Senior Trips -Oh My!

Out of four children, we allowed our oldest boy to go to Cancun. He was graduating high school and assumed his right of passage was the Senior Trip south of the border. We allowed him to go, but so did his Father with two other Dads. These middle age men returned from sunny Mexico with eyes as wide as sand dollars, shaking their graying heads. These calm and well-traveled men were tongue tied and incredulous.

Even with his own parent somewhere in the vicinity, my son bungee jumped at a tourist stand, trusting other countries to have the same safety standards as his own did. Our designated Dads accompanied the kids crammed on a party boat called the Booze Cruise to Isla Mujeres. The evening culminated in various "games", organized by the cruise line and fueled by the tequila and Corona that had been consumed coming across to the island. You have seen "Girls Gone Wild"? Six years ago, this behavior was not marketed and aired on MTV. Our "chaperones" were absolutely shocked as inhibitions were broken down and good judgement disappeared as quickly as young girls T-shirts. Another night there was an altercation at Carlos and Charlie's and a stampede resulted as kids tried to get out of the way and out of the bar. Several were injured.

Perhaps you argue, "I trust my child. He would not participate in dangerous behavior." Or other parents counter, "They're graduating. Let 'em go have fun. You're only young once." The one my husband and I succumbed to was "everyone else is going"- but only one time.


Our kids go out of the country where liquor laws are non-existent and our teens are targeted customers. Granted, thousands of students return with a good tan and none the worse for wear. However, ask any of them if they would ever go back. In my totally unscientific survey, 8 out of 10 will say no. As young men and women mature in college, they realize what dangerous situations they were in and how naive and stupid they were. The P-A-R-T-Y attitude of so many hormones, combined with unlimited tequila, and all wedged into one small area can possibly result in bad things. Bad things. Remember Natalie Holloway?

There is binge drinking everywhere. There is random sex everywhere. There are bad people everywhere. But somehow, marketed trips that openly promote these behaviors are unsettling and disturbing. Yet year after year we allow our precious children to go out of the country, unsupervised and unmonitored.

The whole world is at their fingertips. The possibilities are limitless. How about Student Tours to Europe, backpacking in the Rockies, Teen Fantasy Camps or American beach destinations ? There is Disney World, Worlds of Fun or Six Flags. A group could book a floor at a lakeside resort , go Snow Skiing or tour the Rain Forest. How about identifying a popular band and planning a road trip in a chauffeured bus to their concert city? Cruise to Alaska, find like minded friends and take a week long course somewhere cool doing something you love, see New York, or Chicago, D.C. or San Antonio, .........just encourage your graduate to make a wise, a safe and a life- broadening choice.

If we find the above too expensive, should we allow our child to go South because it is cheap? Let's all agree it is OK to just say no to the trip and promise other choices at a later time. OK, I'm practicing, no......no...No!