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 sorry but why are we focussing on the flight

a camp for a week? Abroad! A 7 year old!!! Wtf

It seems like such a bizarre solution to not having childcare for a week. It would surely be so much easier and cheaper to get a nanny for the week. Its odd that this was her go-to solution.

I think a camp at age 7 is fine if the child is happy and if you are driving distance away should they not be happy/there was an accident/they were unwell. Sending them to another country alone is absolute madness.

I need assistance through the airport and on and off the plane. Frequently have to wait ages for anyone to turn up. And then one person turns up for three passengers going to different places. Very much hope it’s not the same for minors.

Had a nightmare about catching a plane last night. I may have another one tonight.

At 7?

My dc have done loads of this stuff. But not at 7. And that is material to what you are asking.

I would also think that even if they state they are for age 7, there will be very few children of that age there compared to slightly and much older ones.

You may be struggling with the consensus feedback here and think we all just fail to get it, but sending very small children off on their own is quite niche in almost any community.

As the parent to a 7yr old girl, it’s an absolutely fucking not from me.

What, and I can’t stress this enough, the actual fuck is your sister thinking.

It’s not so much the flight to me, although not ideal. It’s the fact the poor child gets off the plane to a random stranger, in a foreign country, doesn’t speak the language and has no one, not one single person who she has met before that could advocate for her if things went wrong or she was feeling homesick/poorly.

I’m a liberal parent, not one to think there are pedo’s on every corner but the level of risk she’d be exposed to is huge and should raise a social services safe guarding flag in my opinion because clearly her judgement is in the gutter.

I’d do anything before sending my small child abroad alone if I needed to work. Family (they live a couple of hours drive away), unpaid time off, wfh, hell I’d even go off sick.

It’s not the same system as that for adults needing assistance. The children are never left unaccompanied. The parent hands over to the airline staff and has to remain in the airport until after the flight has taken off. That member of staff stays with the child the entire time they are in the airport, including any delays, then hands them over to the cabin crew. The child then remains on the plane until everyone else has disembarked, a member of the airline staff then collect them, take them through passport control, collect any luggage with them and hand them over to the designated adult who has to provide ID.

Having cabin crew check in occasionally is no good if she gets sat next to a pervert.

That's not a great thing, either. I could just about get behind sending a 7-year-old unaccompanied if they were going to see family, who would pick them up. But a camp with strangers? I really wouldn't. Not that it matters what people online think.

It’s not just the adults, peer to peer abuse is just as much, or possibly more of a risk. And she’d have no one she trusted to tell.

Un-fucking-believable

My niece does speak French so the language would never be an issue (she attends a French language school, her father is Belgian) and 70% of the camp staff are English speakers so even if she didn’t it would be a non-issue.

Not long turned 7, no way.

Your argument that some 7 year olds go to boarding school at that age? That is equally scarring and dangerous.

Just no.

Yes, they do. And it’s cruel.

Mental. All of it.

You clearly think this is fine. In 8-10yrs time when she’s in therapy for trauma don’t cry about it because you enabled it by supporting your sister.

Some people really shouldn’t have kids.

Seven is far too young for that - I’m stunned that both you and your sister seem to think it’s okay.

I am genuinely astonished that anyone thinks this is a good idea for a 7 year old.

Honestly if your sister was my friend - or the parent of my child's friend- I would judge her hard for this and would not want my children spending time in her home because her judgement seems way off to me. Wouldn't want her making even the smallest decision about my 7 year old on a playdate.

I've dealt with private school holidays for 3 kids. You hire a good babysitter.

Never in a month of Sundays! Can’t believe anyone would consider this! Never mind the flight but being away from everyone you know after being on a plane at 7 is cruel. Sounds like a made up story copying Home Alone films!

Why is this her go to solution for her small child though, OP? Surely she can think of something closer to home?? Why the hell would her first thought for childcare be sticking her on a plane on her own to go to a foreign country to be looked after by complete strangers for a week?!

Or when the kid isn't close to any of them as she grows up. Imagine being sent away like this at barely seven.

Can't your sister take a weeks parental leave? Or doesn't she want to?

there must be better options?

Poor kid. Why isn’t a single one of her family available to look after her? She might cope with it and ‘be ok’ but fuck me, how can any parent, in all conscience, do this to a child who has just turned 7? Is any job worth that? I’d rather be poor.

I expect this is what the parents are aiming for.

and if she wants her child to go to this camp can't she travel with her - it is probably saturday to saturday - take a day off and travel with your child introduce her to the camp and see the people she is leaving her vulnerable little kid with (still not ideal but it is something).

This can't be real.

You are quite determined to think what your sister has planned for her 7-year old is reasonable, in the face of the overwhelmingly majority view here that it is riven with potential pitfalls. Are you planning on sharing these responses with your sister to encourage her to change her mind, or are you going to remain silent and persist in your view that it's fine? School holiday dates are published at least 12 months in advance so there was really no need for your sister to find herself in this position.