<p>I paid for my senior vacation in Myrtle Beach with my then bf and a few friends. We all worked and split costs. We were all FAR from spoiled or rich.</p>
<p>Coolweather, I agree for the most part. But there was no absence of “hooking up” - that was a large part of our teenage focus. I don’t think that fascination was absent then. Yes, people still drugged drinks. I was CONSTANTLY warned by my parents. We had Frederick’s of Hollywood…</p>
<p>I understand that the electronic age has magnified all of this - but it was plenty present 20-30 years ago. I found enough trouble - way more than my kids have.</p>
<p>@megpmom - I don’t know how other kids do it, but S1 paid his own way in 2010 through gift money and a job with the U.S. Census Bureau. The trip was through a company that ran a bus from here to Panema City Beach, FL. for kids to stay in a designated condominium. The company advertized through his school but the trip was not sponsored by them. I don’t remember exactly how much he paid but he did share a penthouse condo with 5 other boys. I don’t think he saw the beach at all - he was too busy watching the entire Star Wars saga and staying out all night. But it was his money and his trip. And for the record, none of the kids he traveled with were overprivileged, spoiled or rich and all of them earned at least some of the money for the trip themselves.</p>
<p>Fwiw, coolweather, I’ve seen pictures of my mom and her friends from the 70s. Most people I know my age wouldn’t be caught dead in the micro mini shorts and skirts they were wearing. </p>
<p>And yes, drinks were spiked even then.</p>
<p>My son made it home from Ocean City - - all in one piece and without any legal trouble. I’m relieved. The cost was $325 for the housing for the week . . .so I do think it is affordable. 6 kids stayed in a two bedroom condo with a pull out couch. </p>
<p>I have to say that before moving to MD three years ago, I’d never heard of such a thing as Senior Week, but it’s very traditional here. Even very conservative parents seem to let their kids go . . .</p>
<p>For those of you who asked, yes, my daughtyer and her friends made it home from Ocean City and had no problems whatsoever. And to answer another question, yes, my daughter did pay her own way from her own money. There were 5 girls in there aprtments and it cost $235/girl. The place they rented had its own security which I am told a lot of places have for senior week. I think it as a great experience for her. Yes, I know some kids are totally out of control when given the opportunity, but I knew my daughter and trusted her to make safe choices. I am not naive - I would be that some drinking went on. I have seen their pictures from the week and it looks like they hung out with a lot of kids from their own high school, spent a lot of time on the beach and boardwalk, rode the rides, etc. I know I amdde the right choice for my daughter.</p>
<p>So glad to see that most people are saying ‘no way’! Some senior trips might be ok. Much depends on the group going, their history, where they are going… but even with ‘good’ kids, things can get out of hand more than even they realize. A large group of unsupervised teens, free for the first time, and celebrating is a recipe for problems. I also agree that even with supervision, you really have to know what those adults are like, some of them are bigger partiers than the kids, or simply have very different views of what supervision means.</p>
<p>I will say I am glad we are not from the part of the country that does this so I don’t have to make a decision. BUT… I think my answer would have been yes - my dd is a reasonable responsible 18 year old that will be living on a college campus in 6 weeks.</p>
<p>We lived in Maryland when my D1 was a baby and I remember Beach Week stories then, perhaps in the Washington Post. At that point I decided we would take a mother-daughter trip to replace Beach Week. For years she knew Beach Week would not be on her plans. We took a trip to Rome, and built great memories.</p>
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<p>Boom. You wrote exactly what I was thinking. If my kid is mature enough to save and pay for this week, then perhaps s/he’s mature enough to go.</p>
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<p>If kids are unsupervised at a beach week, what’s keeping them from co-ed’ing whenever they feel like it at each others houses?</p>
<p>When I graduated HS, the drinking age was 18. Any kind of beach week drinking we’d done, had NYC kids done a beach week back then (never heard f it, even at my private school), would have been totally legal. The 21 drinking age does add a pretty huge element of risk.</p>
