High School Students & Spring Break Trips

[monarchsfan16]

A lot of kids I know go to the Carribbean with their parents over Feb or April vacation their senior year and bring a friend, or 2 or 3. The kids spend no time with their parents, and because they're 18 and legal to drink in other countries they spend their vacations smashed. No thanks.
My April vacation? WDW, with my family. Grandparents are even joining us for a day or two. Would love to bring a friend to join the family, but it's family only. This summer I do maybe get to go away with my best friend, and maybe one other person for a few days. Up north. Grandparents will be nearby. And it's only me and a friend or 2 that mom considers to be close to daughters anyway.
I don't get the fascination with the stereotypical spring break. But then again that's totally against how I've been raised. Maybe it's me. But it just seems wrong.

 

[Nuculer]

We are sending my DD, a junior in High School, to New York over spring break as part of a fine arts department school trip. The kids (mostly members of the drama club) will be seeing four broadway plays including wicked.

 

[christineann]

No way, even if I had not watched a news special on those trips (Dateline or 20/20 or some other show). Most of the kids around here go on trips with their families anyway over spring break. My son had no interest in going on the senior trip after high school - as he said, "Hmm, go to a third world country and watch my classmates get wasted and have s-x. Uh, no." He and his sister and I went on our first cruise and had a blast. We plan to do it again when my daughter graduates in 2006.

 

[CamColt]

As long as my kids are responsible enough and can afford it I would allow it. I would have to since my parents let me go to Bermuda with friends when I was 17 and a senior in HS.

 

[antbritt]

LAst year my Ds s Friends all went to CAncun!! What I though were the parents thinking. Oh yeah let me let my 17 year old son go out of the country into another country oh yeah one that is knowwn for Partying! Oh and the Drinking age is 18! So actualy I of course did not let my DS go.
I have a girl who works with me who was 18 also last year and she and her BF went to Mexico for the day ( without her mom's consent) and she and her BF were Arrested !! They were put in jail and if the money to get her out wwas not sent in 48 hours the Country was going to send her to the Mexican Prison where apparently you must provide for the persons food and water or they starve! Furtunatley we were able to get her out. !
So for all those parents that allow their CHILD to leave the country make sure you have the money availabel to Bail them out of jail in another country and be sure to know that there is alwasys a chance for something realllllllly bad to happen. Teenagers and COMPLETE Freedom from supervison do NOT mix well. They do not have the experience in life yet to make the best decisions at times. Heck at 40 I don't always know what the h.... I am doing!!
It is are responsibility to protect our children at all costs and no it does not always mean that the child will be happy with the decision.

 

[Soccer Princess]

My senior year of high school a friend and I went on Spring Break with no parents, but then again we went to Disney World We had a great time and it would have been a shame for me to miss out on that!

 

[pride4pride]

me and my friends are goin to WDW without parents! but we arent those type of kids who party! i dont think we would even consider goin to florida during spring break! but ive been planning for months and my parents said i can go! if i earn my own money and i will! some already! but its all eight of us and i will have my trustworthy friend who will be 18, takin us next year! we will be actually with two 18 year olds but its to spend time with her before she goes to college. so it will be peaceful but we will have fun! not doin stupid bad things that some people do just to have fun! thats all i have to say!
thanks!
btw i think we are all mature for our age!

 

[freckles and boo]

Nope. It won't happen. I have many years before this issue even gets on their radar screens, but no matter how much I trust them I can't say that I would trust the strangers around them. Teenaged girls (and boys, too) can be easily targeted for all kinds of trouble, especially if their guard is dropped because they are drinking. I don't know that I would feel any better about this kind of trip when they are college-aged, either, but at that point they will be adults and legally able to make their own decisions. They will also be legally responsible for the consequences should they do something stupid.

 

[pride4pride]

we have eight people all together goin
we wont be alone at all sticking together like glue!lol
im sure if someone try to attack a person in our group it would be hard to!

 

[freckles and boo]

we have eight people all together goin
we wont be alone at all sticking together like glue!lol
im sure if someone try to attack a person in our group it would be hard to!

Even though I don't think people who are barely adults themselves qualify as chaperones, a trip to WDW holds much less potential for trouble than one to a "party" destination like Daytone or South Padre or Cancun. First of all, Disney World is a relatively safe environment to begin with. You are much less likely to have your drinks drugged or to be hassled just walking to your room. Second, drunk and/or rowdy teens would draw lots of unwanted attention to themselves in a "family" environment. I know I would pitch a fit if I was in a room next to a bunch of noisy, drunk people no matter how old they were. Third, there are plenty of other things to do and enjoy besides wet t-shirt contests and beer bongs. If all your friends have the same goal of having a little good, clean fun then it will probably be a nice trip.

 

[agnes!]

