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

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[quote=Anonymous]Assuming he really really wants to go (sounds like it) and you trust the parents etc. -- I'd say 1-2 weeks max, NOT a whole month. A month is a really long time to be with someone else's family and presumably extended family where you're the outsider and don't speak the language. Plus I know he has his friend there but what if he and friend aren't getting along when they have to live with each other 24-7? I imagine they'll have a great time with each other for 3-5 days and then what if they tire of each other? Well if it's only a 7-10 day trip, he toughs out 2-5 more days and is back AND friend gets some of his relaxing trip with HIS family without having to worry about entertaining your DS.

Sounds like the trip has multiple parts -- Shanghai; another city in China (is it a major developed city?); and Tokyo. Depending on how long they're staying why not allow him to do Shanghai and then fly back (or if that'd only be a handful of days -- Shanghai + other city but then he flies back before Tokyo)? You'd have to do it in such a way as to not inconvenienced the family. I.E. if day 10 falls exactly when they are in the other city far from an international airport, then I think it's unreasonable to expect that they get your 13 yr old back to Shanghai so he can fly home -- so then maybe he flies back to the US when they are already going to be in a major city to go to Tokyo; or maybe he just does Shanghai with them and leaves from there and doesn't go to city #2.

Major developing world/China issue -- how is your DS with food? Will he eat everything the family will eat or will he starve the whole time and/or is he thinking -- NBD China has McDonalds; bc while China has those things, these are massively large cities and he can't expect that people will drive 1 hr+ to get him McDs bc he won't eat local food. Honestly I'd worry about the food situation the most -- will they be eating in family homes or eating out? Cleanliness of eating out etc. I'd talk to the other mom about that. Could be that she will feed her own DS as a tourist (no raw fruits/vegetables etc.) bc it's not like he's been born and raised in China - so she'd treat your DS the same. If OTOH her attitude is -- nah, when in Rome, the boys will adjust . . . then I'd say NO; your DS doesn't have local immunities.[/quote]

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