Parents, would you let your daughters do this?

[WeLoveLilo05]

I am a known helicopter mom (sorry, my brother calls me this all the time) and I would allow it BUT I would come and of course pay my own way.

Maybe if she was a little older like 15-16 and I knew the parents well, ok.

Kinda weird though, I was allowed out of the country at 16 BUT my mom wouldn't let me sleep over my friend's house 5 blocks away

Maybe you should just disregard my opinion in general, I think my family is a bit odd hahaha.

 

[XYSRUS]

It would not be a problem. For my oldest's 10th bday, we took 6 kids to Kalahari overnight. It was so much fun!

 

[Tina]

I forgot to mention that, yes, parents are welcome if they are paying all of their own expenses and there is room in the van.

 

[Magic Mom]

I am a known helicopter mom (sorry, my brother calls me this all the time) and I would allow it BUT I would come and of course pay my own way.

I knew a mom like this. We stopped inviting her daughter because I couldn't stand her Mom expecting to tag along. It was very awkward to have the mom follow us to the zoo and eat lunch with us. Then at dinner, she didn't have enough money to eat at the restaurant we were going to, and didn't want us to pay "of course" so we ended up at Taco Bell. We were thrilled.

 

[We_Love_Disney]

If I knew the parents and trusted their ability to drive, then that would be okay. However, a lot would depend on who the friends are and what the dynamics between them is. At 9, there were some of my DD's friends that had, shall we say issues in the sharing friends department and her moodiness would cause all kinds of problems. So if the friends are of the same temperament and adventurism then that would be fun.

Can I come too? I miss that so much. Now that DD is 17 and able to drive, parents aren't allowed anymore. It stinks! I guess I will have to wait for ...... grandchildren?

 

[pixiewings71]

Yes, I would. But I would have to know the chaperones well. We let each of our girls take a friend to DL last year, it was president's weekend in 2009. We had a great time with all the kids.

 

[Skatermom23]

I'm also in Northern Va and I don't think I would let mine go that far until were maybe 11 or 12. I probably wouldn't have a problem with kings dominion since it is closer.

 

[december]

I have a ten year old daughter, and wouldn't have a problem with her going. I would want all the details, and I would be especially interested in transportation and making sure all the girls would have seatbelts. My MIL seems to think that sitting in laps and sharing belts is ok, and isn't speaking to me right now (or returning ds13's calls) because I'm such a "drama queen" about silly things like that.............

Dd10's current best friend isn't even allowed to come to our house without her mother sitting here, too (and we went to school together), so don't be surprised if not all the girls can go.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

I would, but then I’m the parent who is always arranging things like this. I’ve only got one kid and we like to go go go. We also find that things are always more fun with more than one along. I drive a bunch of kids to the snowboarding mountain 2 hours away pretty much every weekend all winter. I’ve taken kids to the YMCA family camp, Great Wolf Lodge, and a bunch of other places that are 3 or so hours away.

One thing I always do is go over my safety expectations with the other parent and child before we go. That way if I have a family who keeps a tighter leash on their kid than I do, they can let me know and I’ll do so, if the other family is looser their kid knows what to expect and I don’t have to hear “but my mom doesn’t make me come out the wave pool after each wave session and check in with them”.

The other thing I do is make sure I have relationships with my son’s friends’ parents so I’m not calling complete strangers and asking them to trust me with their kids. Since I’d want my kid to be able to invite whoever they wanted to their birthday, I’d ask for a list now, and if there were parents who I didn’t know, I’d probably invite them to dinner or on a shorter outing now so that we’d know each other.

I should add that I’ve occasionally had parents decide to come along on trips. Whether they’re bored or they don’t trust me I don’t know, but I’m always happy to have an adult to socialize with, so I don’t question them.

 

[dad2t&e]

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

 

[StitchFanZ]

I would let her go but would probably want to come along. But then again I'm the parent that is usually organizing these things. As soon as the kids realize that here is a mom that knows all the best places to stop and take breaks - like places with lazer tag and arcades and such they get excited. I have taken DD and friends to a park 6+ hours away when they were 13 but we were able to spend two nights at my parent house which was close to the park so no hotel. We have also done 3 hours one way to a mall and concert and then 3 hours back home on the same day as none of us wanted to deal with hotels. We had two cars on that trip which I found helped the drivers stay alert as we were taking turns following one another and the girls were texting updates and info between the cars.

Most of the parents here are OK with me taking their kids just about anywhere since we live in a very rural area and its a couple hours to get most anywhere.
One thing I always provide is a sheet of paper with a complete itinerary, planned stops, back up plans, everyone's cell phones, mine, the kids, the parents, and home phones, places I plan to park, what the girls are expected to do if they get seperated from the group, and any other details.
Be sure to pack twice as many water bottles and snacks as you think you might need. Girls eat a lot on road trips.

Also, make them bring car chargers for game systems and if you don't have a built in system, I recommend borrowing enough portable DVD players so there is one player for every two kids. Vegging out on a good movie is a great way to get home. Books on tape are another good alternative. We treat the drive and the destination as a big adventure. If you have this kind of fun now at 9 with her friends you may be pleasantly surprised to find that they beg you to come with them as they grow in their teen years.

 

[mumom95]

My kids are 9 and 10 and as long as I knew the parent going and felt they were responsible I wouldn't have a problem with it.

 

[java]

soend 6 hours in the car for one day? With 3-4 9 year old girls!! You are a good friend to go.

