In article , ohgosh1995
@yahoo.com says...
My 9 YO has been invited to go about 12 hours away for an entire week
with the family of a friend of his. This friend is a good friend, but
not someone he spends a ton of time with. Two overnight get-togethers
have gone well. My son is very sociable but also gets cranky and needs
alone time on a regular basis. The family is not an issue; I trust
them safety-wise, and they're also nice people. However, 9 seems too
young to me to have a child be that far away from home for an entire
week, and I worry about him getting sick of the family (his friend and
two younger sisters, mom, and dad) half-way through the week.

Problem is, the place they're going is a great place to go, both fun
and educational. I feel guilty about not letting him go, both because
I know it would be a great place for him to go (not that that means he
has to go this year) and because the other mother really wants him to
go for her son's sake.

Any thoughts? Are we just being babies about our "baby"?




If the kid wants to go let him go. You trust everything safety-wise.
The other stuff is really insignificant. If he hates it, you tell him,
"We left it up to you. You didn't have to go." You're worried about
him needing alone time and such. That is definitely babying him. If he
gets cranky, then he's the other people's responsibility then, and they
wanted him along. You can politely warn them about that, but what do
you care if he is cranky and annoyed? You'll be home. He'll be 12
hours away. It'll be good for him. It's only a week. Leave it up to
the kid.

AEM