Would you let your 13 year old travel internationally with another family for a month?

[Anonymous]

Yes. Sounds great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would not let my 13 year old go to a developing country for even a day, let alone a month, without one of us there.

Chop chop chop chop chop!!

They aren’t talking about going to North Korea you know. Get your Asian countries straight.

[Anonymous]

I don't think the age is so much a concern, but a month is very long. A week? Absolutely. Perhaps two. A month is a very long time, if they've never been consistently away from home that long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This would be a form of torture for my kid. So no.

Is your kid an adventurous eater? Has he ever done sleepaway camp? Can you afford it?

I agree it’s an amazing opportunity and I don’t think he’s too young to appreciate it.

A form of torture for the family.

Her kid is asking to go so how is that relevant?

[Anonymous]

Nope, too young, too long

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DS 13 will be a freshman next year.

He has a good friend whose parents are from China and his friend and his mother go to China to visit family every summer.
They have invited DS to go with them—it would be a month long trip including Shanghai, another large city in China, and a week in Japan while the mom attends a professional conference.

The boys made a presentation with an itinerary (visiting family, historical and cultural sites, amusement parks, etc.). We had been thinking he was too young for a big trip like this without a parent but it really does seem like it would be a great experience. Of he doesn’t go this summer he could probably go in a year or two, and I’m thinking that he might get more out of it when he’s older. He has never travelled internationally before.

Thoughts? Anything we should consider? It will probably be around $3000.

Honestly, the boys might not go together when they are older. Send him. He can call you if they have issues.
My friend (French) sends her girls, who are younger, all over the world and everyone has survived. Americans are paranoid.
Is it a comfort to know that private citizens can’t own guns there?

[Anonymous]

No
Your DS is way over estimating what being away from home and being taken care of by parents is like. Yes, he will be with their family but culturally that will be very different and he will be alone while his friend understands the language and culture and won’t have the same issues. The mom will parent her DS but she won’t really want to deal and parent yours and I promise she is expecting him to act and be like an adult. You could ask the family for a trial run and have your DS stay with them for a whole week 24/7. If they ball, think about the fact they are saying they would love to have him 24/7 for a month. How do think that is going to work if they can’t even do a week in the US?

Yes acknowledge to your DS how great this sounds, but reinforce what sounds great on paper doesn’t come to fruition and every before trip presentation is perfect and every actual trip is full of bumps and snags never seen on the presentation.

[Anonymous]

Yes I would, assuming i trusted the family. Great opportunity.

[Anonymous]

What an amazing opportunity. If he is asking to go and I trusted the other mother, then it would be a definite yes. My one request would be a daily FaceTime.

[Anonymous]

No

[Anonymous]

Hell no

[Anonymous]

Yes and I would also try to fly over myself if I could, just because it's great to see a country with a native. But I would let him go either way.

[Anonymous]

I said yes, I should add that my boy at 13 was very responsible, as we're his friends. That would be a definite consideration.

[Anonymous]

Not to China. If this were France or Germany or some other country with good medical care and that is not on the brink of major conflict with the US, I would probably be on board with it. But China is in a bad neighborhood (by North Korea and Russia) and has major issues with the US right now. So absolutely not.

[Anonymous]

Mine has done it - both to Poland and England - before he was 13. They had a great time and it was good for the other family to have a friend for their son. Now another family is sending their 13 year old to my house for a month in the summer. The time goes quickly and it was an amazing experience for my son.