Parents, would you let your daughters do this?

[Tina]

I'm not a parent, but I'm helping my best friend plan a birthday party for her 9 year old daughter (she's like a daughter to me, we're very close). Every year for the past 3 or so, we've had the over-priced party at the local roller rink. We're looking for something new and fun.

My idea this morning was to have her invite 2 or 3 friends for a day trip to Hershey Park. All of the girls will be 8 or 9 years old. I would go along as well to help supervise (and have fun!). We live in Northern Virginia, so the drive to Hershey is about 3 hours and across state lines. I know it sounds like a long drive, but its not uncommon for families around here to make daytrips up to Hershey. We leave at 7am and head toward home around 5 or 6pm.

So my question to the parents of the DIS: would you allow your child to go on this trip? I'm just curious, since it does take the kids out of state, what you would think.

 

[Magic Mom]

As long as I knew the family and the parents had a good travel and chaperone plan, then yes.

 

[freckles and boo]

Probably not unless I knew the parents very, very well. Even then I would prefer they spent the night in a hotel. Six hours on the road plus a full day in an amusement park is asking a lot of even the best kids. If you do decide to do it, be sure there is an even number of girls in all. Nobody wants to be the odd kid out who has to go on rides with an adult.

 

[DawnCt1]

Yes, its out of state, not out of the country. We live very close to the state line and many of the activities that the kids were engaged in growing up were "out of state".

 

[paintnolish]

Since it is a small group, and if I knew the parents (like if dd had played with the bday girl several times outside of school), I'd be fine with it. Sounds fun!

 

[LisaNJ25]

yep, I would. My 10yo dd just went to weekend ago to the shore with her friend for the friends birthday. Another girl went also. They ended up on a dolphin watch board ride.

 

[stsomewhere]

I would make sure that there was an even number of girls. That way everyone has a riding buddy and no one feels left out. If the birthday girl likes roller coasters/ thrill rides make sure the girls invited will want to ride them, too.

 

[JerseyJanice]

It sounds great as long as the birthday girl will be content with having only two or three girls. Different towns/neighborhoods have different cultures. I don't know what age her classmates cut back on parties.

After a certain age, kids want smaller gatherings and don't get invited to as many parties. But honestly it's older than 9 for boys around here; I'm not sure what age for girls. When he was 9 (still single digits), I was still throwing big birthday parties for my son with 15 or so kids invited. We've cut back on the number every year, and in a couple of weeks, he will celebrate his 14th birthday with his 3 closest friends and one cousin.

 

[brockash]

As long as I knew the family and the parents had a good travel and chaperone plan, then yes.

I agree. I have an 8 year old ds, and if it was one of his close friends; I'd let him. The closer/better I knew the family the easier it would be for me to say yes. If I didn't know either parent very well, then I wouldn't allow my kiddo to go.

 

[Magic Mom]

I would make sure that there was an even number of girls. That way everyone has a riding buddy and no one feels left out. If the birthday girl likes roller coasters/ thrill rides make sure the girls invited will want to ride them, too.

That's a good idea. An odd number of girls together is never a good thing.

 

[golfgal]

Yes I would let them go. We knew all of our kids' friends' parents and there was only one set of parents we would not have let take our kids on something like this. I think DD did do something like this when she was about that age now that I think of it.

 

[Tina]

I'm glad to see lots of positive replies. We had already discussed the even number issue. We all know what its like to be the odd one and I don't want to see that happen either. Her previous parties have been fairly small groups to the roller rink. She usually invites the max of 8 for the party arranged and about 4 to 5 show up. It seems to be the same one consistently showing up each year. Sometimes the parents hang around and sit with us to watch the girls skate, others have just dropped off/picked up.

We also considered staying overnight, but thought that might be a bit much for their ages and also increases the price of this party quite a bit.

 

[Tinkerbelle's Mom]

I think it sounds like a great idea!

The drive is not that bad, I have done it several times. Just be sure to have munchies in the car.

I would second the reccomendation of even numbered girls and be sure to check that the girls invited all like the same type of rides the birthday girl does.

Even at 9 my dd is not much of a coaster fan plus she still is too short to get on some of them.

So you may want to make sure the girls are tall enough to ride the rides.

 

[Rora]

As long as I knew the family and the parents had a good travel and chaperone plan, then yes.

I'm not a parent but I agree with this.

 

[mhsjax]

It sounds great as long as the birthday girl will be content with having only two or three girls. Different towns/neighborhoods have different cultures. I don't know what age her classmates cut back on parties.

After a certain age, kids want smaller gatherings and don't get invited to as many parties. But honestly it's older than 9 for boys around here; I'm not sure what age for girls. When he was 9 (still single digits), I was still throwing big birthday parties for my son with 15 or so kids invited. We've cut back on the number every year, and in a couple of weeks, he will celebrate his 14th birthday with his 3 closest friends and one cousin.

My kids prefer a small group and they are 13,11,and 9. It is a good thing that they do, I will not do large birthday parties, just isn't something I want to involve myself in so they really didn't have a choice I know a lot of people do them, I just don't.

Back to the OP question, I would let mine go if I knew the person really well. We live 3 hours from WDW and take day trips, so the travel isn't a problem as long as I trust the parent.

 

[Colleen27]

I would. We're in SE Michigan and trips to Cedar Point - about 4hrs away and well into Ohio - aren't unusual for older kids.

 

[Gasface]

I have 2 daughters 6 & 9 and I would have no problem with my 9 yr old going.

As many PP's said as long as we know the family well and we trust and feel comfortable that our child will be supervised as we would then absolutely.

The more pressing issue for me here is would I be out of line asking if I could go too?

Why should my daughter get to have all the fun?

I wanna go to Hershey Park for the day too!!

 

[rie'smom]

Sounds like a blast! I would have let any of my 3 kids go to a party like this if I knew the parents.

 

[Christine]

Would not have been a problem for me when my DD was that age.

We often did daytrips to Ocean City, MD or Fenwick and took a friend and it was great fun. I'd actually prefer a daytrip then having the whole hotel thing going on.

 

[Twins]

I guess I am the mean mommy that would say no. My daughter turned 9 in May and I would not let her go even if I knew the family well. We would politely decline the invitation.