The three young girls who have purportedly fled to Syria

Do they have "passport control" on the way out. I thought that security just checked that passport matched up with boarding card.
In other (arguably better organised) countries such as NZ, AUS, you fill in leaving cards as well as arrival cards and your documents are checked by a government official and not just by airline/airport staff.

It seems that these young girls (children) are possibly academically clever, but socially naive. At the age of 15/16 teenage girls are hugely influenced by their peers and in a group will often do things that as individuals they would never consider. They have probably been told lies and half truths from someone that they know and have trusted in the past and believe that they are off to do some heroic deed. How many times have unworldly girls got pregnant after their first time? Or boys who are known to be anti-drug die after taking drugs for the first time? Teenagers are notoriously susceptible both to peer pressure and to a 'group mentality' and I suspect this is what has happened here. Silly, naive, unworldly - these girls are possibly all of these things, but they are still children and their parents must be beside themselves with grief. I feel sorry for them all.

I have recently read two articles about the dreadful lives led by women in IS. They have to wear double layers of black robes and cover up every inch of bare flesh - including wearing gloves. They are now allowed out without a male and if the woman is not dressed according to a strict code, the male is punished. Pregnant women who turn up at hospital to give birth, are turned away if they come without a man. Nurses and female doctors must also conform to the dress code for women. These poor girls have all this to look forward to.

As regards passport control, I always thought that young people, so long as theri passports and other documents were in order, can get through at any age.
Even children as young as four travel on their own with some sort of airline chaperone.

I very much agree in age appropriateness, but these girls are 15 and 16.

Subjects being taboo in a household is so not the way to go.
Do families not realise that there is so much other information about for the younger generation to latch on to?

Gilly another girl in their class did the same thing in December. They must have talked to her, and that woman from Glasgow they have been in touch with.

One of the father being interviewed on TV said they had never discussed this with his daughter as she knew better than to talk about 'these people' in his house!

Talk about burying your head in the sand.

Does this mean the father has banned talk of ISIL or that woman are not allowed to discuss such things?

I agree too Gillybob, someone must have sowed the seeds in their brains....

The reporter was also asking about the role of Muslim mothers in the lives of young people -I had the distinct impression that currently some mothers have little or no say/input, with households male-dominated and led, so maybe there isn't more balanced/supportive environment at home hence some youngsters getting radicalised.
Terribly sad to think that girls like these three can even begin to think that a wonderful life awaits them with ISIS; it does make you wonder what they are told/not told at home etc that influences them so comprehensively.

I agree gilly

I only hope that the life they think they are moving to, lives up to their expectations. I'm sorry but at 15-16 they know what they are doing. They must have seen the headlines and the hideous videos of beheadings, burnings etc. which mustn't bother them. I'm sorry if my opinion seems cruel or harsh but if this is the life they choose then perhaps it is best that they stay in Syria. I'm not sure I buy into the "innocence" that the weeping families would have us believe.

I wondered if I had missed something, too, 3 teenagers, 2 of whom under 16, flying to a well-known "gateway" to Syria. What were they thinking of? No rephrase that, where was passport control at the time?

The BBC coverage earlier included talking to two people who said the girls had been questioned by professionals about their radicalisation so warning bells must have been ringing. I fail completely to comprehend how they were allowed through passport control etc without being questioned about their destination, particularly in the light of being so young, unaccompanied and female.