brooke765

I am attempting to be a good parent...LOL. which definitely has its own set of frustrations. I am also a very firm believer that we are the parents and not friends. I really really appreciate everyone's input!! And many of those ideas of how to handle basic situations will be put into practice. My girl has a good head on her shoulders and i feel pretty confident that she will abide by the rules we set up and not be sneaky. My main worry is that she's tall and looks older than 13 and her mature looks could be misconstrued. But we will scope out the situation and make our rules based on that and some of the suggestions I've gotten here. I know we will have a great time. Thank y'all!!!

8 hours ago, klfrodo said:

That is a question that doesn't have only 1 answer.

 

A 13 yo who grew up in a community of 100 people would have a different answer for a 13 yo who grew up in NYC and took the subway by themselves to school every day.

Different environments, different culture, different levels of self awareness.

 

Only you know your child.

I totally agree that there isnt a cut and dry answer. That there are levels of comfort based on each kid and their experience. I guess I'm basically just asking what are most ppl's guidelines during their cruises. I've only gone on one other cruise with adults, so want paying attention to kids. I know what I'm comfortable with at home, but cruises are their own kind of environment. Especially at this bridge type age where they arent little kids to hover over but guess I'm not ready to let run completely free yet either.

She's good with groups, usually finding 2 or 3 kids that she really bonds with. She's typically more of a leader than a follower, tends to stick up for kids getting picked on. She has a boyfriend 🙄 and not trying to be naive about the romance part, but really don't think she would interested in a flirty type thing.

3 hours ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/28-family-cruises/

remember - a cruise ship is a small town full of strangers. How comfortable are you with that?

 

do a search on this board and the Family board with the words "free roam what age" and you will be able to read previous discussions....

Thank u for the other thread link. I will def go look at that!

I agree that its not her I'm worried about, but all the other ppl. I know for sure she won't be out all hrs of the night without us! I like the idea of the teen club and am fine with her being there as much as she wants since there is some crew supervision. And she definitely wont be allowed to go running around in the bowels of the ship, even if she's with other kids. But i also don't want to be that helicopter parent on top of her every move. She'sa good girl and deserves some freedom ...such a dilemma

We're taking our only (child) daughter who is 13yo on a 5 night to the Bahamas in Jan. My question is how comfortable are most people letting their kids this age roam around unattended? And do u give them a perimeter or something? Since she doesn't have siblings or friends going, I just worry a little. She's outgoing for the most part and can usually make friends pretty quick, so I'm banking on her meeting a few at the young teen club on our Carnival ship. She's typically very responsible and I trust her, we let her off on her own with friends we know, but we're usually fairly close by. But we don't really have any experience to draw on for a situation with newly made friends and a small city to get lost in... thoughts? We were thinking of buying the chat app that the ship offers, but have read that service can be spotty. Any other tips appreciated.