<p>Today on the news it was reported that a 16 year old kid fell 24 floors from his hotel balcony while on vacation for spring break. He apparently was trying to watch a sunrise.</p>
<p>Flat out set the rule to your kids NOT to go onto a balcony. I used to think it was due to drinking, but the incident above occurred at like 5am or something ridiculous.</p>
<p>My guess is the kid probably stayed up all night drinking.</p>
<p>You can’t start ruling out balconies.</p>
<p>rule out the drinking and balconies yes.</p>
<p>A 16 year old was on spring break? As in a college kid-drunken orgy-without parents spring break? Kids are growing up too quickly…</p>
<p>A senior at my daughter’s college died last year after a fall from railing in his 3rd floor dorm apt. He was sitting on it and lost his balance. There were different stories about whether alcohol was involved or not. It really does not matter, I remember rail sitting as a kid and losing my balance, luckily I did not fall.</p>
<p>My daughter is moving into that bldg next year, I have already mentioned no rail sitting and I am sure I will mention it many times.</p>
<p>A tenth grader on spring break with his family
[Teen’s</a> death in balcony fall ruled an accident – OrlandoSentinel.com](<a href=“http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-teen-balcony-fall-032309,0,3157322.story]Teen’s”>http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/orl-bk-teen-balcony-fall-032309,0,3157322.story)</p>
<p>He’s from the Twin Cities. Minnesota’s WCCO says the fall was at 7 a.m.
<a href=“http://wcco.com/local/hotel.balcony.fall.2.965076.html[/url]”>http://wcco.com/local/hotel.balcony.fall.2.965076.html</a></p>
<p>^^ Exactly!</p>
<p>This particular kid was on spring break WITH HIS PARENTS, who were sleeping in the next room (I believe it was he and his sister sharing another room). It didn’t sound like he had been drinking, but stacking chairs on the 24th floor was really dumb. That he was a 4.0 Student means teenagers often act before they think.</p>
<p>A business Associate of my husband’s son fell off a roof at college when he went out there to smoke a cigarette. Based on the time of the accident, I would suggest the guy was plowed and stumbled. But they aren’t exactly throwing that around. </p>
<p>My point would be … it’s just best to not utilize balconies except for allowing lots of fresh air in the room.</p>
<p>Hmm… poor parents and family… It sounds vaguely suspicious to me, though. He stacked chairs to see a sunrise? How would that help his view? How would they know he was trying to see a sunrise? Honestly, it sounds more like a suicide to me. My condolences to his family and friends and all. Anyway you look at it, it is a tragedy. :(</p>
<p>My kids’ school has a rule that no kids ever go on balconies on school trips…period…Son and his roomies were able to sneak out onto their balcony last year in Sorrento, but once the chaperones found out they had a balcony, they were forbidden. I think the school rule has something to do with male athletes and urine, but I guess it’s still a decent rule.</p>
<p>The police ruled it an accident… and apparently there was a camera either found with him or nearby so they assume he was trying to take a picture. In that respect, he may have been trying to take a picture without any bldgs in it. They had just arrived Saturday night and this was Sunday morning. So… but you’re absolutely right… tragic no matter how you look at it. However, in as much as I could ever get past a child’s dying… I could much sooner accept a freak accident than a hopelessness that had him/her taking their own life. And as much as I have said that nothing is ever so bad that it’s worth leaving this world – ever.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>so lets call it like it is…an unfortunate accident.</p>
<p>no reason to ban kids from balconies.</p>
<p>my kids would never stack chairs…would yours?</p>
<p>“my kids would never…” Yikes! Those are some infamous last words.</p>
<p>This is heartbreaking and a good reminder for parents to caution their kids.</p>
<p>LOL History Mom. It has always been my mantra to never say my kids would never… </p>
<p>Because as soon as those words ever leave my lips, I am sure my kids will be lining up to do it! But stacking chairs on a balcony 24 floors up? I won’t say never, but I will say it isn’t likely - especially because even though they are annoyed when I tell the cautionary tale, I still insist they listen to it.</p>
<p>Just the other day, I told my son that I didn’t care if he was 19 or 45, to ever drink and drive is to risk death, pure and simple. Yours or someone elses. And I’d be so incredibly mad if he died due to something that was so easily avoidable. And then I tossed on the oft used phrase: “You are way too smart to ever do anything that stupid.”</p>
<p>Poor parents…</p>
<p>Slightly related - how worried would you be about 9 and 11 and 15 year old boys sharing a balcony cabin on a cruise ship? Friends doing that this summer. My friend will be in another balcony cabin nearby and plans to tell the 9 and 11 year olds (who are brothers) to stay off the balcony. (They are both cautious kids and afraid of sharks 
she thinks that will help.)</p>
<p>It was a special deal - actually much much cheaper for them to get two balcony cabins - or they would have put the boys in a cabin without one.</p>
<p>Cruiseship balconies are very hard to fall off of. You would have to be doing something stupid like trying to pass from balcony to balcony. Cruiseship companies take safety very seriously and the balconies are designed in such a way that falling off is unlikely even if drunk.</p>
<p>Thanks! That makes sense.</p>
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<p>Well, I hope not but like other parents here, I would never say never. A lot of adults I know have stories to tell of something incredibly stupid that they did that easily could have caused them to die.</p>
<p>very true.</p>
<p>I retract “never” and replace “I would hope they never”.</p>
<p>As my mom says “teenagers are missing part of their brains”</p>
<p>which is her succinct way of saying that the part of the brain that controls judgment and risk taking doesn’t fully develop until adulthood (around the age of 25). Their decision making process at age 16, along with their lack of life experience, makes teenagers act in mysterious ways that make us shake our heads. I don’t find it surprising that he might stack chairs to get a better view. My heart goes out to his family. Such a tragedy.</p>
<p>At UT there is a private dorm (actually, there are a number of them) that has balconies. 3 years ago, a young man fell to his death - he was drunk, and it is assumed that he was trying to get in his room from another balcony when he slipped and fell. The very next year, weirdly - on the same exact day and from the same floor, another kid fell, but thankfully only broke bones because he landed on an overhang and not the concrete. </p>
<p>I have wondered why, after two accidents within two years, this dorm would not do something about open balconies, if only for liability reasons, and not for the better reason - that they are trying to keep stupid college kids from hurting or killing themselves!</p>