4 16 Yr Guys--camping Alone For 3 Days..yes Or No?

[disykat]

No. It wouldn't matter to me how mature the kids were. Unless they are legally emancipated, in my book kids under 18 should always have an adult around to check in with.

 

[KarenB]

NOPE>>>>>too young, too long, too far away, too many temptations, too much peer pressure can build up in 4 days...just too much!!!

Karen

 

[Boo'sMom]

nope.....I'd consider letting them have their own campsite if there was parental supervision a couple of sites away...you know in case of some emergency they couldn't handle.....

 

[Mickeyfaniam]

another NO here...my son is 17 and a very good kid and I still wouldn't let him go camping for 4 days without an adult.

 

[Gillian]

I wouldn't want to be camping next to them! Good kids or not, it just seems too young.

 

[Kermit]

16 year olds do stupid stuff when they're together with no adults to look over them. I think you definitely made the right decision.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

If it was my kid, I would tell him scrape up a male adult to chaperone and then *help* drive them down there and set up. So it is compromising, right?

LOL, I can't wait for my turn at the parenting fun, .

 

[jsmith]

Ok, I think I will be the sort of minority here-It would depend on the circumstances and the kid. I grew up in Wyoming and Colorado in the mountains and around horses. By sixteen, I had been on numerous back country backpacking or horse packing trips as had my brother, and as have my sons. My brother and his best friends took a trip exactly as you describe between their junior and senior years of high school in Yellowstone and Grand Teton Parks and had a great time. They fished, hiked and slept in the truck instead of a tent because it was less work. Yes, they chased girls but not seriously and they probably drank beer, although they never admitted it and they knew better than to drive if they did.
For the right kid in the right circumstances no problem-for one of my boys I would say yes-he is well versed in emergency procedures and familiar with the wilderness, and even what to do in the event he ecounters dangerous wildlife (of the 4 legged varity at least). The other one is a city boy through and through and there is no way I would let him do this even if he wanted too.
You know your son and whether he can be trusted doing this or not better than any of us.

 

[Kitty 34]

My DS will be 16 this winter and no, I don't think I would let him go camping next summer with his friends unless there was a parent there. My DS is a great kid and has (so far) made great choices.....as you said, why tempt them!!

 

[CamColt]

Im usually one who votes for "let the kids go" whether its a spring break thread or stuff like that. But this one with 16yr olds in the woods really has me torn. If its a well patrolled place like others have mentioned, then maybe. But if they are just going out in the woods somewhere secluded, Id probably say no. Even if they were 17, I might be more inclined to say yes, but 16 just seems so young to me.

 

[Talking Hands]

No way. Not without supervision. I am just allowing my 20 yo stay at home alone in 2 weeks while DH and I go to Orlando and 24 yo goes too but separately. In this day and age it just is not safe.

 

[Serena]

Ditto what Jsmith said.

Otherwise, not without a respectable, responsible adult.

 

[Kallison]

I was a sneaky, bad, conniving, drinking beer in the cornfield 16 year old so I vote NO!

My kids aren't going to be able to do anything - lol!

 

[Pamela Gardner]

I was a sneaky, bad, conniving, drinking beer in the cornfield 16 year old so I vote NO!

My kids aren't going to be able to do anything - lol!

 

[CarolAnn856]

Hope the zombies didn't get those boys 16 years ago!

 

[ICF]

Those 16 year olds are now 32.....they might well have kids nearing that age of their own by now.

But, to the long ago question....I'd have said no in 2002...and no in 2018 (where I now have an almost 18 year old son and 15 year old daughter).

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I actually had a camping trip like this at 16 with my buddies - even longer ago than the start of this thread.

 

[Micca]

I have socks older than this thread. No way they are camping on their own!

 

[NYCgrrl]

There's something about campgrounds that can bring out the extra silly in kids camping independently.
I'll never forget the year my then 15 y/o niece became enamoured with the 18 y/o "chaperone" of a group of 15 and 16 y/os who pretty much acted just as silly as his charges.
She is generally a level headed girl but there must of been something in the air that teenage wasteland summer. I let her follow after him like a puppy dog but since we'd been camping there for years knew other campers who would call me and say things like: "They're roasting marshmallows at section 8 but someone is going out on a beer run". Thennnnnn I and a few other adults would saunter over nonchalantly in a "mom pack" and announce it was time to get some ice cream breaking up their well laid plans. I'm waiting until she's graduated from college to let her know how I always knew where she was and what she was up to.

Then there were the high school kids whose parents drove them to the campsite in their new Volvo station-wagons, passed money out to the kiddos like it was penny candy, and left the little monsters there allllllllll alone. Took 2 nights of the rangers and security regularly visiting their sites before ALL parents returned with stern faces and tight jaws to pick up their sweet ones. Another group of campers actually cheered when some of the parents drove away.

Still the best was the year of the college kids. The night started out well....at 9:00 PM they were discussing college essays, playing acoustical guitar and we all thought it was safe to go to bed having dodged the potential bullet. The talking got louder and louder as the night went on and so did the drinking. About 2:30 AM a severely drunken girl woke up in the car her friends had left her in to sleep it off and the car alarm went off. And then it went off again. And again. By then the entire section was up and either peering out their tent windows or standing silently by their tent doors. Her friends tried to get her to walk it off and she kept wailing "But I thought you were my friends...you left me alone......". Of course that site slept late and left the next afternoon.

So in closing I'm following Carol's lead:

 

[jdb in AZ]

My teenage boy friend and his cronies were really good kids but they took lots of beer along just on an over night. Four nights is just four nights too many.

FWIW we told our son "no way" when he was a teen but he went anyway.