Would you let a 14 year old travel alone?

cazziebo

I think Canada is even more neurotic than the UK when it comes to safety..

My sister is a chef and paranoid about hygiene. I was a bit perturbed to pick up an answering machine message once she'd dropped her kids off at the camp; "The kitchens and showers are immaculate. The dorms are very clean and the staff all seem competent. The forest fires seem to be keeping the mosquitos away."

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

Sorry if that puts you off.! They were never in any real danger and had a great time with cook outs, canoeing in rivers, and sleeping under the stars.

Little_Chicken

I think it's a fantastic opportunity and would be a great experience for her. I agree that parents in the UK seem to have gone bonkers in the last 10 years imagining that there are child grabbers all over the place. I think children today are really missing out on things because of this. Their parents don't let them out - no wonder they're so fat

Anyways I've seen young kids on their own on flights back from the US as young as 10 - usually the airline allocates a cabin crew member to look after them. I think it's the checking out of the Canadian camp that is more important...

boombap

Do you think the activities at the camp will keep her entertained enough?

If she's determined to fly out to Canada by herself she might get pretty bored of toasting marshmallows and singing camp fire songs....

S.

Spendless

AFAIK they're not like cub camps.:D Canadian school summer holidays are far longer than ours. Schools shut roughly from the end of June to early Sept, so quite common for the children to be sent to 'summer camp'. I also agree with cazziebo that any checks are likely to be aa good as or even better than in the U.K.

PolishBigSpender

shays_mum wrote: »

I resent that remark, working in the field of safeguarding children, its got nothing to do with common sense, its about stopping problems before they get to the level that people are reading about such things in the paper.

So why is it that other countries don't have the same level of hysteria about THE UNKNOWN !!!!!PHILE despite having far less control of every aspect of children's lives? Certainly, the newspapers in Poland aren't free of tales of abuse constantly - and our parents are quite happy to let 7 year old children walk to school. Funnily enough, our children aren't being abused around every corner.

Just because we British have structures in place to look after our children (unlike some places i could mention in Europe!)

And these structures are universally failing children. You can see on this thread - a 14 year old (which can join the army and get married in 2 years time!) is being suggested as being too young to fly by themselves! I think most European childcare professionals are universally critical of the UK's approach - which is doing absolutely nothing about the real problem - abuse within families.

that does'nt give you the right to sit judgement & make disparaging remarks. You would be surprised how many philes are around more often than not its family & friends & the people you trust the most who are the ones who do the crime ......

Which proves my point exactly. No amount of CRB checks, ISA checks, check this, check that will put a stop to Grandad or Mum's new boyfriend from abusing a child. Certainly, children are far more at risk from friends and family than from a random stranger!

pandora205

I'd definitely have let my children do this at that age, having checked procedures for unaccompanied children with the airline and that they would be met at the other end. It would be a fantastic experience and build a huge amount of confidence and independence.

Interestingly, I've just discovered that my daughter's boyfriend, now 21, travelled from his homeland of New Zealand to stay with his dad in England every (British) summer from the age of 5 on his own. I was amazed at this when I first heard. On discussing it with his father, it was evident that his son was accompanied from check in and during connections, and escorted until collected at the other end. While I do think this is very young, the son has grown up to be quite a globe trotter and very independent.

PolishBigSpender

pandora205 wrote: »

I'd definitely have let my children do this at that age, having checked procedures for unaccompanied children with the airline and that they would be met at the other end. It would be a fantastic experience and build a huge amount of confidence and independence.

And obviously, checking out the camp as well. All sensible precautions to take, as is checking out the airline - I wouldn't recommend flying with the more 'charter' airlines, but any large scheduled airline should be no problem.

igaveupnowimback

Despite your unfortunate judgemental, presumptious, confrontational and even aggressive attitudes, I would agree with you on one thing PSB. That is that the problems YOU introduced to the thread and made assertions about are more to do with family/relational abuses than external dangers.
The original poster did not say that she feared these things, you really are very antagonistic in your posts, whether it be regarding spelling and grammar, nutritional food or the 'British' way of life as you see it. I have had the misfortune to come across a few of these since yeterday.
It's not the purpose of the forums.
You should change the 'with love' part of your signature since it's obviously not genuine. Why not try to be a little kinder?

To the OP, I respect your dilemma and wish you and your daughter well.

QueenOfTheDesert

Wow! Thanks everyone, and I mean everyone, for your thoughts and views. After reading all the contributions, I realise that all that is stopping my daughter is MY fear, and as with every little developmental step I know I have to let her go even if I don't eat or sleep while she is gone. But that is MY problem and to be honest, if I stopped her from doing things every time I was afraid for her, she would never have learned to walk!

alenax

QueenOfTheDesert wrote: »

Wow! Thanks everyone, and I mean everyone, for your thoughts and views. After reading all the contributions, I realise that all that is stopping my daughter is MY fear, and as with every little developmental step I know I have to let her go even if I don't eat or sleep while she is gone. But that is MY problem and to be honest, if I stopped her from doing things every time I was afraid for her, she would never have learned to walk!

W00p, that's good to know! I think if you check out all the precautions and ask the camp loads of questions (which they must get from every parent!) then you'll feel a little better once you're completely satisfied with their standards of security.