Crying and more crying and she hasn't even gone yet!

katepnlo

I agree with the opinions already stated here. She's a big girl!
I have children. One 16 year old girl. I would be pushing her out the door,handing her her bags and waving her off with a massive smile It's all experience for them! discover life,independence. All skills for the feauture.

When I opened this post I thought it was a post about a child leaving home/ going off to uni.

Your job as parents is to encourage! Encourage,teach, help her grow into a well rounded, confident young women. Encourage her to grasp opportunities with both hands. She should be running forward at this stage in life, with you smiling in the background. Not half jogging, turning back to keep an eye on her parents who are tagging along behind distracting her.
Let her enjoy this fully, she doesn't need to be a child worrying how her bloody parents are coping.
It's two weeks

kingfisherblue

OP, please be assured that the Guide leaders are responsible, trained adults. We're not allowed to just take the girls away - we have to undergo training first. We have to undergo training just to be an assistant guider, so you can imagine how much more involved it is when you want to take the girls abraod. It isn't done at the drop of a hat. It is well planned and organised, and Girlguiding have good insurance, as well as plans in place should anything go wrong.

Instead of you and your wife concentrating on your own feelings, perhaps you should consider your daughter's - she is probably very excited, but maybe a bit nervous and scared herself. It is a wonderful opportunity for her, and I admire the Guiders for taking their girls abroad. I'm a rainbow leader and Brown Owl, and like all leaders, I volunteer my time, but I wouldn't go abroad with my girls and leave my own family behind.

It might also be worth pointing out that if you transfer your fears to your daughter, she won't enjoy herself as much because she will be worrying about you. Give her this chance to have a fantastic trip, ask her to take lots of photos, and encourage her to have a great time. Think of her, not yourselves.

trailingspouse

If you love them, let them go.

thorsoak

My daughter was 22, married for just 6 months, when she told us that her OH had been offered a promotion which would mean that they would be moving ....... to Singapore.

His parents were opposed to the move and had we too been against it, they might have buckled under parental pressure and stayed put - but we gulped, swallowed any misgivings we might have had, and waved them off - I cried all the way home from Heathrow.

Nearly 20 years later, he has a very successful career, they have two great teenagers who have experienced far more than they would have done had they stayed in their parents home-town (which is so far down the scale of prosperity that it is scraping along the bottom, but high up on the crime/drugs scale). DD has restarted her own career, we've seen far more of the world than we would otherwise have done.

We've lost out on seeing more of our grandchildren, but we still have built a great relationship with them all.

You have to let go sometime .

Cherry_Bomb

Jeez it's the Guides not some wild groupie following a rockstar to the other side of the world.

Poor thing will feel terrible if she's sees her parents hysterical at the airport. Hopefully your wife will have pulled herself together by Thursday

Errata

A mother I knew would behave like this, because everything - every single thing - was always all about her.

Muscle750

Firstly the OP wants to get a grip our daughter went off to Uni the other left home and got married all in a year both now live 30 mins drive away it is strange at first but the OP daughter is coming back if they carry on like this they won't get any thanks for it later on when our son decides to leave home now aged 27 £45k a year and pleads poverty I'm going to change the locks not tie some elastic to him

zaksmum

Of course you have to let them go.

No good weeping and wailing because the poor kid's going away for a mere 15 days for God's sake!

Think back to when you were that age, OP. The world seemed fresh, exciting, full of promise and adventure.

If you'd had the opportunity your daughter now has, how would you have felt about your mother carrying on in this ridiculous manner?

looby75

bloody hell I'm pleased that I got a more sympathetic group of posters when I posted my "omg my first born is leaving for the first time" thread.

balletshoes

looby75 wrote: »

bloody hell I'm pleased that I got a more sympathetic group of posters when I posted my "omg my first born is leaving for the first time" thread.

were you "crying and crying" and refusing to go see them off?