My 16 year old son regularly catches the train into Sydney city to go fishing with friends. My son now wants to spend all night in the city doing night fishing. My anxiety is through the roof, I need to get my balance right, I don’t want to smother him but being a child I still have to protect him. Even though his a smart responsible boy I’m torn. Can I please have other parents input if you have been through a similar situation please?
2 Replies
Do you drive or any of his friends or parents? Suggest they go somewhere else camping on the river or something. Its a great hobby but like you I would be worried about him spending the night in the city!
I would let him go with obvious safety chats happening first. As much as we want to protect our children they also have to learn to be young adults and to take responsibility for themselves and actions. 16 is a very normal age to be wanting to go out at night or overnight so I would definitely let him go! At 18 (2 years away) he doesn't need to ask permission to go out. Plus you don't want his first over night city trip to be a booze crawl (that leads to different levels of stress). Trust him, let him go and have fun with his mates. Have a plan in place with each other incase things go a little sour or he wants to come home ect. Communication is key and having some understanding (as we were all 16 once and learning too).