16yr old daughter wanting to go away for the weekend

hello i have a 16yr old daughter and she is wanting to take a weekend away with one or two of her friends after completing her gcse's this summer. she wants to stay away for two nights and the place is somewhere we have been as a family before and is about 3hrs away from home.
i'm really stuck on what to do, do you think she's old enough to be allowed to go? i just worry a lot.

[Cherie762]

Hi Gillian.

Honestly there is no way Id let my 16 year old go for a weekend unchaperoned.

Teens in general are very self centered, Im not even saying she is a not good girl...I have three teens and remember being one,,,self happiness and pleasure came before common sense many times.

Also we live in a dangerous world...big city or small farm area...lots of bad things have happened to lots of teens.

How about a comprimise like a weekend in a nice hotel...two adjoining rooms one for the girls and one for you and perhaps another mom...that way they can swim, eat out, etc...yet you can keep tabs on them with out being extreamly obvious.

Id even worry about non serious things like what if they got a flat tire...or became very ill ..they are just two years short of being legal adults...and it sounds to me like your instincts are telling you the answer is NO.

God Bless

Cherie

[meg613]

hey, i really think you should let her go. talk to her, and let her know you are worried but she is old enough to know what she is capable of. it is really important that you trust her.

i'm 17 and my best friend is a guy. my parents let me stay for weekend at his house and it is the best feeling that they see me as grown up enough to trust me.

just let her go. she needs to start having some freedom. i think you are a really good mum for worrying and she should know you care and are scared but let her go. trust her.

[penswriter]

i'm with cherie. from a mother's perspective...i would never let my children spend a weekend alone with just friends. if the girls parents are there...and i know them then sure. as long as i have all the appropriate contact information. if it's parents i don't know or have a track record for permitting smoking, drinking or sex absolutely not. i'd never let my boys spend the night/weekend at a girls house either. at 16 or even 17 they're not grown up. they're kids.