Advise needed from the parents of teens out there

[Guest]

All great advise - thanks all.

Seems your all thinking along the same lines as I was but its good to hear it from others. Conclusions then:

1. Make sure other parents views are taken.

2. Give them a couple of drinks but tell them it's based on trust and that's it no buying anything elsewhere

3. Explain the consequences of them going over the top

I have been going for a couple of years with children and this year will be taking his 12 year old younger brother as well so haven't been able to / wouldn't want to go and overdo it anyway. Stressful enough trying to get away from the end of a headliner set with everybody in tow - couldn't imagine doing it drunk!!

I will tell them all though that in 6 years I expect them all to buy me a night at the cider bus to make up for all of these years of restraint!!!!

[daclown28]

Yea drink is the last I your worries I'm only 20 as at 16 was doing smaller fests with my mates and taking all sorts. But mainly smoking dope, we would drink a few beers but pretty much smoke out weight in dope. It all depends on what sort of kid he is, what sort of music does he like? This is a massive generalisation but If he likes dubstep beware of ketamine if he likes faster dance music then MDMA might be his choice, he may just want to slip of to smoke dope all day with his pal, or he might want to get paralytic drinking beer bongs. The thing is know your child if he's gonna do something he's gonna do it. You laying the law down will only

Make him disappear into the crowd and appear back at the tent in a state, give him free reign with you on Wednesday and Thursday maybe to assess what you think is likely to come, surely better he gets really drunk around you than in his own??? As for the friend he's prob going to be even more of a hand ful as his parents arnt there. Either way they are going to hae a lot of fun and if they get to drunk one night I can't see them doing it again the next day

[daclown28]

Whoops double post

Edited June 19, 2013 by daclown28

[londonlax]

When I was in my teens I was more interested in getting up front to see my favourite bands which usually meant a long wait with no toilet break so I wasn't too bothered about drinking.

Ah how times change...

[daclown28]

Yea but I'm sure other your age wanted to get smashed, all depends on the person not al 15 year olds are the same,

[ohmygod]

Hadn't even considered the drugs angle!!! Him and his mate though are a bit green thankfully. Live out in the suffolk countryside and although there are drugs about I don,t think ( could be wrong of course) that it an everyday part of life and therefore he won't be out searching for them. I think alcohol will be the novelty.

I think the middle ground of give them a few and see how it goes sounds good. And as Snipe said- better to give them a few cans and me buy their food than give them cash which they may spend on other stuff.

Play it by ear. Thankfully though Glastonbury has so much amazing stuff to keep them occupied that they won't even think about drinking..............oh that is so naive isn't it though!!

[Guest]

Hadn't even considered the drugs angle!!! Him and his mate though are a bit green thankfully. Live out in the suffolk countryside and although there are drugs about I don,t think ( could be wrong of course) that it an everyday part of life and therefore he won't be out searching for them. I think alcohol will be the novelty.

I think the middle ground of give them a few and see how it goes sounds good. And as Snipe said- better to give them a few cans and me buy their food than give them cash which they may spend on other stuff.

Play it by ear. Thankfully though Glastonbury has so much amazing stuff to keep them occupied that they won't even think about drinking..............oh that is so naive isn't it though!!

[Helencholy]

How old do they look? If they do genuinely look 15, I doubt they'll be able to get served at the bars unless the people manning them have stopped giving a toss...so the only worries you'll have is stuff they've smuggled in themselves, friends they might meet up with or very generous strangers.

And, I know they're young lads, but some of them are actually pretty sensible (!) And if so, they know they have to return to camp at least being able to act like they're sober. Or! Alternatively, let them get battered the first night. They won't want to touch a can for the rest of the week. Sorted.

[Teddington]

When my daughter was 15 I knew she was going to be drinking with her friends; luckily she was with a parent I knew would keep an eye on them and check no-one was going over the top. I'm lucky in that I have sensible kids, but I've always found trust is the way to keep them in line. "Here's a couple of bottles of cider. I know your friends will bring alcohol too, but I'm trusting you to be sensible about it. I'll be very disappointed if you get too drunk to know what you're doing" sort of thing. This has worked so far!

[ohmygod]

if it was my elder daughter at 15, I'd say yes, a bit naive, but my with younger daughter, then it wasn't such an issue

until she started uni..!!!

do they like drinking?

[dirtysteve]

They're 15, just cut 'em loose and let them do their own thing. If they go overboard, it'll be a lesson learned. If you let them go their own way on the drinking and don't get on their backs and cramp their style, most likely they'll have a smashing time and you'll be the best Dad going.

