How old to be independent?

[MrsPete]

When the child is old enough to buy his own ticket, he's old enough to go it alone. As long as I buy the tickets, it's a family event.

Seriously though, I don't see this as an independence issue; rather, I consider vacations family time. I don't want to spend the day apart. They'll be out of my house all too soon (though neither of mine is in the double digits yet), and I want the time together now. I'd consider allowing a teen to have a few hours apart in the same park, but I don't want my kids heading out at breakfast with no plans to meet until dinner.

For the same reason, I would not bring along a child's friend. If I'm looking for family time, it seems counterproductive to bring along a non-family member.

 

[tink2dw]

All I know is that at our Walmart ,Portland,OR where they post the missing children signs 12 0f 15 signs were 16 or 17 year old mostly girls and 2 boys!!

 

[I <3 Eeyore]

Those missing kids may very well be runaways. I'm not sure we can make any valid assumptions based on missing children posters.

As for keeping 17 yr olds with you all the time (whether for family vacation reasons or otherwise), I wouldn't do it. My parents took us to WDW every year when I was in HS and I am thankful that my aunts and uncles and cousins always went at the same time. We (the cousins) were allowed to 'do our thing' and the adults were allowed to do their's. We'd meet up at preset times to count noses or move on to the next site.

We were restricted to the same park (WDW was new then so the transporation wasn't as good as now) but we were still allowed a bit of freedom. I think if I'd been tied to them the whole time I would have begged to stay home. My kids and I really enjoy our times together and I'd like to keep it that way by not forcing the issue when they'd rather be by themselves (or with a friend).

 

[house_of_princesses]

I, too think they may be runaways. Or, as in the Smart case, someone they hook up with by means unknown to parents at the time and then get spirited away by someone they think they know. I've heard that the vast majority of missing children have been abducted by a family member or family friend. At WDW, I don't think I'd worry as much about kidnapping as I would some form of assault, and even that would be minimal with all the people, CM's and lack of private spots to "assault" someone. My greatest concern would be the trasport between parks or resorts. That's where one is most open to outside influence, or even getting turned around and ending up where you didn't want to be.

Thanks for all the input, everyone!