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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

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Original poster

Reading Festival

26 replies

user1468255477 · 11/07/2016 17:51

Hi all, my 14 year old son wants to go to The Reading Festival. He didn't ask, just tells me he is going with a friend and is paying himself. Really not happy and told him he wasn't going. He won't tell me who the friend is even. He is very secretive. I know he has a drink when out but am almost certain he wouldn't touch drugs as it has been a huge problem for one of his cousins and he has seen the damage it can do. But still 14 is just too young, right? How can I stop him going?

OP posts:

HSMMaCM · 11/07/2016 18:56

I didn't let DD go until she was 16. We live nearby in case there was an emergency pickup needed. Some adult friends I know who go every year said it is one of the least safe festivals.

DD told me that there were drugs and theft and tents knifed open etc, but she was with a responsible group and said she never felt unsafe.

In summary, I think 14 is too young.

ArabellaRockerfella · 13/07/2016 00:34

I'm actually not sure they will let unaccompanied 14yr olds into the venue. Check their terms and conditions on the website.
I said no to my 16yr old DD, she can go when she's 18.

bigTillyMint · 14/07/2016 07:12

DD went to Reading last year, aged 16 - after GCSEs and is going again this year. She had an absolute ball. It seemed to be relatively well policed by security, but they were able to drink alcohol that was smuggled in and there were obviously DC doing various drugs.

I would not have let her go aged 14. Too young to cope with all that's on offer/going on at that age.

Savagebeauty · 14/07/2016 07:15

Definitely too young at 14.
Ds going for first time at 17...have told him I don't want to know anything about what happens, except how good the band were

Coconutty · 14/07/2016 07:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

HappyJanuary · 21/07/2016 10:05

Anyone 15 or under is admitted as a child and must have a ticket-holding adult with them.

Unless he's going with someone 18+ he won't be allowed in.

HappyJanuary · 21/07/2016 10:06

Meant to say - mine all went when they were 16. They're all sensible, nice friends and so on, but some of the stories! I definitely wouldn't allow it at 14.

agentmillion · 21/07/2016 15:56

I went 21 years ago when I was 15 with another friend who was 15 and 2 who were 14, all girls. To this day I have no idea what possessed my DP's to say yes.

Dd1 is 14 and there is no way I would let her. Drugs were readily available then, and I'm sure still would be. You are camping surrounded by total strangers, theft from tents was rife, it was easy to lose your friends especially if you were under the influence of anything. I simultaneously love that I went and had wild teenage years and shudder at the thought of it. 16 at a minimum I would say.

SuburbanRhonda · 21/07/2016 16:00

You also can't bring drink in unless you have an 18+ wristband, for which you need ID.

The tickets are well over £200 - were you aware he had that kind of money to spend, OP?

Pringlesandwine · 21/07/2016 16:07

I went in 1999 aged 16. (That makes me feel old!)
Drugs were easily available. Alcohol was easier to find than water. A man entered my tent at night...luckily I was awake....the other tents around me in the morning had all been stolen from.
I don't know what my parents were thinking letting me go.
It was the best weekend ever though with with big group of friends.
However aged 14 with one other friend that you do not know.....I'd be saying no was to your son. And he's 14 so your permission is necessary!

frenchfancy · 21/07/2016 17:47

Another one who won't allow it until 18. DDs friend went last year at 16, they ended up abandoning a drunk friend as they couldn't get her back to her tent, so they just left her in a puddle. It is ok saying they are responsible, but once they have had a drink or 2 they aren't.

VimFuego101 · 21/07/2016 17:53

God no. Drugs are everywhere, and you have to really be careful about locking up your tent and not leaving valuables laying around. If he can't even have a sensible conversation with you about who he's going with, then how can you trust him to know what to do if someone steals his wallet and phone and he's left stranded, or if someone offers him a drink that may be spiked?

Fortitudine · 23/07/2016 17:07

My daughter went for the first time last year to Leeds fest at 17. I'd felt she was too young previously even though she's quite responsible. She loved it, but there's no way I'd have let a 14 year old go.

annandale · 23/07/2016 17:11

I agree with VimFuego, if he's not mature enough to have a conversation with you about it, he is not old enough to go.

panegyricS1 · 24/07/2016 22:43

The cagey behaviour is odd......but even if he were planning on going with a kid you know very well, I think that 14 is too young.

BarryTheKestrel · 25/07/2016 10:04

14 is far too young. Reading and Leeds are not safe festivals for children. Reading has more drugs, tent theft, rape or sexual assult, fights, general nastiness than any other festival I've ever been to. I've been to most of the big ones and honestly, I would never go back to reading again or allow my DC to go until they were 18.

sara4 · 28/07/2016 08:08

Advice please for dd who is 17 and going for first time with two girlfriends. Also other friends in different tents. They hope to pitch tents as 'neighbours'. Is that possible? Have been told orange area safer?

SuburbanRhonda · 28/07/2016 08:12

It's possible if they have early bird tickets because they go a day early and get a better choice of where to pitch their tent.

OP, have you resolved this with your DS?

sara4 · 28/07/2016 13:53

Thank you SuburbanRhonda. Yes she's going early...

bigTillyMint · 01/08/2016 12:16

Sara, yes it is - DD and 10 or so mates all pitched together last year next to a large group of boys and then a couple of other friends joined them. They got there early Thurs morning and are planning to do the same this year. I think it might have been the orange area they were in, or maybe that was the one they couldn't pitch in as it was too boggy....

Mummydummy · 23/08/2016 15:31

My daughter is going with a huge crowd of friends from school at the age of 16. They are all very sensible but its still quite big thing. I do think 14 is too young and as mentioned before they are unlikely to gain admittance without an adult. Its also terribly expensive - over £250 for the full festival so I'd wonder where the money came from (though maybe day tickets are available and cheaper). My 14 yr old son is very sensible but I wouldn't want him to try and cope with it.

booellesmum · 23/08/2016 15:35

DD aged 15 off to her first festival - Leeds - at the weekend. She has day tickets and is going with a friend and friends parents. I would not have let her go without an adult.

FellOutOfBed2wice · 23/08/2016 15:37

I wasn't allowed to go until I was 18, and I was a relatively sensible kid. Who smoked more weed than Bob Marley and took ecstasy for the first time that weekend (went and watched Morrissey with a man I just met called Seb who had a recorder painted in the colours of the Jamacian flag and beads in his beard. To this day I'm not sure if Seb was real or a figment of my imagination).

Anyway my point is, that festival is very druggy. And I wasn't a daft kid but I still took a load of drugs. My friend ended up having to go home because of intense cannabis based paranoia. My DD will not being going until I can't legally stop her!

bigsnugglebunny · 23/08/2016 15:48

Go with him, we used to take our Mum with us to Leeds (every year from 2001 - 2006) had a blast! We all did our own thing during the day and then met up back at the tents every so often. Heck I took my 3 month old baby in 2006! (disclaimer, we are sort of weird)

Crispsheets · 23/08/2016 15:51

Ds 17 is off to Reading
I've asked who I should give his vast designer wardrobe to if he doesn't come back.
I am assuming he will drink a hell of a lot but hope he won't take drugs.

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