<p>What are your kids doing? My daughter wants to go to a resort in Jamaica with several friends. Yay or nay? Do they allow groups of teenagers to stay there? Can anyone share any experiences or suggestions? I believe they wanted to rent a beach house in Delaware but were unable to do so being under age 25. Should I offer to rent it and chaperone?</p>
<p>Jamaica, no. You and few other parents should chaperone. My D1 was invited to a ski house in Colorado with 10 other kids for her graduation. The parents were there plus an activity planner were there. I wouldn’t allow my kid to stay with a bunch of 18 year old without adults there.</p>
<p>Our son will be going to Myrtle Beach, which is where the vast majority go in this area. The house was rented last fall for this June–the rentals in that area for beach week go very fast. Our older one’s group rented in early fall as well. Two parents will be chaperoning.</p>
<p>Is your daughter insane? How on earth did she get almost the whole way through HS without learning that the notion of going to Jamaica with a bunch of teenagers and no parents would be a clear NO GO? Happykid had that sort of thing figured out while she was in elementary school!</p>
<p>No Beach Week in Jamaica or in Delaware for Happykid. Maybe a few days with her pal whose folks own a place at the beach and whose mom (the ex-cop) and dad (the former prosecutor) will be in residence the whole time. Or, maybe a couple of days with city friends at my cousin’s dairy farm in central PA so that said city friends can help feed the calves and put in the garden for the summer.</p>
<p>One of my cousins is following a tradition started in his community: rising Senior gets to pick a place for the whole family to go for a one or two week vacation immediately after graduation. No Beach Week, but kid1 took the family to Spain where she had to actually use all of those years of HS Spanish to get the family around town, and kid2 is deciding between a return trip to Europe, and a trip to the National Parks in Alaska.</p>
<p>I believe Jamaica drinking age is probably 18. Is it really sensible to let 18 17 year old drink at an unfamiliar environment?</p>
<p>This idea came up briefly in my daughter’s senior year. The destination was going to be Cancun…my answer was " no way " and I didn’t hear too much about it after that . I am guessing that the other parents turned it down too.
Any money we / she had went to college , not a drink fest in an island resort. They really aren’t grown up like they want to be, and while we were very proud and happy with her graduation, didn’t need to tempt fate with such a trip…Bad idea IMO.</p>
<p>No beach week here, but D and 3 of her friends went to Disney World for a week. I felt safe with that one; they had all been there before and didn’t need a car to get around.</p>
<p>Regarding Jamaca: two words: Natalie Halloway.</p>
<p>Regarding US based rentals, I may be biased because I own a vacation rental at the Jersey shore and spend a significant amount of my early spring weeding out teen group rentals. I often have parents willing to sign a lease but not chaperone. I say even “good” kids can cause damage without adding the temptations of drugs and alcohol (Football being tossed around, juice spilling) as well as the noise bothering my neighbors.</p>
<p>I did find one mom willing to chaperone. I informed her that I would be local that week so I could stop by, but that group I was willing to rent to. Remember this is a significant investment of money (and in our case sweat equity) so it needs to be treated with respect. Often there may add’l security deposit required for group rentals.</p>
<p>She accepted my loud NO but I want to offer an option or two. We are in Maryland and I have thought of Disney World or renting a beach house or just scheduling a family trip to visit family in Utah. I read about Natalee Holloway on Wikipedia and had to wince when reading that 7 CHAPERONES went with that group. Has anyone else successfully navigated a beach trip for seniors. I honestly think she would be WAY out of her element at an island resort.</p>
<p>Well, I can offer that a trip in the states to a local that does have a party/underage drinking culture (maybe some type of outdoor leadership/outward bound program) is an option I might consider.
