Would you let your 10 year old go away with school for a week?

[yoyo]

DD came home today with details of a trip which will take place next year when she is in Yr 5. She has never slept overnight anywhere.

My gut reaction is to refuse but this will obviously lead to other problems. She will have the opportunity to do the same trip in Yr 6 and I will be far happier to let her go then.

Any thoughts/experience? All advice appreciated.

Ds went to france, spain, germany and Devon all aged 10 - for between five and ten days. Scary and I panic still when he first goes away - but he loves it. (He's now 15 BTW)

yup! DS1 did it and DD1 has also.

I went on my first school overnighter when I was in yr3, we went to Jersey for a week. I remember that I cried a lot the first night, but only because someone else had started crying first.A part from that I have really good memories of the week.

Our school sends the Yr6 kids to Cyprus for a week, and I'm pretty confident that I won't have a problem when it's the Dkids time to go.

I think you need to discuss it with DD, go over the potential problems and see what you can do to resolve them with the school.

I have just been discussing this with DH who is also tending toweards "no". My daughter would be allowed no telephone contact with us - ought that to make a difference?

I intend to make an appointment to see the Head to discuss things further.

My DD has not had any sleepovers as they are not that popular in her school.

DS has just come back from a week away in north wales {about 4 - 5 hours away from home}

He is year 5 now

I worried about it for over a year

It was a very very hard decision to let him go

I was here last year saying the same as you.

It was one of the hardest decisions we had to make

Last October we had to put his name into a ballot {only half the class were going} and all of class 6.

His name got picked out and I worried about it for so many sleepless nights

He does have occaisional accidents with wetting the bed so we got him a spare identical pair of PJs and a special liner for his sleeping bag and told the teachers about it. He didn't have an accident all week

He didn't know that we or I were worried about him going he still doesn't

Anyway we let him go and he had a DEFFO BRILL time

And am so glad I let him go. Although it was the hardest decision

I felt that if I had stopped him from going that I would have been putting my own feelings before his and not letting him grow up.

He was unsure about going and kept saying that we were forcing him to go {I did not want to put my anxiety onto him, I wanted him to make the decision so that if he wanted to pull out then he could rahter than me putting pressure on him to do something to please me}

BUT IT IS ONE OF THE HARDEST DECISIONS YOU WILL MAKE

If you want to CAT me to ask anything else feel free

Next year he will be going to IOW when he is in class 6 but my DAD is from there so we know it like the back of our hand IYSWIM

we had no telephone contact either

We had a phone call to say they had arrived safely and that was it

Yoyo - I suspect that the no telephone contact thing is for their benefit. It seems to unsettle them so much and lead to renewed bouts of homesickness. Perhaps they think it is best just to not allow it.

I think you and your friends should get busy on the sleepover front in preparation for the week long trip

RTKangaMummy - thank you for being so honest. I will CAT you tomorrow. Sleep beckons..

I think no telephone contact is standard. I'd imagine it would be logistically difficult for everyone to be able to phone home, plus, if someone is feeling a bit homesick, it would only upset them more?

Yoyo - my dd (11) has just come back from a week away with school. It was a tough decision to let her go as she has significant medical problems and they were 200 miles away. They weren't allowed to take mobiles but could obviously use the pay phone to phone home. She called everyday and was full of what they were doing and how much fun she was having . I'm so glad that she went.

RTKM - I remember all your posts about your DS - so glad that it all worked out well in the end

Thanks

It was sooooo hard to let him go

And am so glad that I forced myself to let him go

Yoyo goodnight speak tomorrow

Oh god, you're all going to think I'm a witch mother, but here goes, anyway:

I put dd1 on a plane as an unaccompanied minor to go to France to stay with my cousins the summer she turned 8. The same summer she went to pony camp for a week sleeping in tents, knowing only one other person there. Both were things she wanted to do, but I did encourage her. She had a few wobbles but had a great time during both.

Last summer (aged just 9) she went to a weeks summer camp in Somerset, without knowing anyone else there beforehand. She had a fantastic time, talked about it all year and is going back again at the end of July.

It never really occurred to me not to let her go, but that maybe because I had a somewhat international childhood -- my first plane journey without an accompanying adult was aged 4! I also lived in a very rural area, so we were always staying over at each other's houses from an early age, otherwise we'd have had no social life at all.

Both my older ones have stayed away with grandparents and cousins from an early age. I know not all their friends to likewise, but we did take one of dd1's little friends to Devon with us for five days in Y2 (so they were 6.5) and said friend had a great time. She was a bit weepy at bedtime the first couple of days, but I promised I'd drive her home in the morning if she still wanted to go. Needless to say she'd forgotten about it by breakfast time. Ds has also had a couple of sleepovers at friend's houses (he's not quite 6 yet), and keeps asking to for more. I really can't see why not -- they come back with a new confidence and a spring in their step. I'd be more worried if they didn't want to go

I have a slightly different take on the Y6 school trip which will be next year for dd1, as I know the accompanying teachers just use it as an excuse to get rat-arsed (seriously -- they've been barred from all the local pubs near the school, and had to find new accommodation for the Y6 group on the Isle of Wight after the hostel banned them for getting drunk and disorderly. And this is the headteacher we're talking about here). But yes, I'd still let her go.

Hi, RTKM! Glad Kangaboy's trip was a success.

Yoyo if you want to email me, do feel free. But now you probably all think I send my children down the mines and up chimmeys too, so no one will want to talk to me ever again.

SS DS took writing paper to write to us but didn't have time to write

He said before he went that he was going to write every night but then gets there and is too busy

Seems all the boys were too busy to write although some of the girls did write home

Hi frogs Yes thanks

@ DD1 school teachers behaviour

Who is looking after the children?

Personally, no. Grandparents and aunts, yes. School trip for that long at 10. No.

Thanks SS

I think maybe that to telephone would end in tears

When we went round the world 3 years ago Each time I rang my mum and DAD I ended up in tears

I think that they ought to able to text each evening if they wanted and then the phones be given back to the teachers.

Oh ok

When we have been to IOW we have had probs with mobile signals too

Have spoken to a few parents with children in DD's year. It seems that not many of her friends want to go so do not know how she will feel about that. Think lots of boys will go as they have been to scout camp together.

Had a chat with her about showers, toilets and meals and she became quite thoughtful. I will no doubt hear more this evening after she has chatted with scholfriends.

Am now going to email the Head to arrange a meeting. End of term is always so hectic!

Yoyo go with how she feels after she and you have got all of the information

Hope you get the information quickley