Should I let my 16 year old go on this Spring Break trip?

[Anonymous]

Today I was approached by my daughter about Spring Break. I will say beforehand, she is 16 and this is her plan.

She was invited by her friend to stay in a beach house for 7 days (Sat-Sat). It will be their whole group of friends. This includes(assuming that everyone invited can come) 6 girls and 4 boys. The boys are the kids invited by the girl's older brother but considering they are just a year apart, all 10 kids know each other and hang out. At the beginning of the trip there will be 4 adults. Come Monday, there will be 2.

As far as paying for anything. We do not have to contribute to the cost of the house they are renting. We do have to contribute to groceries. For transportation we need to provide that. It may just so happen that she could catch a ride with them going down there, granted they have space, but if not then it's up to us. We would also need to go pick her up as well. There is also the possibility that another person will drive and we would just have to contribute gas there. For me though, I'm not comfortable with her driving her car 5-6 hours away.

So my question is this, is it a good idea? I've known the girl's parents for years now. I'm not incredibly close with them but our kids have played sports and went to school together for almost 5 years now. I'm just worried about this 10 kids, 4 boys thing! That's a lot of teenagers for 2 adults to handle I think. I don't know if they will be able to properly supervise. If I do allow her to go, I'm thinking $150 spending money? They will be at the beach most of the time and I will buy some groceries to contribute before they go.

[Anonymous]

That's not a lot of adult supervision for horny teenagers at the beach.

Will there be condoms?

[Anonymous]

Hell no.

Spring break trips are for college. What is the hurry?

[Anonymous]

Recipe for disaster. No way.

[Anonymous]

No. Regardless of the number of adults there, kids will be kids, and IMO, 16 is too young for a coed spring break trip.

[Anonymous]

sure. If you can't trust her now, then you're already screwed.

[Anonymous]

Wow you are crazy even considering this. Glad ou weren't my mom.

[Anonymous]

No. Hell, no. There isn't enough supervision.

[Anonymous]

Would worry about safety, drinking, driving w teens, swimming without a lifeguard, etc.

[Anonymous]

I'd worry about sex! No way.

[Anonymous]

I would talk to the other family about sleeping arrangements and plans for supervision. If I got blank look, I probably would say no. If the other parents could articulate, "Curfew will be 11pm. Boys in one room, girls in the other. I am a night owl so I am going to outlast their ability to sneak around. No alcohol and no drugs allowed -- violators will be sent home with no excuses or explanations heard." I might be more inclined to agree to the trip. It would also depend A LOT on the other kids being invited. If one of them is a known trouble maker, then my answer would be more likely to be no.

[Anonymous]

No. self explanatory

[Anonymous]

No way. Have you not heard about seniors' grad night? Annually, local high school graduates (much older and more mature than your daughter) drive out to the beaches and kill themselves. You are insane to even consider this. Our local high school principal recently addressed this for the upcoming graduates - 17 and 18 - and said "NO NO NO NO". If your "child" asks you about it and says "everyone else is doing it" they are not and parents will carry the liability of the kids that their child kills driving drunk. Just go to youtube and look at some of the videos of the kids jumping off of decks of beach houses and breaking their necks.

[Anonymous]

Absolutely not. Once when my 16-yr old sister got a "yes" from my mom about a co-Ed camping trip (mom was veery naive) my sister wailed back "don't you care about me?!!!"

[Anonymous]

I'm really surprised at the responses to this.

It seems reasonable to ask the parents more about what kind of supervision and rules there were be.

When I was 16, I went on a Spring Break trip to France -- we had supervisors, of course, but a LOT of freedom.

I also worked summers at a summer camp ... a lot of freedom there, too.

Not all 16 year olds are idiots, PP's.

OP -- I'd ask the parents more and also think about your daughter as a person. Is she likely to get into trouble?