Letting 15 year old Son travel to Europe by rail

They are old enough to vote and decide who runs the country
Scotsmum In what country can you vote at 15 ?

No I wouldn’t want a 15 year old going inter railing with a 16year old friend Mine were 17 when they had their first
holiday with a friend and they were sensible
Not so much what they could do wrong but what could happen to them and I do think travel today is much different to when my children grew up

I had family in Germany and travelled there on my own from the age of 15. My children from the age of ten, like Monica, ferried themselves from school to where ever we were posted supposedly under the eye of the airline but basically on their own. None of them wanted family holidays after reaching 15/16 and were very capable of looking after themselves on holidays with friends.

I see my grandchildren having very little independence or chances to spread their wings and learn to take risks and deal with problems. I hope they are able to cope when they leave home eventually. As parents we have to prepare our kids to cope with the modern world and the sooner they start to gain independence I believe they will find the path to adulthood smoother.

My younger son certainly went abroad with similar age friends when he was 16, but not I think at 15. (I’m not sure -it’s a long time ago.) He was perfectly capable of it, and it didn’t occur to me to try to stop him. My elder son wouldn’t have wanted to do it - it’s a matter of personality.

I don't feel at all outraged,

Here’s my take on it.

From the age of 12 I was travelling unaccompanied on all forms of transport - UK and abroad, so yes, I would be seen off at the departure point but after that it was up to me to work out what to do. It would have been explained thoroughly so I understood what was happening.

So, for example, I might be collected by taxi from my school, dropped off at the railway station to buy my ticket and find the train and board it, get off at the right stop (usually with all my belongings - not always!) and be met at the other end.

Or, it might be a taxi, train to London, find another taxi to West London Air Terminal, get the bus transfer to Heathrow Airport, check myself and my bags in, fill out the immigration forms etc etc, board flight, transit through the next airport for a connecting flight, transit through another airport for another connecting flight, keep my tickets, passport etc safe, track down my bags and deal with it when they got lost, then a taxi from destination to home.

And all this was fine if it went without a hitch: when it didn’t, I had to sort it out and get on with it as best I could.

Another time I was escorted as part of a group of unrelated school children, to Paris before being put on a train on my own, to Toulouse. The return journey was overnight, (and yes, even being in the top bunk/couchette didn’t completely protect me from the exploratory hand from the bunk below, but there were many other people who would have come to my aid if needed. I just rolled over and faced the wall and it soon stopped) and then I had to get myself to a different station, ferry and train…
And so on, and so on.

The outrage over these kids is bonkers. They are old enough to vote and decide who should run the country but need their hand held to catch some trains?

back in the late 1950s when I was 15 and my sister 13 we flew unaccompanied from London to Malaysia to for the school holidays. Our father was in the army and posted there.

We were theoretically under the care of a stewardess, but that supervision was more obvious by its absence than its presence.

The plane couldn't land at Kuala Lumpur for some reason so we were flown on to Singapore, where we were put up in the Raffles Hotel overnight and left to our own devices. The 'supervising' stewardess disappearing off with the rest of the crew as the plane was scheduled to fly on to Hong Kong.

My father rang us there, not to express his concern or worry but to tell us to make the most of it has he could not afford to pay for overnight stays at the Raffles Hotel.

By the time I was 17 I had made this journey several more times and at 18 was travelling on my own to and from Belgium and Germany, dependent on my parents being at the airport or railway station to meet me.

All of this long before mobile phones, and in my parents' house even having a phone at home.

Children only become resilient if they have opportunities to build their resilience and I am pretty sure that Kirsty Allsopp's son will have been travelling around, first locally, and then more widely this country on his own for sometime. May well have been off to music festivals - and of course, he would have a mobile phone. Entirely missing in my chidlhood, where, as I said, my parents didn't have phone either.

He was a few weeks shy of his 16th Birthday.

He is now 16, he and his pal are back home safe and sound. I hope they had a brilliant time.

KA s kids do not live in rural Devon. They live in London. They do not board. They go to a West London secondary school.

