Senior prom & Wildwood for the weekend

[SydSim]

For those that have allowed their kids to stay in Wildwood after their prom, can you give me any information about that?

DD and 2 girlfriends are interested in staying the weekend. I have no experience with this so I'm reaching out for help. Did your kids go alone and check in by themselves or did a parent check them in and leave?

Any suggestions for lodging, or did most people know someone with a place at the shore already?

Thanks for any advice

 

[mjkacmom]

Dd17 is going to Seaside after the prom. A whole group of them rented a house (signed for by a parent) - it's done already. Last year, a bunch of them (about 50) rented homes in the Poconos because of Sandy, but they're back to the shore this year.

ETA - when I was in HS, my girlfriends and I went to Wildwood for Memorial Day weekend junior and senior year. I honestly can't remember how we paid for it, but our parents didn't come down.

 

[java]

Around here a parent generally rents the place. (braver than I am as that is one big liability!) my son didn't go, they went to Hershey instead after. 3 years ago there was a disaster for one of the parents that rented it, kids trashed the place(a party got out of hand kids they didn't know yada yada yada. $10,000 in damages. ) friendships were ruined over that one.

I am going to strongly suggest my dd follow her brothers choices and not hit up the shore. And yes Seaside is where the kids around here head to.

 

[okeydokey]

My DH did many, many years ago. According to his stories, there was lots of drinking and sex. Well, just drinking for him, LOL, but it was a wild time.

 

[Tiggeroo]

Even here in Ocean City we get senior week kids and after prom. There are kids who are not too wild and just have a good time and there are crazy wild groups. It is less crazy by far here then Wildwood. Very few places here will rent to kids. It needs to be in a person over 21 at least. Some places make parents go and check them in. Be careful. My nephew stayed at a place last year that watched for the smallest (kind of fake) infraction, kicked them all out and then rented it again. Seemed to be a pattern with this place so check reviews. The reason I believe this happened is that they found a place that would rent to them without parents help. The kids were 18 and the place took advantage. You might try to steer them to OC. Less problems. I wouldn't let them go unless they were seniors and then I'd probably lecture a bit first. But in a few months they will be off to college so you have to trust them to some degree.

 

[CT Yankee]

That's pretty much the gist of what goes on at these weekends.

 

[BlovesC]

My friends and I went to Seaside after both junior and senior proms, because A)we were nerds and B)no one wanted to drive further than 20 minutes. Almost everyone else in our class went to Wildwood and spent the entire weekend alternating blacking out with vomiting.

 

[kacaju]

A few of the girls came home with tattoos and body Piercing after my dd's *prom* weekend. She did not go.

 

[kate_wdw]

The kids who already drinking, using drugs and having sex are likely to do so, and those who aren't most likely won't. There's nothing about the Jersey Shore that turns teenagers into lushes or nymphomaniacs.

For the record, I went down the shore for Senior Week with a group of 8 girls. Only one had sex and two smoked pot. None of us drank.

 

[maxaroni]

DS20 wanted nothing to do with it. Many parents seem to rent the homes and supply the liquor. Some in DS's class were arrested for tossing a microwave ou of the window in a drunken state. Also a couple of the houses were busted due to being too loud. DS's concern was if a house was busted all would be in trouble. It's not his scene and not worth the risk to him I don't know any parents that went down. One mom was called to get her daughter as the daughter couldn't handle the drinking, puke, drugs and everything else. Her immediate group was ok but others came in and things escalated

 

[Kim&Chris]

That's pretty much the gist of what goes on at these weekends.

Yup. When my younger sister went to Wildwood for senior week, she ended up calling me at around 2:30 in the morning, begging me to drive down and get her. The group she was staying with got drunk and started trashing the place. By the time I got there, she had already packed her bags and made her way up to the boardwalk to meet me.

It was just too much for her. And she was, by no means, a teetotaler at the time....just that some of the kids became uncontrollable with zero parental supervision and it's too much for the tamer kids to be around.

I don't think this is typical, but definitely a possibility.

 

[CPT Tripss]

Just say no!

