At 14 with friends during the day. It would be silly not to! My children could walk into DC.

The summer before he started at Gonzaga. He was 14. Metro from friendship heights to union station. He then walked to/from gonzaga. We live in Potomac. You gotta know your kid.

Around 13. I taught him and a friend to use the metro one summer. They would meet me for lunch, go to the Smithsonian, and do whatever.

Yes, from about age 13/14

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We let our DS go down to the Caps viewing party in the street outside the Verizon Center. They were in a group of six suburban HS age kids, sure enough a group of guys tried to take a Caps ball cap from one of them, tried to fight them, and wouldn't let them move passed and out of the crowd. Cells were not working, no police nearby. I guess it was a lesson for them about DC. That type of stuff doesn't happen in the suburbs so they were pretty upset.

PP here. Our DS was there with a bunch of school friends and reported no trouble. I heard there was only 1 arrest.

Cell phones were not working to call 911 so no trouble.

My kids started taking metro to Mazza Galleries from Bethesda in middle school. They had friends in Arlington would metro with them, to tell you the truth I don't know where, the movies and stuff. I trusted the parents.

Starting in 9th grade they would metro to Nats and Caps games.

They are teens so they have no desire to go to museums or festivals.

Staring Junior Year my kids would drive to DC, mostly for sports at Georgetown or Catholic or St. John's.

Anonymous wrote:Seriously? You do realize there are teens who live IN the city who aren't constantly tethered to their parents?

What's the point of living in this area of you don't enjoy the city itself?

I see those feral kids running the streets in DC. Where are the parents? There are many parts are DC that are not safe at all even for adults let alone kids.

Anonymous wrote:We let our DS go down to the Caps viewing party in the street outside the Verizon Center. They were in a group of six suburban HS age kids, sure enough a group of guys tried to take a Caps ball cap from one of them, tried to fight them, and wouldn't let them move passed and out of the crowd. Cells were not working, no police nearby. I guess it was a lesson for them about DC. That type of stuff doesn't happen in the suburbs so they were pretty upset.

PP here. Our DS was there with a bunch of school friends and reported no trouble. I heard there was only 1 arrest.

We let our DS go down to the Caps viewing party in the street outside the Verizon Center. They were in a group of six suburban HS age kids, sure enough a group of guys tried to take a Caps ball cap from one of them, tried to fight them, and wouldn't let them move passed and out of the crowd. Cells were not working, no police nearby. I guess it was a lesson for them about DC. That type of stuff doesn't happen in the suburbs so they were pretty upset.

I don't know what I'll do yet because my kids aren't old enough to think about it yet, but I do remember when I was a kid, if I wasn't allowed to go into Philly with friends (I grew up in Philly suburbs), I would say we were doing something different and go in anyway

Seriously? You do realize there are teens who live IN the city who aren't constantly tethered to their parents?

What's the point of living in this area of you don't enjoy the city itself?

Yes, at age 14 or so for DD who had already spent summers away from home in cities, 15/16 for DS, who now goes to private school and has friends who live there. They also Uber a lot.

One tip I gave them is that if they're on a metro car and someone gets on that is causing trouble or hassling passengers, they are to exit quickly at the next stop and walk down 2 cars and get back on. Neither has mentioned they've needed this trick so far though.

There are so many places in the city they can explore that are fun and with cell phones you can be in touch plenty with them.

Probably around 16, assuming they were level-headed responsible kids.

My 16 year old only just started asking to go, and I have let him. He and his friends ride the metro to different places... stadiums, touristy areas.

If so, what age and what part of DC are they allowed to go?