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.

To spend a week at a holiday camp where you knew nobody?

Exactly. It doesn’t bear thinking about. Think of the poor little soul being plonked next to some lecherous old man on the plane. Or sleeping for a week in a dormitory at a camp in a foreign country, knowing your Mother sent you there because she won’t look after you. Fucking awful.

I cannot believe any parent would even consider this and honestly, i would go as far as to say this is neglect.

Why wouldn’t he spend a night away from home? Not even with family? That seems a bit OTT.

It’s not neglect if you’re rich you know

Well surely your sister can do a bit of research and find one that'll take her child on a 52 week/12 month basis, so your sister does not have to go to all this hassle of having someone fly her DD out of the country so she's not inconvenienced by her before it's time for Christmas photos.

Or maybe your sister could fake a serious medical emergency and bring her DD with her to hospital. Social services will arrange emergency foster care for her.

And what were you doing when you got there?

Jumping on a Trailfinders Backpackers minibus and doing some solo touring?

We have all been 7 and we all know 7 year olds. We all know and understand that they have very little ability to keep themselves safe, think on their feet to manage unpredictable scenarios and may become tired and overwhelmed very easily. No one normally contests the very well known developmental status of 7 year olds and the long held understanding of their needs. We have ratios, laws, safeguards in place precisely because they are not capable of operating independently in public.

The people who think this is a great idea weren't better 7 yr olds and those who think it's batshit aren't being misled by the inferiority of the 7 yr olds they know.

Very rare for schools to offer boarding for primary aged kids nowadays. I have just checked my three closest public schools and all offer full boarding for children aged 11-18.

7 is far too young. Why should the cabin crew have to check on a child? They're not babysitters. The child should be accompanied. When parents do things like this and claim they're teaching their child independence, it's code for "some other mug will look after my child for me".

I'm really hoping the OP is going to come back and tell us this was a wind-up. I'm genuinely worried about this little girl whose mother and aunt think it's ok to send a seven year old abroad by herself to stay with complete strangers. Absolutely sickening.

I worked in a boarding school 30 years ago and the youngest was 8 - most of the boarders were 12 plus. A 7 year old boarder would be extremely unusual and discouraged by any good boarding school.

Anyway, this is a bad idea all round and I'm quite a free range, pro-boarding school and residential camps kind of person. 7 is far too young to do this.

Is this a rich person thing? They don't seem to mind shipping their children off. Can't your sister find something she can just drive her to? Does she need the kudos of it being abroad?

Adult women get assaulted while cornered in airplane seats. I can’t imagine sending a young child on a plane alone.

Quite. Imagine if someone working class fobbed off their child like this.

I think both you & your sister need parenting camp ..
This is WRONG !
Firstly to send the child on a flight alone & then to stay away abroad at camp at 7 !!!!
Cop on & take better care of that little girl , because by the sounds of it your sister is a careless parent & it doesn’t help matters that you encourage her …

Mine have flown unaccompanied at similar ages but in the above circumstances, I think too young.

My 2 oldest flew together at 8 and 7 so they weren’t on their own.
They were very experienced fliers.
They had parents at one end and their aunts at the other. They were both very familiar with their aunts and had stayed with them many times before,

In your niece’s situation, I would stump up for an adult well known to her to fly her out and see her safely handed over. I know not everyone has this type of money, so if it’s a no go, find a camp that she could be driven to.

My eldest did a summer camp aged 7 1/2 with 4 friends we slated if we’d need to pick him up first night. No way they’d be more than a 30 min drive away at any time of day or night.

I would not do this.

The behaviour of some men towards women sitting next to them on planes can be vile.

Imagine a little girl with no-one looking after her.

I cannot imagine doing this. Not only for the flight but that she is being looked after by people you have never met in another country! Does she actually know if they are suitable?! It’s so far removed from what I would do Jm actually shocked. Just find a temporary nanny for goodness sakes.

TBH, I think this is like the whole nightmare scenario of having dinner in a restaurant 55m away while your kids sleep in a locked apartment... It's fine until it's not fine.

As a 7-year-old, I would have quite merrily got on the plane unaccompanied and gone to camp. It would have been fine... probably.

The thing is, when I was 7, I would also have gone off with a stranger had the stranger told me I was supposed to. And when travelling for camp, I'd have expected to come across strangers telling me to go to places, so I'd have accepted that.

As a 7-year-old, I would have coped with everything going right. I would have been dead had something gone wrong. There's tons of stuff that we all did when we were younger that we just wouldn't deem acceptable now. We were lucky back then. Doesn't mean it was right.

I think the flight itself and the airport will be fine. I did it from that age and never had any problems. No opinion about the camp - I’ve never done anything like that.

Fgs, the child will be fine, cabin crew will look after her, it won’t be a traumatic experience, it’s just a flight, I did similar when I was that age, it will be fine. Lot of dramatic people on here, it’s Mumsnet 🙄

For all the pearl clutchers….

www.campsuisse.com/front-page/

This company sells out their camps every year. They are insanely popular with kids having a blast and begging their parents to go every year.

OP’s suggestion is not some wild, highly unusual thing. Loads of kids in my area go away with Camp Swisse every year.

I think flying as an unaccompanied minor at 7 is a little bit on the young side. They're usually very well looked after so it would be ok in an emergency but not ideal in my view.

I actually think the camp is much worse. Yes, kids do go to camps in the UK, though a whole week for a 7yo with people they don't know is quite a big ask. But add to that the fact that it's in a foreign country and the parent couldn't get there quickly if needed? I'm afraid that would be a big fat no for me.

And yes, some children do go to boarding school as young as 7, but many parents find it utterly incomprehensible that anyone would even contemplate sending such a young child away to school. It just isn't how a lot of families function.

"Pearl clutchers"?
Why the name calling? People are perfectly entitled to have an opinion about this particular set of circumstances. You may disagree, but it's entirely possible to do so without insults.