Ask Natalie Holloway's family & friends if they wish things had been different.

agnes!

 

[Buckalew11]

No way.
I went to Myrtle beach with my family in '83 after graduation. It was a zoo, fullof just graduated kids who were drunk, swinging each other from the balconies, peeing in the elevators etc. While we were there a girl died because she was drinking and went over the balcony trying for the pool and missed! Actually, they didnt know whether she was jumped or was pushed!

Last year, one of my client's (college age) friends went on a cruise with girlfreinds and left her dinner table of girlfriends to use the restroom. She came back to her dinner and drink and promptly blacked out. She woke up, naked, in bed with a boy from school who she only knew in name. Of course, he went on to tell her he now knew her very well! She had no recollection of what happened that night. Scary stuff.

And where do these HS kids get the money for these trips? I worked all through school and never had enough money to buy my clothes, pay for my car and ins. and go on vacations too.

My answer will be "no".

 

[Forevryoung]

Last winter a bunch of high school kids from my old high school "faked" a class ski trip (saying there were chaperones and getting "permission slips" signed).

Cops pulled the bus over at a rest stop and several kids were arrested for cocaine possession among other drugs. "Good kids" who totally messed up their futures (they had already gotten into college and stuff).

They don't think at that age of the consequences of doing something stupid... Hay, even college freshmen don't think usually!

 

[pride4pride]

i mean were are really not bad kids! we are not into those kind of stuff! and plus i never drank beer and never plan too! and wet t-shirt contest, are u kiddin me i my friends and me would never do that were not dumb!we just want to experiance disney world and how magical it really is! cant wait to stay at pop! and if ur room is right beside us, u wont have trouble, and if u here us, just knock on the door and tell us and we will apolagize and keep it down!
thank you!
p.s. this not intenede to sound mean just reasoning
and p.s. again, we will be callling our parents like every hour!

 

[pride4pride]

sometimes people think that teens go on trip just to have fun and do drugs and stuff! but we are not gonna do that kinda of stuff u can trust me i dont make wrong decisions! my parents raised a good kid! and i have good friends! p.s. i was on a cruise last year on a school trip...and to tell u the truth it was like watching myself cause u had to have two people with u! and we always looked out for eachother! with all do respect!! im just saying we are gonna make right decisions. we decided to stay onsite cause it would be safer and only got to disney world to enjoy the attractions! i give u my trip report afterwards! which is like in over a year lol cause we arent goin till next year but...planning early is the best so u can save more on money!
thank u for ur opionions

 

[Buckalew11]

pride4pride,
I think if you and your friends can go down to WDW and "act like somebody" than more power to you and I hope you have a great trip. I could have went with girlfriends at that age and been trusted not to get into trouble either because we didn't do that crazy stuff either. However, my parents wouldn't allow me to go alone and now, looking back, I can understand why. We're talking 20+ years ago and the world has gotten crazier. So, my answer will still be no for my own DD while in HS!

BTW, if I was at Pop and you were next door making enough noise I needed to knock and ask you to keep it down, I'd be pretty ticked (& probably would just call security/front desk and let them knock on your door). It'd be better to just plan on keeping down inside the motel room.
Hope your trip is fun! WDW will be fun with friends.

 

[disykat]

My children won't really have money to do any just for fun trips, besides maybe budget camping, until they are financially independent. I doubt they'll be taking any trips knowing that their chance at a fully funded college education will disappear if mom and dad see they apparently have enough of their own money for luxuries like recreational travel!

I will probably be skipping a few vacations myself during the kid's college years, so I don't think it's too much to ask of them.

 

[DawnCt1]

As long as my kids are responsible enough and can afford it I would allow it. I would have to since my parents let me go to Bermuda with friends when I was 17 and a senior in HS.

Just because your parents allowed it, doesn't mean to have to extend the same to your children. Four boys, the youngest is 19, and none ever went on spring break as a high school student. They knew that we would have laughed ourselves silly if they even asked. No one has ever gone during college either. We certainly wouldn't pay for it and they needed their money for books and other stuff.

 

[Kteacher]

I stayed at a Breezes resort in Nassau last year during April vacation week. The hotel was full of HS kids who had booked through TAs that just book HS spring break trips. There were allegedly chaperones, but the ones we saw were always sitting by themselves drinking. All of the activities organized by these TAs involved drinking. We overheard the chaperones bragging about how their kids were doing shots even though they were only 17. We complained to the resort management, and they just shrugged their shoulders. The one good thing was all the kids slept in every day, so the beach was relatively empty until 2 or 3 in the afternoon.

 

[powellrj]

when I logged on this am, this was on the first page and I saw that I had posted on the thread. I didn't remember posting on the thread until I saw that it was from 2 years ago! I re-read what I had posted 2 years ago and still agree with what I said then!