16 year olds wanting to go on holiday alone

[GrumioEstEbrius]

MY DD and three of her friends want to go on a holiday to celebrate the end of GCSEs. Just for 3 or 4 days, but alone with no adults. When I was their age lots of teens used to go inter-railing around Europe during the post-GCSE summer (DH did this and a couple of my mates from school did it too) but this no longer seems to be a thing for kids this age now.

So their options are to camp, static caravan or AirBNB in the UK.

My issue though is that do any campsites / rentals allow unsupervised 16 year olds?

Does anyone have any good suggestions as to what they could do? CentreParcs maybe?

By limited crazee nightlife, I mean there are not too many places they could get into difficulties. 'Raving' tends to involve ceilidhs.

Is Wakestock still a thing? That used to be the big festival they all went to post-GCSEs.

Absolutely not! My DS came back from a school trip to Berlin when in year 10 and announced that his group of friends had all decided to go back the next year. I said no way, which prompted a lot of stomping, moaning and screaming that I was ruining his social life. 🙄

All of a sudden it all stopped. Turns out none of the parents were on board, just took them all a while to admit it to each other.

Threads like these are so hypocritical, on one hand you have posters acting like they are adults and need independence yet if a poster comes on saying a man in his 20s or older slept with/flirted with a 16/17 yo it's a very different reaction and suddenly these teens are still kids etc.

Jesus Christ! 16 year olds should be able to get the independence to holiday alone without being ok with sex with a man 'in his 20s or older' - what kind of mindset do you have? I think you need to have a bit of a think about your batshit comparison because 'a man in this 20s or older' targeting younger women is seriously fucked up, even when they are 18/19 etc.

I went to Newquay and stayed in a youth hostel with 12 friends after GCSEs, my mum did the exact same at 16 after her o-levels! We had an absolute blast but on the whole were a fairly sensible bunch of girls so my parents weren't too worried.

I think you need to have a bit of a think about your batshit comparison because 'a man in this 20s or older' targeting younger women is seriously fucked up, even when they are 18/19 etc

eh a 16 yo dating an 18yo is hardly 'seriously fucked up', it's pretty common. I'd call allowing a binch of 16 yos to go on holiday without adult supervision the seriously fucked up situation.

Reading Festival is the norm post GCSE / 16 yo holiday around here, or down to Newquay.

Although a year older, last year my daughter stayed in uni accommodation over the summer break. Many unis rented out their accommodation to others over the holidays... so that could be worth a look. They took 17 year olds, not sure about 16.

I went to foreign festivals at 16. Spain, France, Belgium. Had an amazing time, only positive experiences.

DoE involves camping for 4 days on your own (with occasional adult check ins).

Not sure why wanting to do the same thing outside the auspices of the award is so bad tbh.

My daughter has been able to learn to drive at 16 and they can legally live independently at 16. Far too mollycoddling these days but their options are limited. YHA, wildcamp or someone's house. It's a shame. They are never able to learn to do adult things.

DS1 camped with 5 friends when he had just turned 16. The campsite owner knew their age, gave them a talking to when they arrived about behaviour and took our number in case they were causing problems. They had an amazing time and as other said it’s not much different from them doing their silver D of E. It’s great for independence, confidence and their friendships.

Eh yourself.

The comment was about 'men in their 20s or older' dating teens. I even quoted it twice in the post I made.

Such a wide range of opinions on this thread. Very interesting. I know that what she'd really like to do is go to Reading / Boardmasters but for me I'd be too anxious about that. I think I'd worry about the issue of booze and drugs and randy teen boys 😂. So for me a small group of girls staying together is the least lairy option, whilst giving them some freedom at the same time.

Interesting debate though.

@frydae i guess the problem with 16 year olds being away from supervision for any length of time is someone in their 20s could target them. Parents need to decide if their 16 year old could cope with any possible issue they might encounter.

Take bus, train or bikes and go youth hostelling. They can be independent and have a lot of fun , but there will still be rules and subtle boundaries and other people around .

That's really not the context in which the comment I responded to was made though. Nothing like it.

I know that what she'd really like to do is go to Reading / Boardmasters but for me I'd be too anxious about that. I think I'd worry about the issue of booze and drugs and randy teen boys

I totally get that. We'd seen friends go through that with their older DDs & an Airbnb request was definitely a big relief. Though I was more worried about drugs than boys as she's generally sensible, & some of her friends had already had drinks spiked at teen parties, so a festival was horrifying 🥴

This is a tricky one. I have 2 older teenagers and I don't know if I would have been comfortable with them wanting to go away themselves at 16 but then again at 16 you can join the army and move out. Its a hard one and depends on the child and how comfortable you would be letting them go.

Me and 2 friends went to France for 4 nights.

They could move out if they wanted. I think it's perfectly fine.

Ds and 2 mates went to Blackpool for 3 nights. ( about 200 miles away) Did Old Trafford and Corrie tour in Manchester...played bingo every night. They had a great time

Lots of places wouldn't accept a group of 16 yr olds

Goodness.

My bf and I had a lovely cycling trip at this age. We got the train to a Scottish island, cycled a bit stayed in a yha.

We smoked roll ups and drank Liebfraumilch 🤣

After a week we came home.

She turned 16 while we were away and I was 15 (summer baby).

It was great!

I mean you can't actually stop them, I think a relationship with your teen like the op has is so much better than the End Of. parenting encouraged by so many on this thread.

Nope. Post gcse, not happening. End of year 12, they can do a few nights away with friends. No festivals until year 13. These are set in stone in my book

@Trafficjamlog if you are saying just a few nights away in year 12 and no festival under year13, how do you expect your c will cope when a few months later they will on their own at Uni having to navigate everything in their own, incl judging if the parties they are going to are safe etc….

Ive always thought it was much better to give teens (and children) as much independence as possible whilst we can still be around to help if needed rather than protecting them at all cost from everything and then let them suss things out in their own ‘because they are adult now’