The mom who rented our beach house (not in a party town) stayed there and promised me she personally knew all kids and requested parents to check all bags, which she also reserved the right to do also. She stayed on premises and said she had an “open door to all rooms except bathroom” policy.</p>
<p>When my kids have gone on school or chaperoned trips one the things the kids told me was there was a strict in your own room curfew and the chaperones came door to door to check then “taped” them in from the outside, then came by early in the am to remove all said tape and double check everyone. On a spring break trip my daughter did not go on to Italy this month 2 seniors were found drinking, suspended and one was the co captain of her tennis team was kicked off the team. Don’t know yet if it will cause any college admissions to rescind. DD reports that her school is known to “be tough” and will inform colleges!</p>
<p>I would renta a beach house in Maryland or Delaware. Make it a family vacation, but let her invite some frineds (4-6?). You could have nice barbecue and meals for them. They could go to the boardwalk at night, but knowing you are there, they wouldn’t drink and would be home at a decent hour. If other kids parents are ok with it, give them some wine or beer at the house, as long as they don’t drive.</p>
<p>I have just rented a very nice beach front house in Delaware with 4 bedrooms and a huge upstairs loft for the memorial day weekend.</p>
<p>My daughter’s friends also thought they were old enough to go down to South Beach by themselves when they were in high school. The mother made up a business trip to go to, and chaperoned. At one point, a girl thanked the mother because there was just a bit too much persistent male attention.</p>
<p>My friend and I wanted to go to the beach during that week, but didn’t want to become involved in having a house full of rowdy kids with alcohol. We are just renting a hotel room together on a quieter stretch of Virginia Beach.</p>
<p>My d and a few (i.e., less than 10) of her friends went to Canada for a long weekend during July or August. That was good enough for them. </p>
<p>I mention the dates because safety-wise, I think they’re important.</p>
<p>First, in June, predators/criminals are waiting for groups of high school seniors to come unsupervised. They know they’re coming and can be prepared, knowing that at least one group will likely be vulnerable to them. Going in July or August, there are many fewer kids traveling and therefore fewer predators waiting.</p>
<p>Second, in June, even good kids are more likely to get swept away with the “mob mentality” of groups of other high school seniors hanging around. In July or August (don’t remember which), there weren’t any other large groups, and the girls kept more to themselves and their own sensibilities.</p>
<p>This question seems to come up every year around this time. Just say NO. I like happymom’s answer. (Maybe she is happy because she only has 1?) I always tell my kids: “if anyone is going to an island resort it will be me and if life was fair I’d be in a bikini and I’d look good in it!”<br>
DD is graduating from HS this year. We are taking a family trip to Mexico. College boy is bringing a friend. Unfortunately DD’s friend’s parents are freaking out about Mexico and it looks like DD won’t be bringing a friend.
In my experience, many of these trips are “chaperoned” by adults who are drinking themselves. Where were those 7 chaperones on the famed Aruba trip mentioned above??</p>
<p>My kids knew enough not to even ask.</p>
<p>I like ebeees answer!</p>
<p>It doesn’t matter how many chaperones there are if they kids are out at night unsupervised. If you can afford it, I think the idea of a beach house with parental supervision and a limited number of kids sounds like a nice idea.</p>
<p>D and friends went fishing and camping in the Cascades. That was good enough for them. “Beach weeks” are not the norm in my neck of the woods.</p>
<p>OP- I’d go with a family trip and include a few of D’s close friends.</p>
<p>Around here, it is quite common for kids to go on “beach week” trips without adult chaperones, even coed groups. It is so common that my kids assumed (wrongly) that they would also be able to do this. I do think that graduating seniors might be allowed certain unchaperoned trips (after all, most of them will be unchaperoned in a couple of months anyway), but the setting matters a lot. I might let my son go backpacking on the Appalachian Trail with a couple of buddies, but I still won’t let him go to the beach with an unchaperoned coed group.</p>
<p>This topic does come up every year. I remember I weighed in on the 2005 thread (see below) - I said I wouldn’t allow my 17 year old to go on an unsupervised trip with a large group of kids to the Caribbean. Ultimately it wasn’t an issue because most of the other parents said the same thing, and the kids instead went to a classmate’s beach house for a supervised long weekend and had a great time. I still remember one poster (a parent) telling me that I should stop “controlling” my kid, otherwise he would end up being the kid in college passed out (or worse) on the floor on some fraternity. The funny part is that the poster all over my case later posted on CC that they had been in Cancun during spring break, and having witnessed firsthand what went on, would never let their high school kid go on a spring break trip there. </p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/36030-spring-break-have-they-asked-will-you-agree-2.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/36030-spring-break-have-they-asked-will-you-agree-2.html</a></p>
<p>This thread brings back memories of June 1977. A beach house in Ocean City, NJ (dry town, but not a dry house, IIRC). No parents. No supervision. Teenagers behaving badly. We had a fabulous time, but it’s a wonder we all survived. We’re in the midwest now and I don’t think the kids here do “beach week.” If my D asked, I’d probably say no, although I’m willing to arrange a family vacation with several of her friends along.</p>