would you let a 13 year old girl go to a dance?

[juice]

hi.
my neighbours 13 year old girl is really outraged at her parents for not letting her go to a dance even though some of her friends are allowed to go.
it is a dance for grown ups , but they let all the under agers in so they get more money. it is for a community run group.
there is a bar selling alcohol in the dance so they will probably get someone to get them drink. and what with all the boys who think they are men, some of th eyounger girls could get into trouble.
i totally agree with my neighbour. i think its a disgrace that some parents would let their kids go to something like this. no way would i let my daughter go.
what does everyone else think

well, if there is a bar and underage dribking i would call the police and let them know! they'll soon stop after they hae a raid

I probably would have attended something like this at that age, if I was with my parents...?

the police dont do anything, the police are outside sitting in their cars watching them all go in. in fact one of the police mans daughters was in when she was too young. the police round here are useless. they see it as too much work to be taking kids home drunk.

there is no way her parents would go and even if they did there is no way their daughter would go with them

Sounds dodgy, different if it was a family thing. I know a lot of communities have dances like that but all the mums and dads are there and teenagers are limited to what they can get up to because everyone knows everyone.

No,would let them go to a school or church organised dance though.

Having said that, my parents let me go to a semi-war zone when I was 13 without parents! And I survived it.

I used to go to dances (we called them discos) like that at the RAF camp where my father was based when I was 13!

I used to go to a Friday night disco every week with my best friend at 12 and 13. No alcohol I admit. Yes I would as long as I knew someone there could be keeping an eye on her. 13 is not so young.

I used to go to the youth centre disco every week but this was just for teenagers not adults as well with a bar, we had a tuck shop though .

I'd be fine with a dance run by the school or a responsible group but not the kind that you describe. It's asking for trouble IMHO.

The one I used to go to was full of single squaddies and I was on pain of death from my father not to allow myself to get chatted up by them! My best friend and I used to dance together or with a group of other girls - and we never touched alcohol, it simply wouldn't have occurred to us!

Nope.

Sounds like you were a very sensible 13 year old, cam. I too remember going to discos at that age, minus parents, where alcohol was served.

Juice, I think it depends on what the other adults at the dance are like. And whether everyone goes there with the sole intention of getting drunk.

If it really is more a sociable, dancing type of event (you say it is a community run group), then I don't think it's beyond the pale to let a 13 year old go to it. I mean, it's a bit like going to a licenced restaurant for a meal with her friends. Drinking wouldn't be the main reason everyone was there.

Also it depends what her friends are like - and how sensible they are as a group.

We were admitted "under age" because it was a private club based on an RAF camp so could more or less do what it wanted. It used to get fantastic live entertainment for the RAF boys, I still remember seeing and dancing to Desmond Dekker. Plus everything was ridiculously cheap.

We could also get into the private film club under age too, saw Easy Rider when I was 13

Desmond Dekka - sigh! you lucky thing, cam!

At 13, we used to have dance-parties at each other's houses. We drank coke or fanta. It was great fun. But that was the disco era & so much has changed since then, not least the music!

Bring back the music!