Teens and Holidays...The Holiday without you...

Well I wanted to write a bit about teens going away...Going for a weekend with their mates either camping...or going and staying in a hotel...My eldest went away at the end of last year with his older mates to the coast...It was a scary experience but the mates he went with were mates I trusted and he was camping in my cousins backyard so we comprimissed on the whole thing...they wanted to camp elsewhere and we said we weren't comfortable with that...so we all comprimissed....

Here is some tips because if you like it or not our kids grow up and they too want to have a little trust given to them and want to take the next step of holidaying...WITHOUT YOU...

Talk to your teen..Talk about the dangers of where they are going don't nag them but talk about what your worries are about the place they are going...Ask them if they are worried about anything there...

Talk to all the parents of the kids involved...Make sure you swap phone numbers with everyone...Have all the kids mobile numbers and all the parents numbers too...

Make sure they have enough credit on their phone...If they don't you can always do what we do and transfer credit in small amounts...We have telstra prepaid so we can send credit when needed...

Talk about holiday romances with your teen...Do the whole birds and bees talk and the...If you do decide to be secually active be safe about it...

Talk to your teen about drink spiking...Talk about drinking responsibly...I know if they are underage they shouldn't be drinking anyway but alot of underage teens do drink...Tell them to be careful...Also talk with them about drugs and party drugs...Give them the information they need to know with the dangers that can happen and what to do if someone does take some and something goes wrong...

No matter how much you talk to them about the dangers that can happen and what you think they should and shouldn't do just remember you can have your opinions but just do not always expect your kids to agree with yours...They too have their own opinions...If you do decide to let your teen go away without you tell them that you will probably call them everyday and ask them to send you a text every now and then to keep you up to date that they are okay...

I was lucky when My eldest went away I think as he and his mates camped in the back yard at my cousins house so I knew pretty much that they were home each night and they were behaving...LOL...But you know what it still doesn't take away the worrying I did while he was gone...Just remember it is normal to worry..It doesn't mean you are overprotective it just means you are a normal caring parent...

Just some thoughts I wanted to share...Good luck to you all with surviving the first time you teen holidays without you...hehe..

Have a great day
Cheers
Angie