In other words, lighten up!

[essex_jim]

I went to a V festival for the 1^st time when I was 15, to be honest I think we somehow managed a couple of beers from getting people to buy it for us but generally we weren’t fussed in the slightest and were more bothered about the bands, also at 15 somewhere like Glastonbury is just a truly incredible experience in itself. It’s almost like you’re just drunk on festival spirit anyway. Maybe I was just different, and absolutely 2 years later I had a very different approach to festivals with regards booze. But at 15? Just that feeling of being somewhere like that (Even V, but this was ’98 and for any youngsters trust me, V was a whole lot better back then than it is now!) was incredible.

Give him some trust, my old man always used to give me a few beers when I was 15, best attitude as it made it not taboo or out of bounds for me. That way I didn’t really bother much with booze until I was 17/18. Some parents I knew of my mates were so strict the kids were dying to find out what it was all about to often disastrous consequences!

[Jack Nottm]

Let him have as much as he wants as long as he doesn't turn into a drunk dick head.

[Chimps in Balaclavas]

Whatever he does, just make sure he does it while he's with you.

The last thing you need is having your festival cut short with him being ejected from the site.

Have fun.

Edit: I only say keep an eye on him because I've seen drunkern teens at festivals, some tend to over do it cos they can and end up acting like dickheads cos they can't hold their drink.

But every person is different and they could be responsible teens, I'd say it depends on how much you'd trust them.

Do what you'd do if you were at home.

Having said all that, I sort of agree with dirtysteve too lol

Edited June 19, 2013 by DAVA

[russycarps]

spike their drinks with acid. That'll learn them

[ThomThomDrum]

Let em get banjoed on the Wed/Thurs with you when there is not so much on. Hopefully they will over do it a bit and the hangover experienced will encourage to pull back on the Fri/Sat/Sun when they will be off doing their own thing.......

[scarletmist]

I've been to festivals many times with teenagers of my own and their friends.

When we're on the way there I give them a stern lecture about three things that I feel really strongly about:-

1. Wash your hands after going to the toilet

2. Keep mud out of the tent

3. Be at the car/tent/wherever at the time we are going home and don't be late.

When they've taken that in, they ask me about drugs and alcohol, and I tell them I'm not the least bit interested in what they do but that I'm not going to come and rescue them, unless they are in hospital and in intensive care.

So far it has worked -- they've drunk and probably done other stuff, but I haven't had to deal with the consequences of their misbehaviour. If they get themselves hammered and ruin their weekend then its their own fault.

[Spindles]

I took both to their first festival (my son to Reading, my daughter Glastonbury) and pretty much played it by ear. Have both along with my daughter's boyfriend this year and they are all old enough and wise enough now (19 and nearly 21) to make their own choices. I hope I did a half decent job of steering them.

I've yet to have to deal with drink related vomitting at glastonbury myself or with anyone I've been with, the thought of it is too much to consider. That's why I've always stuck to some degree of moderation.

[frostypaw]

Let em get banjoed on the Wed/Thurs with you when there is not so much on. Hopefully they will over do it a bit and the hangover experienced will encourage to pull back on the Fri/Sat/Sun when they will be off doing their own thing.......

[popcornmaster]

I was your "son's friend" when I first went to Glastonbury 6 years ago. We bought our own stash of booze, and my friend was beardy enough to get served (still had Brothers 2 litre bottles then mmmm). We were left to our own devices, don't remember drinking too much overall but got completely smashed on Saturday. I say let then get on with it, they'll do what they please anyway. 2 cans seems like a bit of an insult in my opinion.

[Guest]

spike their drinks with acid. That'll learn them

[rexclark]

Just buy them a crate of Woodpecker. They'll think they've got loads of booze but in reality they'd get more drunk on lemonade.

[JennieT]

My mum let me go with a friend (on our own) at 16! Still can't quite believe it haha. However I was a fairly sensible 16 year old. We went on the Friday morning I think? (A long time ago now) she sent me with 24 small cans of beer for the weekend. She figured I was going to have a drink and she would rather me drink my own stuff than take from strangers etc etc. as others have said depends on what they are like and if they can be trusted etc. I'd would give them a few tins for the afternoon so they feel part of it. Can't hurt! Hope this helps :-)

Edited June 19, 2013 by JennieT

[Spindles]

Your mum sounds cool.

[guypjfreak]

kids are kids if you tell them they cant do some thing they will ....try the trust method and hope they respect you and dont ruin there own festi cos if they come back smashed id leave them by the tent and crack on ..