Would you let your freshman (14 yo) go to DC with friends and no adult? On metro from Rockville?

[Anonymous]

Absolutely

[Anonymous]

He had a great time! Thank all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honest answer- From Virginia, yes. From Maryland, no.

This is nonsensical. I hope you let the boy go.

[Anonymous]

Yes.

BTW - your kid has time for this? What level of Math is he doing at school?

[Anonymous]

In my boarding school you had to be 15 1/2 to go to the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honest answer- From Virginia, yes. From Maryland, no.

This makes absolutely no sense. Why?

[Anonymous]

My 14 yo DD (who is 4'10" and 85 lbs - so she's tiny), commuted to/from Franconia-Springfield metro station to/from the National Zoo nearly every day last summer by herself.

So, yeah, I'd let her go to DC for the Nats parade if she wanted.

[Anonymous]

I was in middle school when I first took the light rail to downtown Baltimore for the Inner Harbor. On my own. In the 1990s. And didn't tell my parents. It was thrilling and I loved the exploration on my own. When my parents found out they were both impressed and fine with it. The following year they took me to London and let me have a few hours of my own exploration and I navigated the underground to get to a museum on my own. I was 14.

Rockville to DC is a breeze by comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes.

BTW - your kid has time for this? What level of Math is he doing at school?

LOL!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honest answer- From Virginia, yes. From Maryland, no.

This makes absolutely no sense. Why?

My guess is PP is afraid of “teens” (her type of euphemism, not mine) on the Metro, but only if they are the type of “teens” you tend to see in MD and DC.

[Anonymous]

One of my kids yes, the other no. It depends on how responsible and save the kid is. One of mine is socially immature, naive and impuslive-that one would be a no until I see more maturity.

[Anonymous]

As DC residents with three DCs in DCPS who navigate themselves all over with their DC supplied bus passes by themselves, this post is offensive. I hope you let DS go OP, otherwise you are sending a message that DC should fear people who do not look like or come from the same place as him. Get over yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As DC residents with three DCs in DCPS who navigate themselves all over with their DC supplied bus passes by themselves, this post is offensive. I hope you let DS go OP, otherwise you are sending a message that DC should fear people who do not look like or come from the same place as him. Get over yourself.

I, too, am a DCPS parent who has had kids taking public transportation by themselves since 6th grade. However, I am inclined to dial back the accusations of racism. As a rule, kids from the suburbs are not as experienced with public transportation at the same early age as city kids and don't have a lot of experience navigating DC. The lack of familiarity with the metro system plus not knowing where they're going might give parents pause. Sure, some parents are afraid of the "element," but there are other reasons they might be hesitant as well. Going zero to racist without any supporting data is inflammatory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As DC residents with three DCs in DCPS who navigate themselves all over with their DC supplied bus passes by themselves, this post is offensive. I hope you let DS go OP, otherwise you are sending a message that DC should fear people who do not look like or come from the same place as him. Get over yourself.

I, too, am a DCPS parent who has had kids taking public transportation by themselves since 6th grade. However, I am inclined to dial back the accusations of racism. As a rule, kids from the suburbs are not as experienced with public transportation at the same early age as city kids and don't have a lot of experience navigating DC. The lack of familiarity with the metro system plus not knowing where they're going might give parents pause. Sure, some parents are afraid of the "element," but there are other reasons they might be hesitant as well. Going zero to racist without any supporting data is inflammatory.

+1. DC kids have been taking the metro with adults since they were babies; suburban kids not so often.

[Anonymous]

I visited DC for model UN when I was a highschool freshman from Boston. We were allowed to explore if we stayed in groups of 3 or more. There were no cell phones then.

I also rode the T to / from school starting in 7th grade.