My 17 yr. old asked to go to a Chance the Rapper concert in Baltimore with a friend. We said no.

16 is appropriate to go without adults.
14-15 go with at least one adult chaperone, but can maybe sit away from adult.
birth-13 must have adult present and stay with adult.

I went to my first concert alone at around 16, I believe. I'm 24 now and have been to probably close to 100 concerts of many music genres. The one thing I will say is to have him/her get an actual seat, not standing area/general admission. GA is where the trampling, shoving, and drunks are. I had a major panic attack in GA once from everyone being so close to me and pushing. Now when I go to a concert where I can only get a GA ticket, I make a point to stand at the very, very back. Your child will be worlds more comfortable and safe up in the stadium area where she can have her own chair.

No clubs where when I was growing up, but at 14-15 I would get money from parents, get dropped off at a skating rink/bowling alley/movie, buy pot and acid and hang out with 18 year old boys that trolled the area.

When I was 16 my friend and I were living in Manhattan and due to see a concert. We took the subway to the venue, sold our tickets to the first tout we encountered and then went to a nightclub instead. It was excellent.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At 18, my kids were in college, living thousands of miles from home.

If you can't trust your HS senior to go to a 3 hour concert alone, how are they supposed to go off to school?!

They need to learn to stick together and not to let their guard down. Remember the young Virginia Tech student who was abducted and killed outside of a concert in Charlottesville, VA. She had gone outside of the arena for some reason and they wouldn't let her back in (not sure why, maybe she didn't have a ticket stub with her?). She wound up getting into a car with Jesse Matthews (presumably to get a ride home) and was never seen alive again.

Be careful.

So yes that care was awful. But the chances of this happening are VERY VERY VERY VERY small. There is a higher chance of you and your kid dying in a car accident on the way to the concert than of them being abducted.

I let my 14 year old go to club shows and wait outside. She can only go with a friend and they are not allowed to separate. I was very blunt about how guys can grab at them in a crowd, and what to do if it happened. I told them they needed to buy and drink bottled water only and keep it in their hand the whole time to avoid being drugged.

I will probably let her go to a big venue in the next year or so. Those are harder to navigate, and she would never stop and ask for directions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. My dd is 14 and very mature but I'd never consider doing this right now... probably 18 (?)

I am guessing that she will be one of those kids that live in parent's basement as an adult.

Maybe not that, but she'll definitely be one who needs her mom to email her college professors for her and/or accompany her to her first job interview.

I'm a hiring manager and I've lost count of how many new college graduates bring their moms to their interviews.

Cut the pp some slack. A lot really does depend on the concert. With Taylor Swift you would expect mostly a bunch of tween/teen girls, some with their mothers so a fairly mild crowd. With heavy metal you would expect a less tame group of attendees.

One you might send your own 14 year old daughter to with a group of friends. The other you probably would not.

Anonymous wrote:At 18, my kids were in college, living thousands of miles from home.

If you can't trust your HS senior to go to a 3 hour concert alone, how are they supposed to go off to school?!

They need to learn to stick together and not to let their guard down. Remember the young Virginia Tech student who was abducted and killed outside of a concert in Charlottesville, VA. She had gone outside of the arena for some reason and they wouldn't let her back in (not sure why, maybe she didn't have a ticket stub with her?). She wound up getting into a car with Jesse Matthews (presumably to get a ride home) and was never seen alive again.

Be careful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. My dd is 14 and very mature but I'd never consider doing this right now... probably 18 (?)

I am guessing that she will be one of those kids that live in parent's basement as an adult.

Maybe not that, but she'll definitely be one who needs her mom to email her college professors for her and/or accompany her to her first job interview.

I'm a hiring manager and I've lost count of how many new college graduates bring their moms to their interviews.

Anonymous wrote:Wow. My dd is 14 and very mature but I'd never consider doing this right now... probably 18 (?)

I am guessing that she will be one of those kids that live in parent's basement as an adult.

The security and safety at the Verizon Center during a concert is pretty great in my experiences, so I let her go to them at 14 with friends. No riding the Metro at night at that age, though, so I picked them up afterwards.

Some of the smaller "club" type venues aren't as secure, so for those it was 16. I'm so glad she passed through her YouTube & Vine stars phase very quickly. I was only subjected to attending two of those godawful events.

14-15.

My DD's first concert was Taylor Swift at the Nat's stadium...pretty tame. She was a rising HS freshman. Went with 4 friends and parents dropped off/picked up. Depends on the kid I guess, but I think in general high school freshmen can handle it.

At 18, my kids were in college, living thousands of miles from home.

If you can't trust your HS senior to go to a 3 hour concert alone, how are they supposed to go off to school?!