I'd be embarrassed, and worried that people might assume I thought the law didn't apply to me. 1

Good luck to her son, I hope he enjoyed every minute of this experience.
Reporting her to social services was ludicrous. There are children who are in real need. I read Kirsty was at first upset, and then angry. I would be annoyed to recieve a call like that to.

Jaxjacky

Well done to her, valuable lessons learnt by him, far more danger online in my opinion. Out of order for someone to report it, I bet SS moved quickly to act as KA is ‘famous’, their time would’ve been better spent elsewhere.

I agree, but it is hard not imagine the worst that can happen, and I tried not to let this affect my judgement when I agreed to let my 16 year old son go on a cycling holiday to France with two school friends of the same age.
The trip was well planned, the boys were sensible and well briefed, staying in youth hostel type accommodation , and they all spoke French
The other boys parents were relaxed about the trip and thought it would be good experience for them which it proved to be.
They returned safely, had adventures and a great time in which they learned a lot.
I don’t consider myself an irresponsible parent.

I should have started a new para for "look at the children.....
I do wish there was an edit.Sorry.

We don't know the boy. He could be very sensible and mature and may have been brought up to be independent.
Some children are very immature at that age. Look at the children who are carers.That is something no child should have to do, but they do and they get on with it.

It’s all about risk. Most 15/16 year olds are still a bit naive. They, I believe, live in rural Devon. If so then he really won’t be streetwise. Most travelling youngsters come back in one piece, some don’t. The world is less safe now than ever. Some are attacked or even killed. Personally I think 15 is too young but at the end of the day it’s down to personal choice - are you willing to take the risk that your child (who would be easy prey away from home) may not come back or suffers some attack? Is that a risk worth taking?

Why not make everything 18? People can drive at 17. It's ridiculous. IMO, even 18 is too young. It should be 21.

I agree that a 15 year old should be accompanied by an 18 year old, because any kind of accident could have had serious legal repercussions. It's just not worth the risk. I'd be wanting them to travel after A Levels at 18 years. Much more sensible and they can go anywhere in the world. What's the rush?

My two went to Tenerife after gcse, along with 4 friends and the parents of one of the group. We all met at the house of the parents who volunteered to escort and supervise the gang of giddy girls who’d been close friends many years. So we parents were familiar with each other and easily agreed ground rules. Ok, it was Tenerife not a tour of city art galleries but - I wiukd t have wanted my 15 year old travelling Europe with a 16 year old friend.
Someone referred it to children’s services. I can imagine the team manager thinking, well I saw this in the news. I wonder who made this anonymous referral, if it was a tabloid and we don’t respond I’ll be on the front page of the DM. If we do investigate - I’ll be on the front page of the DM. Maybe least worse is to phone her, let her know we’ve been alerted, so recorded it (our legal duty), good to hear it all went off well. Close case
Honestly ! It was the DM front page. Faux outrage that they’ve nothing better to do, intruding into the lives of decent families yadayada

Hotels are going to be a problem for unaccompanied children, overseas even youth hostels minimum age is 18 unless accompanied, some are 21+
So no it is a bad ideal to set a 15 yr old adrift.

I was heavily criticised for leaving our 16 year old home alone while we went for a weeks holiday.

I saw no issue with this, friends of mine were quite shocked.

He is sensible and everything was fine.

She was outraged at being kept on the social services register for a further six months after this episode was my understanding.

Well done to her, valuable lessons learnt by him, far more danger online in my opinion. Out of order for someone to report it, I bet SS moved quickly to act as KA is ‘famous’, their time would’ve been better spent elsewhere.

I wonder who reported her?

KA will be volubly outraged at anyone disagreeing with her about anything! Good luck to those investigating SWs.

I would be horrified if my 16 (nearly 17 year old) GS were to do that. Perhaps KA had family or contacts abroad who kept a discreet eye on things, or maybe they were accompanied by a film crew and we shall see it all on TV quite soon.

Incidentally, Kirstie Allsop's parenting has been called into question before when she, reportedly, smashed up all her children's electronic devices because they were spending too long on them. (Understandable but a bit extreme IMO)

Cities have balconies.