I was surprised when my daughter turned 9 I told her we would take 5 of her friends to Great Wolf lodge. I would bring my sister as another female adult with us. I really expected maybe her 2 closest friends to be allowed to go- but nope they ALL came. One parent even said I could keep her all week if I wanted

I would let dd go but I think that's a long car ride for a day trip. We limit that to 2.5 hours each way with our family. Any longer we stay overnight.

 

[golfgal]

soend 6 hours in the car for one day? With 3-4 9 year old girls!! You are a good friend to go.

I was surprised when my daughter turned 9 I told her we would take 5 of her friends to Great Wolf lodge. I would bring my sister as another female adult with us. I really expected maybe her 2 closest friends to be allowed to go- but nope they ALL came. One parent even said I could keep her all week if I wanted

I would let dd go but I think that's a long car ride for a day trip. We limit that to 2.5 hours each way with our family. Any longer we stay overnight.

Wow, we would have to stay overnight pretty much everywhere we went if we did this. Depending on what we are going for, we will go about 3.5-4 hours, sometimes longer. When we went up for DS's college registration, for example, we did that in one day. We left at 5 am, got there at about 9:30, did the orientation stuff until about 4:00 and came home. I wouldn't like to do this all the time, but once in a while is fine. We have always done a lot of car trips with the kids and they can go about 3 hours without having to bring anything to do in the car, after that we think about bringing the DVD player.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

No way. Especially at that age. Way too young to go so far.

 

[java]

Wow, we would have to stay overnight pretty much everywhere we went if we did this. Depending on what we are going for, we will go about 3.5-4 hours, sometimes longer. When we went up for DS's college registration, for example, we did that in one day. We left at 5 am, got there at about 9:30, did the orientation stuff until about 4:00 and came home. I wouldn't like to do this all the time, but once in a while is fine. We have always done a lot of car trips with the kids and they can go about 3 hours without having to bring anything to do in the car, after that we think about bringing the DVD player.

Well we do longer driving trips- like to Disney and do 12 hours at a time- but nope anything longer than 2.5 is a waste of too much time for us to make it worth a day trip. (knoeble's is our limit right now)
Although looking at colleges will start next summer so maybe that'll change our limit.

Thankfully we have a bunch of stuff within that 2.5 hours. So we can do plenty of day trips. If I lived in the middle of nowhere I might feel differently about it. (aren't your children older by the way? She's talking 8 year olds)

 

[golfgal]

Well we do longer driving trips- like to Disney and do 12 hours at a time- but nope anything longer than 2.5 is a waste of too much time for us to make it worth a day trip. (knoeble's is our limit right now)
Although looking at colleges will start next summer so maybe that'll change our limit.

Thankfully we have a bunch of stuff within that 2.5 hours. So we can do plenty of day trips. If I lived in the middle of nowhere I might feel differently about it. (aren't your children older by the way? She's talking 8 year olds)

Yes, they are now but if you read my first post we let our kids do these kinds of things at the same age. We have been taking the kids on car trips since they were babies and even then 3 hours was an easy drive with them because they were used to it. We don't live out in the middle of nowhere, we live in a major metropolitan area but there is so much to do and see elsewhere but we don't always have a couple days to devote to going there.

 

[java]

Yes, they are now but if you read my first post we let our kids do these kinds of things at the same age. We have been taking the kids on car trips since they were babies and even then 3 hours was an easy drive with them because they were used to it. We don't live out in the middle of nowhere, we live in a major metropolitan area but there is so much to do and see elsewhere but we don't always have a couple days to devote to going there.

Did you take a carload of other people's 8 year olds on a 6 hour round trip? Your kids is one thing- a bunch of screaming 8 year olds is another. That doesn't sound pleasant to me.
I can't justify 6 hours in a car for 6 hours of fun someplace. But that's my family. I am happy that it works for you guys. Not judging just saying it's not my idea of valuable use of time.

 

[aprilgail2]

I knew a mom like this. We stopped inviting her daughter because I couldn't stand her Mom expecting to tag along. It was very awkward to have the mom follow us to the zoo and eat lunch with us. Then at dinner, she didn't have enough money to eat at the restaurant we were going to, and didn't want us to pay "of course" so we ended up at Taco Bell. We were thrilled.

I would have to stop inviting that kid places if the mom expected to tag along- how annoying!

Wow, we would have to stay overnight pretty much everywhere we went if we did this. Depending on what we are going for, we will go about 3.5-4 hours, sometimes longer. .

When my godson was young (maybe 7 ish) we asked him where he wanted to go to dinner that night and he said "Good and Plenty" which is in Lancaster, we are in Long Island NY...we got in the car took a drive to lancaster- about 4 hours....had dinner and drove home....8 hours in a car is nothing for us!

OP I would let my daughter go to Hershey for that trip no problem! She recently went on a 2 day trip for her friends birthday upstate with that kids family. Next year my cousins ex wife is taking her to Ireland for a week to stay with some cousins of ours that live over there. I don't feel the need to helicopter over everything she does!

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

Did you take a carload of other people's 8 year olds on a 6 hour round trip? Your kids is one thing- a bunch of screaming 8 year olds is another. That doesn't sound pleasant to me.
I can't justify 6 hours in a car for 6 hours of fun someplace. But that's my family. I am happy that it works for you guys. Not judging just saying it's not my idea of valuable use of time.

You know, I take my son and small groups of his friends on long trips frequently, and the car ride is actually one of my favorite parts. We lay down the ground rules before we go, but I love listening in on and participating in their conversations, and really getting to know them as people. Some of his friends now know me enough that they know what things I'm interested in and they save questions for me. We've gotten into really interesting conversations about history, and religion, and education and all sorts of other things. My son's 11 now, and often when he has a friend over they are off doing their own thing while I'm doing mine. So, I treasure those moments when we're together.