pupils from age 7. They only went hone for Christmas, Easter and summer holidays. I was surprised but it’s not what I grew up with. My son would have been able to do it but I don’t think my daughter could have done. I have looked at PGL camps for the summer and think they will go next year. So far we’ve managed with local holiday clubs but they aged out of them now.

Waiting for hours in the airport lounge? Navigating the way to the gate? Taking care of passports and boarding passes, at 7?

No

Teachers will confirm that, when they take older children of 10 and 11 on school trips, a proportion will inevitably be homesick, no matter how confident they may seem beforehand. A proportion will also feel unwell at some point. It's bad enough dealing with that when you're amongst friends and familiar adults, but when you're amongst total strangers?

PGL run camps in school holidays that you drop your children at and then collect. The staff look after them. Mine have been with school/Brownies but next summer I plan on booking them into a camp.

To be fair, she'll have an adult to sort all of that for her.

My DD has been to PGL on her own, first time was last summer aged 11 but I think an 8 year old (the youngest age) would be ok on their own. But DH took her.
She's going again next summer and also to a camp for siblings of children with health needs (we hope) and we'll take her to both but she'll probably get the train home after the second camp as they offer a coach to a station an hour away from us.

Yes this. Otherwise there’d be hoards of 7 yr olds solo travelling to overseas camps, which I’m pretty sure there aren’t. I’ve never known anyone to have sent their young kids solo travelling abroad. Late teens and Uni have been the norm in my world for first time air travel without family or school.

Occasionally, yes. Both parents worked full time so it depended on the plan. As I say, children differ and it is possible to have a very healthy family attachment and still be happy to go to a holiday camp. Look at the US, there’s really no difference between flying to a different state for camp and flying to Europe.

This is shocking.

If childcare is tricky, surely it would be easier and cheaper to contact an agency and hire a temporary nanny for a week?

You don’t need to do any of that as an unaccompanied minor, obviously. That’s what you pay for!

Yes, there is. You're in the same country. You're not delayed by international travel.

What would be the point of you travelling alone to the other country if not to see your parent who lived there? Why travel there just to go to a camp you could have gone to in your resident country?

So? People seem to have a wierd hang up about “international”. What difference would that make, genuinely? Much quicker for me to get to Switzerland if there’s a problem than to many parts of the uk.

Your niece was 6 and in infant school only 6 months ago. She's had to get used to a new school, new schoolmates, new staff, new systems etc having only just turned 7. Yet three months later, after a busy, tiring term, her parents are expecting her to do it all again for the sake of a week's childcare?

Seriously, can't she just chill out at home or with her relatives?

I find it shocking that some poster's 7 year olds won't go to a restaurant loo by themselves, now that really is concerning.

I assume because camps don't run that week as it's not UK state school holidays.

Fair enough and I'm glad your experience was fine. But let's not pretend that for thr majority of 7 year olds, this would be highly unusual and traumatic - especially as it sounds like this particular child has never even flown alone before. And surely even you can see the absolute safeguarding risks? Honestly, would you do it with your own child ? At 7?

(I'd like to add that I am really not an overbearing mother in any way, my kids age nearly 9, 6 and 2 regularly stay overnight with relatives and I'm about to leave all 3 of them in the care of close relatives for 2 weeks while I go to the other side of the world. The scenario that the OP talks about is completely different and horrifies me).

Because the parent living there was responsible for sorting childcare, and would pick me up of course.

Sending a 7 year old to boarding school is bad enough, but I suppose they would get used to it and hopefully there would be some benefit to be derived from such an ordeal, but this is a week, for convenience! I can't imagine sending a small child so far away, alone. What if someone is mean to them, and they have no parent or trusted adult to tell?

I still remember only too vividly the utter misery of being homesick in a boarding school at age 11. I can't imagine having to cope with that at 7.

Not in a million years. That poor kid.

People comparing this to being screwed up by boarding school…it’s apples and pears! We’re talking about a week long trip which by all accounts the child is excited about. II’m assuming it’s skiing so something that it is naturally not available here and (to the right 7yo!) be really exciting.

She has family in Europe so presumably travel and being “abroad” is more normal and there are also different norms about children having early independence (yes walking to school unaccompanied isn’t the same but it gets children more accustomed to having self-reliance).

I wouldn’t have booked it for my child at 7 but i actually think my eldest (who has always been intrepid) could have coped with it and enjoyed it.

My son’s friend used to go to one every year (in this country). He actually hated it though and felt like he was just being farmed out because it was easier for his parents to dump him there during school holidays. My two were very vocal that they had no interest in going to one.