 

[SydSim]

Thank you all very much for your replies and experiences.

 

[castleview]

I remember my cousins's doing this and my parents thinking my aunt and uncle were insane for allowing it. They turned out to be right.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

It's like a right of passage. If DD wants to go this year, I won't stop her. She's 18 and has a good head on her shoulders. I don't think she'll want to go because she's not a party girl and doesn't drink. But if she wants to go with a few like-minded kids to spend the weekend, that's up to her. Why penalize her for other's behavior?

 

[njmom47]

Thankfully neither of my 2 kids that went to proms have done that....they've just gone to someone's house around here. Yes, they could drink, but they were not allowed to leave the house. I feel better about that.
There have been kids that rent places in Wildwood though.
DS has his Senior prom and so far has not asked about going anywhere. I would be ok with it though as he is seriously into health and fitness, and is usually the DD when his friends drink. (I know he does drink from time to time though...I'm not dumb!).

 

[CT Yankee]

For all the parents out there who know they can trust their kids, please do not underestimate the power of peer pressure - especially on teenage minds. That is extremely difficult to overcome. I'm sure we can all reflect on our teenage years and recall some episode that involved peer pressure. I certainly can and to this day I am not proud of it.

There is also a false sense of security in taking the keys away - there is much more at risk in facilitating under age drinking:

http://www.providencejournal.com/op...ite-lamb-taking-away-keys-wont-help-teens.ece

 

[mhsjax]

It's like a right of passage. If DD wants to go this year, I won't stop her. She's 18 and has a good head on her shoulders. I don't think she'll want to go because she's not a party girl and doesn't drink. But if she wants to go with a few like-minded kids to spend the weekend, that's up to her. Why penalize her for other's behavior?

Guilt by association. Enough said.

 

[PrincessKsMom]

Guilt by association. Enough said.

While you have a point and I have worried about that, what exactly is the difference between June of senior year and August/September of freshman year at college?

As for peer pressure, just a week ago DD was going to a friends house just to hang out. Well, it turned into a party. Next thing I know, she texts me that she's leaving with two of her friends to come home because she doesn't want to be there because they're all drinking, etc. So I do trust her judgment and I do trust that if she does go down the shore (not to the shore ) she will go with a group she's comfortable with who won't turn it into a drunken binge. And if it should all go wrong, she knows she can call me and I'll go get her. She doesn't care if her friends want to drink, it's when someone passes a comment about her thinking she's better than them or pushing her/peer pressuring her to drink, that she gets up and walks away.

And I don't kid myself that she won't ever drink. But up until now, she's 18 and still doesn't drink. Won't even taste it.

 

[mjkacmom]

While you have a point and I have worried about that, what exactly is the difference between June of senior year and August/September of freshman year at college?

As for peer pressure, just a week ago DD was going to a friends house just to hang out. Well, it turned into a party. Next thing I know, she texts me that she's leaving with two of her friends to come home because she doesn't want to be there because they're all drinking, etc. So I do trust her judgment and I do trust that if she does go down the shore (not to the shore ) she will go with a group she's comfortable with who won't turn it into a drunken binge. And if it should all go wrong, she knows she can call me and I'll go get her. She doesn't care if her friends want to drink, it's when someone passes a comment about her thinking she's better than them or pushing her/peer pressuring her to drink, that she gets up and walks away.

And I don't kid myself that she won't ever drink. But up until now, she's 18 and still doesn't drink. Won't even taste it.

My dd is the same way, and survived a long prom weekend last year with no incidents. I also know the crowd she is going with (the high honor choir kids) , and the parents, and to the best of my knowledge (and this is a town where everyone knows everything), none of them have been in any trouble. As a matter of fact, I think she is too judgemental of other teens, who might party a little, or not get the best grades (because they are not all "losers.")

Anyway, I feel better knowing her long term boyfriend will be with her (who she visits at college, which I am fine with). She'll be off to college 8 months from now. DH and I were much more likely to get in trouble in HS - the most dd has gotten in trouble for was being 5 minutes late for curfew - and she was grounded.