<p>One thing about my S1’s trip is that most kids traveled there and back by charter bus and few had access to cars - from where I sit, there is only so much trouble kids can get into without motor vehicles and it was a load off my mind.</p>
<p>It also depends on the culture and time. Twenty, thirty years ago teens did not have hookup culture, deadly seducing drugs to put in drinks, Victoria Secrets, sexting,… </p>
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<p>20-30 years ago, teens most certainly did hook up. My cousin, who attended an all girls parochial school, and who was not what I would have termed a skank, got pregnant on her senior beach trip … in the early 1980’s.</p>
<p>^ I really, really don’t understand why so many people think my those 20-40 were so chaste and pure. </p>
<p>Yes, there was no sexting. But there was also very little fear of STDs, more drunk driving, etc. Teen sex (with multiple partners), drugs, binge drinking, etc were all very much alive and well in the 60s/70s/80s.</p>
<p>My daughter graduated from HS 10 years ago. She did do a beach week and they had a great time. The place they stayed at was owned by a good friend. In fact, when my daughter was younger, I stayed there with her and some friends a couple of times. If I had ever had any incidents with drinking, drugs or immoral behavior I would have not allowed her to go, but that any of that would have been really out of character. </p>
<p>I wasn’t really worried about my daughter or her friends. During the 13 years of school they had proved themselves to be kind, considerate and trustworthy. They spent weekends going to the movies, involved in the school plays, key club, band or just hanging out. Today they are ALL (employed) kind, considerate and trustworthy adults.</p>
<p>My dd took a senior trip to San Diego with three girlfriends. They carefully researched what they wanted to do and had a great time. They kayaked, learned to surf and went to a murder mystery dinner ( of the 100+ people there, dd “solved” the murder and have the most complete info of how, why, who done it and so she “won”!!)</p>
<p>We traded our timeshare for the girls. They shopped at Costco and ate most of their meals in the condo, with the exception of their mystery dinner and a meal in Old Town. </p>
<p>No shenanigans as far as we can tell.</p>
<p>My older son went with 4 friends to Santa Barbara. </p>
<p>We helped pay for both trips as a graduation gift.</p>
<p>Beach places usually have multiple bedrooms and can cost a couple of thousand a week. If you split the cost up between 10 people it’s a couple of hundred a piece. Our daughter paid for her portion out of her savings, as I’m guessing did most of her friends. That was one of the arguments for going - it wasn’t costing us anything. The kids figured out the food for meals. </p>
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Really? It’s called fun. That was just the first of many, many trips my daughter has taken with her friends. It’s part of growing up. </p>
<p>It didn’t really occur to me that some parents pay for it. If there’s a vacation that we’re paying for, I’d prefer to go on it myself! ;)</p>
<p>I get that sometimes each student can afford to pay their share, BUT that’s a lot different than the students being able to “rent” without a parent’s help (signing papers, whatever is required) Since my kids turned 18 I’ve tried not to impede, or promote on an issue like this. Society (property managers in this case) do not feel 18yr olds are responsible enough -they won’t rent to them. It wouldn’t be the expectation of 18yr olds to do beach-week if their parents weren’t enabling it.</p>
<p>Talk about being clueless – never heard of beach week until now! If I was to pay for a beach house, I would like to be there myself! LOL!!</p>
<p>Again I’m sure lots of kids can handle these trips. Especially when they are only 3-4 kids together with an itinerary etc. </p>
<p>What I worry about are hundreds of kids all descending on OCMD with no schedule and no agenda except to get drunk and hook up. </p>
<p>And these are all college bound kids. One kid fell in the condo and cut his head open and needed stitches. But no one was sober enough to drive. Another girl tried to hook up with a classmate to get back at an ex boyfriend. That prompted some retaliation at her condo etc. </p>
<p>I’m sure the majority of the kids down from our HS didn’t do much more than drink and sleep on the beach. But I just wonder about the wisdom of setting up those kinds of conditions. Too many ways for that to go wrong. And I am so glad S friends parents also chose to do family trips instead of senior week.</p>