<p>Jamaica (or any foreign country) – with no adult supervision? NO WAY, NO HOW!!!</p>
<p>I did let my son drive from Phoenix to Southern California with two of his friends to go to Six Flags, but they stayed with the family of one of the friends, who had rented a house there for the week.</p>
<p>This smacks of overindulgent wimpiness. I can’t believe the OP is even serious about this!</p>
<p>Like I tell my kids all the time, “Your character is more important to me than your happiness”. </p>
<p>Sheesh.</p>
<p>This topic came up in our house in December. Several ( like 16 or so) of D’s friends talked about renting a house for beach week (Ocean City, MD which is in driving distance for us). I wasn’t crazy about the idea, but they weren’t very organized and the plans fell apart, so I was off the hook. D went on a cruise during spring break (got a good deal and this is her graduation gift) with her 3 best friends ( and 2 of the moms). They had a great trip.All agreed that this is in lieu of any beach week in case the topic comes up again.</p>
<p>For an example of what “can” happen to unsupervised few days away with friends.
Two years ago about 20-30 from the graduating class of nearby HS rented a house for 4 days for an ungodly sum of 10K, yes, 10K.
Alcohol and who knows what else was consumed, two boys decided it would be “fun” to jump off the roof of house. One broke both his legs, the other had a head injury.</p>
<p>alot of kids at my school go rent beach houses or something for the week. i personally would rather not. im guessing most of my friends who do drink and stuff aren’t that fun when inebriated.</p>
<p>what i want to do is take my gf on a trip to new york or something. neither of us drink or anything, and we’d pay for it ourselves (hoping only to use some of dad’s hotel points somewhere). I’m pretty sure my folks and hers would be ok with it. We’ll have been together for over 2.5 years at that point, and they both know we’re mature.</p>
<p>besides, your kids are going to be going off to college in a few months after graduation. if you don’t trust them when they graduate, how do you plan on trusting them a few months later to live on their own and make good decisions? do you think there’s going to be a great big difference between the time after graduation and the few months later when they go off to college? big graduation trips for presents aren’t neccesary, but if your kids are going on their own dime, you might as well let them go. you have to at some point. just hope that they know to stay away from doing stupid things. if your kid’s gonna do something stupid during beach week, odds are he/she would have also done something equally stupid off at college.</p>
<p>Hmmmm. Does Natalie Holloway ring a bell? I don’t think my kid will be traveling unsupervised in the Caribbean (or Virginia Beach for that matter) with a bunch of 17 and 18 year olds anytime soon.</p>
<p>and how many natalie holloways have there been?</p>
<p>things like that happen in the real world. hell, they probably happen even more often in the real world than on resort islands designed to cater to every whim of rich white people. don’t think that your kid is gonna get murdered. if you do, you might as well keep them locked in their rooms all their lives.</p>
<p>Another Marylander here. We haven’t ruled anything out yet. </p>
<p>If 2010 Son gets to go to Beach Week (OCMD or Del) he would be the third generation in my family. NOT going would make him the first out of grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins to stay home. </p>
<p>Don’t misunderstand me. Family history does NOT make something an imperative. But, having BTDT ourselves, and seen it done over and over since, the prospect is not an automatic “no.” </p>
<p>It’s a “we’ll see.”</p>
<p>“and how many natalie holloways have there been?”</p>
<p>Unfortunately, far, far more than has ever been reported. Thousands of teenagers turn up missing every year and many are never heard from again. Others have turned up – after they’ve been abducted, raped and robbed. Sorry, like I said, my daughter isn’t going off on an unchaperoned (likely drunken) binge with a bunch of other teenagers 2,000 miles from home. She’ll have a chance to do that when she’s living on her own.</p>
<p>and what’s the difference between the summer and when she’s in college?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Mdoc: I probably was at a party at that house! I graduated in 1977, and as a teen Ocean City was always the choice for wild summer weekends. Dunes Till Dawn? Was that the name of that big club over in Somer’s Point? </p>
<p>OP: No, I would not let a HS graduate go to a resort with no adult supervision. But then I’ve turned into a mean mom who won’t allow her kids to rent hotel rooms/suites on prom night (which is very common in our community).</p>
<p>S1 and 5 friends (all guys) went to the beach after graduation unchaperoned. The house is owned by one of the boys parents. The location (about four hours fr. home) is not a big “party beach” where the after grad. crowds would flock, really more of a family beach.<br>
They came home very sunburned but all in one piece.</p>
<p>S2 went camping with a friend after grad.</p>
<p>I grew up in MD and now live in VA. “Beach Week” is pretty common here. I went to the beach after graduation (to OC, MD) - not the greatest idea as we were not all that well-behaved, but we weren’t terrible either. OK, we were sort of terrible, but it was a blast and it turned out ok (luckily).</p>
<p>Son started out wanting to go with a huge coed group of 25 kids to Myrtle Beach - we were not thrilled and fortunately it fell apart before we ever had to make a serious decision about it. Now there is a group of 10-12 boys going with a Dad chaperone to a quiet area of the Outer Banks for a week. Is it perfect and am I thrilled? - Not really. I will be very happy when they are home safely. We will also discuss smarts and safety (again!) and speak with the Dad again before departure as well as give him medical permissions, etc… (not even for stupid stuff, but son has been known to get ear infections needing antibiotics on vacation and such).</p>
<p>Anyway, while I am not thrilled, it is something I can accept, and we have agreed to let him go. Son will be 18 and leaving for college 2 months after that trip with virtually no supervision so I am trying to begin “letting go.” It is hard.
I would have rather taken a few friends on a trip with us. I would not allow him to go to Jamaica or Mexico or out of the country for a group beach trip at this point.</p>
<p>another Marylander. S is in doghouse and will not be going anywhere for Beach Week. I’m glad I won’t have to worry.</p>
<p>“and what’s the difference between the summer and when she’s in college?”</p>
<p>one or two, (or possibly even three or four) more months of emotional and intellectual maturity that may mean all the difference</p>
<p>You guys are all scaring me about beach rentals in Delaware and Maryland. When do most of those kids do the beach rental? Not the Memorial Day weekend, right? I am looking for a quiet weekend, eating crabs.</p>
<p>Maryland high school graduations typically occur June 1 - 20. “Junebugs,” as they’re called, invade OC and the Delaware beaches for almost the whole month. (One week at a time.)</p>
<p>The Maryland State Firemans Convention holds its annual convention in OC for one week, starting the second Saturday of June. </p>
<p>I think there’s a Harley convention in May. Not Memorial Weekend, but in May. If I’m wrong, I’m sure somebody will set me straight.</p>
<p>I’ve heard that what’s the difference between summer and college more times than I can stand. The difference is that the recent HS graduate is still living in my house, on my dime, and in many cases under 18. It’s called parenting. Don’t even get me started on that high school kids renting hotel rooms after prom thing.</p>
<p>No such thing as beach week around here. Kids may go to family cabins for prom/graduation weekend but that’s about it!</p>
<p>Glad that there’s no such thing around here!</p>
<p>As an alternative, after one of mine graduated we decided that a week’s cruise was in order to celebrate all the hard work, blood, sweat and tears of the last 4 years. And we decided that our daughters could come along… 4 moms, 4 girls. It was a blast. They took different shore tours some times, some times we all went together. We weren’t in their faces but we were there. Cruise line rules took care of the alcohol question.</p>