Would you let your 16-17 year old do this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If I knew the friends personally yes. With what you are describing I really don’t know if I would or not. Have you talked to any of the other parents?

This. Have you met the kids’ parents over zoom? Contacted them independently in some verifiable way. Can you independently confirm who the teens are (e.g., match zoom image to publicly available info that matches their story)? I’d want a lot more info about these friends before letting DD meet them alone out of state. The actual travel logistics I have no issue with. I flew around the country alone or with one similarly aged friend for a HS extracurricular activity. Stayed in hotels where someone else’s coach was technically my chaperone but in reality I was unsupervised. I was a city savvy kid who didn’t give my parents a reason to worry. But they knew who I was meeting up with, that there were responsible adults around, etc, etc.

+2

[Anonymous]

I would let her go but I did the same as a young adult in the early 2000s. Met two other women online from other countries and we all met up on a trip to a fun destination and years later visited each other's homes. We didn't even zoom or anything like it, just chatting about shared interest so we just had photos to go off of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would let her go but I did the same as a young adult in the early 2000s. Met two other women online from other countries and we all met up on a trip to a fun destination and years later visited each other's homes. We didn't even zoom or anything like it, just chatting about shared interest so we just had photos to go off of.

Were you 16?

[Anonymous]

I would fly up with her, meet the friends then let her go to the event. Stay overnight and then go visit a college the next day. There are so many in the Boston area that you should be able to find one to help her on the early college search.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would fly up with her, meet the friends then let her go to the event. Stay overnight and then go visit a college the next day. There are so many in the Boston area that you should be able to find one to help her on the early college search.

This. Make it a mother daughter trip, and after you meet the friends let her do her thing for the day. Do something else the next day and then come home.

[Anonymous]

No.

But I find it interesting that you omitted what the interest and event is. Guessing these details only make it sketchier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No.

But I find it interesting that you omitted what the interest and event is. Guessing these details only make it sketchier.

Another made up post on dcum.

so many fake ones lately

[Anonymous]

All this tells me is you don’t understand how trafficking works. It’s not the wealthy white teens with family at home wondering where they are who get trafficked. It’s the girls who don’t have anyone to buy them a plane ticket or help them get a lawyer.

This is definitely NOT true. Airline staff ask questions or note most teen girls flying solo specifically to catch human trafficking.

[Anonymous]

I went on a 3 day road trip to another city with 5 other teens when I was 16. I knew two of them and the rest were friends of friends. We stayed with another friend of a friend of a friend. It was a fantastic trip and one of the friend of a friends became one of my best friends for the next decade.

[Anonymous]

Lots of people here who are familiar with Boston. What venue is your DD going to ? Have you verified? Is it a conference type event? So, she would be in the venue for the day? I would absolutely go to Boston and at the venue. Safety first.

[Anonymous]

No!

[Anonymous]

I would fly up with her.

[Anonymous]

Kid dependent but ultimately I would probably let them go. As a reference, when DD was 18 (so a little bit older, but not that much older) she got on a plane and flew halfway across the country to spend three weeks with three other 18-year-olds she met who were taking gap year at same college and they had a fantastic set of camping/hiking/road-tripping adventures together. Sure I was somewhat nervous about the situation but it was a really fantastic step into independence and I think having those incremental experiences while they are still home and checking in with you can be really instructive. So if you generally feel good about this group of people, your kid is connected with that sounds like it would be a really fun and satisfying experience for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I went on a 3 day road trip to another city with 5 other teens when I was 16. I knew two of them and the rest were friends of friends. We stayed with another friend of a friend of a friend. It was a fantastic trip and one of the friend of a friends became one of my best friends for the next decade.

Who was driving?

[Anonymous]

Not unless I had the time and inclination to accompany her.