Allow young teen to go to the beach with friends (and parent chaperone)?
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Anonymous
| My 13 year old son has been invited to go to the beach for 4 days this summer with a friend. The friend’s dad is chaperoning and there will be 4 or 5 13-14 year old boys. I know the family pretty well and my DS is responsible, but I am unsure about this trip. The host child is a good kid but can be a little impulsive. The dad is very nice but sometimes seems a little permissive. DS is close with most of the boys going and really wants to go. Would you allow this? |
Anonymous
| Quit smothering him. He will resent you if you don't let him out of the nest. |
Anonymous
| Probably fine but it’s weird only one parent is chaperoning. |
Anonymous
| It depends on how much dad will be supervising. |
Anonymous
Not always. I have health issues so my husband would do something like this. |
Anonymous
| We let our 13 year old go on a similar trip and he had a great time. Lots of junk food and late nights. |
Anonymous
| Would not worry me the least. I'd let him go. |
Anonymous
| I’ve done this (though DH and I were both there) and the kids were well behaved and had a ridiculously good time. These were BFFs of several years. |
Anonymous
How would you know before you let your kid go? We take lots of kids to the beach with us. We go most weekends. Over the years we’ve probably take. 25 different kids. No parent has ever said no or even asked what we would be doing. |
Anonymous
| Absolutely, assuming your kid’s a good swimmer. |
Anonymous
| Wish parents like this would invite just one friend. Take one friend at a time. No need to make it chaotic. Certainly increases the risk. |
Anonymous
| Yes after a water safety lecture |
Anonymous
| We’ve done this (both hosted and sent our kids) although with slightly smaller friend groups — more like 3-4 kids. It’s a lot of fun and usually involves a lot of pizza, video games, ice cream and some beach time. If you have specific questions I think it’s okay to call the parents. I specified we wouldn’t have any alcohol in the house and that we’d be monitoring the kids, not like working remotely and letting them free range. That said, k didn’t watch them all the time. If they wanted to walk a block to the ice cream shop, that was okay. I would want to know if your kid is not a good swimmer or has never been to check before -/ you should talk to your kid about how waves can be stronger than they seem, etc. they will probably spend a lot of time playing video games. |
Anonymous
|
It’s perfectly fine. I think the ratio isn’t perfect, adult-to-kid.
But it should be fun! |
Anonymous
| DD, 13, has gone on similar trips with one parent. If you know the parent and trust them, it should be fine. Kids need to be kids. Lots of junk food etc. but good memories for your son. |