Anonymous wrote:Alum here. I went to beach week a zillion years ago. Great memories and a great bond with friends. We continued to do Beach Weeks together through college.

DD and DS both went to beach week. If your kids are irresponsible idiots, maybe don't let them go. Each kid had to do a long meeting with parent about check in/check out, liability for damages, drunk driving, marijuana legality, safety, etc.

I refused to allow DCs to go to NC beaches - too far away if there was an accident or injury.

Frankly, I viewed beach week as dress rehearsal for college, both on and off campus living. Learning not to be one of the drunk idiots is a life skill.

+100

My friend with a senior at Walter Johnson has been coordinating with other parents as to who is booking the house, who is staying onsite (or nearby), etc.

My kids aren't into beach week, so I have no direct experience.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Was there a beach week info event this school year?

Do you understand that beach week is NOT a school sanctioned activity? Kids get together and plan the whole thing on their own. It's usually just that kids decide to go around the same weeks - either before graduation or after.

Yet you have MCPD or LE from the beaches who participate in a meeting with mcps families each year.

I cannot believe that there are parents who would not only allow this but plan it. People who just figure on "kids will be kids," or "I did this when I was that age" may feel very different when something goes wrong.

Parents - if you don't do anything to make it happen

it doesn't happen

Anonymous wrote:Was there a beach week info event this school year?

Do you understand that beach week is NOT a school sanctioned activity? Kids get together and plan the whole thing on their own. It's usually just that kids decide to go around the same weeks - either before graduation or after.

OMG beach week was so fun

Was there a beach week info event this school year?

Do students from different HS rent a house together?

The students from each school determine when beach week is based on the graduation date. My daughter went last year and had a great time. Most kids from her school rented houses in the same walkable area. This was important and should be encouraged- you don't want kids driving around to different houses.

A parent stayed a few miles away. The girls in the house (7) only used a car for groceries, but never at night.

She formed great memories- just like I did back in the 90's!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why would you ever book a house for a bunch of minors/underage people to drink in? so idiotic

Most seniors aren't minors.

Right, so they end up with adult criminal records. Hundreds of kids get arrested or cited in Ocean City alone during Beach Week. Mostly it’s for alcohol and drugs. Sometimes it’s much more serious. It’s a wretched environment that should be avoided. Just ask Doug Gansler.

+1,000 - Beach week is a BAD idea. The municipalities at the beach hire extra cops just to manage, and arrest as needed, all the graduating seniors at the beach to celebrate graduation. Your child may think this is the hugest moment of their life, but you know it is not, right? Don't do it.

PP, you know the municipalities at the beach hire extra cops just to manage and arrest the adults at the beach all summer, not just the teens at beach week, right? I've been going to the beach since I was a little kid, and TBH, it's the adults that are the problem mostly, not the kids.

OP, beach week was fine. BCC mom and alum here. I went to beach week 40 years ago and survived. Yes, we drank. Yes, we had sex. We also spent a lot of time together cooking, laughing, tanning, eating at the diner and - reading! (on the beach). Those girlfriends are still my best friends today.

Both my kids graduated from BCC and did beach week with their friends - one in Bethany, one in Rehobeth. One was over 18, one was not yet 18. There are plenty of places that will rent to adults who are having kids stay. In each case, I was not wealthy enough to rent the place on my own, but did chip in a share of the fee.

With both kids, I sat down and explained to them how the lease worked, what they could be charged fees for, damages, etc. We had serious conversations about drinking and the consequences of getting arrested for drunk driving or injuring someone. But, of course, I'd had those conversations over the 4 years of high school, and if I had any concerns about my kids doing something stupid (or the kids they were going with), I probably wouldn't have let them go.

I did put my foot down about NC. I said I would not permit them to go to a NC house as it was too far away for a parent to get to in an emergency. In this case, I was more worried about a car, bike or swim accident than something involving drinking. (I know an adult, who, perfectly sober, broke his neck in a wave and had to be airlifted from the beach.)

Both kids were going away to college, and I thought beach week was an important way to let them get a taste of that freedom before they actually left for college. They'd been to camp before, so they'd been away from home, but they'd never actually lived with other people and had to negotiate all that. If I couldn't trust them by the end of HS, what had I actually accomplished in the last 4 years?

I think the promises I extracted were -- wear your seatbelt, no drunk driving, and no swimming in the ocean at night or in places times where there is no lifeguard.