Should my friend let her 16 year old son and his friends go?

[SERRIDGER]

Personally I think a group of 16 year old boys will be too young and immature to go to a festival and camp for 4 nights. Any opinions?

[guitarbhoy1888]

i would say 16 is too young, my first was when i was 17 and just finished school. also went with about 6 of us and camped with my older cousin and alot of his mates so its a big group.

i'd say depends how many are going

that was T in the park though.

leeds seemed alot calmer last year, everyone seemed really nice and there wasnt really any knobends ...

Edited March 24, 2013 by guitarbhoy1888

[SERRIDGER]

I think if they were with going with some older people I'd say to her to let them go but they're not. I don't go to Leeds but do loads of other festivals and never see groups of lads that young on their own.

Edited March 24, 2013 by SERRIDGER

[DarthSaul]

I first went to a festival at 16 with one other mate, had no problems

[insideaway]

I think if they were with going with some older people I'd say to her to let them go but they're not. I don't go to Leeds but do loads of other festivals and never see groups of lads that young on their own.

[dancelittleliar]

I first did the weekend when I was 15. I'm biased of course, but I really enjoyed myself and didn't have any problems. Went with a few friends and had a blast. My mum went one day and we saw The Cure, it wasn't like a rave for 4 nights, get drunk/ high etc. kind of weekend (for me anyway) It's the first taste of independence for a lot of teenagers, and technically her son can leave home, marry, etc. so surely they can go to a festival? Also, great way to celebrate GCSE results

[Gucci Piggy]

I first went for the weekend last year and was 16. Literally around 50% of the crowd are around that age.

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

Reading And Leeds is made for 16 year olds. That's no overstatement.

[dentalplan]

Absolutely.

As much as I hate the festival being full of 16 year olds who can't handle their cider, it's such a great thing having that taste of independence between getting GCSE results and starting college; probably best time to go.

[SERRIDGER]

Some fair and valid points there. Cheers

[Dead throne]

I went to Rock Werchter (with 1 mate), High Voltage (alone) and Reading (with a mate) when I was 16...Then again I had done a lot of research on the festivals, what to do/not to do etc

Then again, I don't drink, and my parents know that, so there were no issues nor concerns...

[mrtourette]

It depends on them and their attitudes I guess. Are they idiots? Have they ever been to a festival before? Ever been camping? Do they have a reasonable amount savvy or are they the kind of teenagers who leave an iPad and £400 in a tent for a day and are amazed when they come back and it's been nicked?

R&L pretty much relies on 16 year-olds so there are a lot of them about, they won't be out of place. Like Dead throne says all they need to do is some reserach and know what to expect.

[rawaudioinput]

My first ever camping experience was when I went to Reading when I was 16; ran in to no problems at all. A friend of mine even went to Reading when they had only just turned 15 and had absolutely no issues. As long as they have a little bit of common sense there shouldn't be an issue.

[Babyquack]

At the end of the day, there's quite a few adults on patrol everywhere (Campsite CATS and the Oxfam Stewerds) who make sure that young people aren't going mental and are physically okay so you shouldn't have any major concerns there

[Chrisw16]

Me and my mate went last year to Reading for the weekend when we were both 15 and were absolutely fine, had an awesome time. Common sense is what matters and if they're the kind of people who are mature and independent and have been by themselves before then they should be fine. If possible I'd try to find out if anyone going has an older brother or cousin who is over 18 going just to make sure they're safe.

[PDAD]

I went to Reading for the first time when i was 16...8 of us for most of the weekend however only 3 of us went up on the Wednesday..

I'm biased obviously but i had no problems at all.

I suppose its better for a group of 16/17 year olds to get their first taste of independence at a place in Britain, in an atmosphere of thousands of people in the same situation, instead of a year later in somewhere like Kavos or Zante..

[brionysiiiian]

Definitely! I first went with a group of girls a month after I turned 16 and it was brilliant. They're bound to make friends and people are very very respectful, like they won't let anything bad happen to them at all. My friend got lost the first night and was ridiculously drunk but some random teenagers helped her come back to us and then we were friends for the weekend

[Seanoooo]

First went V when I was 15 as arctic monkeys were playing so I couldn't miss it. Me, my friend and his brother went, we had a great time and yeah we drank but didnt do anything stupid.

[taylorswift]

I was 15 at my first festival and it was just me, my friend of the same age and our friend a year older, and it was T In The Park as well, everything was great, no hassle or problems.

From my experience at Leeds last year it's a much friendlier, easy going environment than TITP, so yeah in my opinion they'd get on just fine