My teenager and I are both anxious about the school trip to Epinal next week.
“Mum, I don’t want to goooo” she says.
We looked at pictures of her ‘correspondant’, the girl she will stay with.
“She’s a geek!” declares my teenager in dismay.
“I’m sure she’s very nice” I reply firmly but note that both parents are accountants.
My daughter and her friends have started a special group on Facebook, inviting the exchange students to join. The London lycée students are talking, with awe, about the fact that the students from Epinal are allowed out till midnight on weekdays and 3 a.m. on weekends.
“That’s because they are in the countryside” I explain “they probably just hang out at each other’s houses or play babyfoot in the local tabac. It’s not like they are out clubbing, as they would be if they lived in London.”
The return exchange happens in March, when they come to us. No way are they going out till midnight or 3 a.m. in London, I don’t care what her parents have given permission for or what the form says.
Canal Explorer
January 22, 2009 at 10:43 amYou're WAY harsh ML. I was going out clubbing with my family when I was that age – maybe you should take them. It's always more fun when you have an adult to show you where to get the night bus and protect you from the leering men.
Ben Emlyn-Jones
January 22, 2009 at 11:01 amI went on a French exchange school trip. They're such fun! I was 15 and I stayed with a 20 year old bloke who attended a CES and was also a DJ at the local radio station.
When he came to stay with us my dad loved him and they became drinking-buddies!
MsMarmitelover
January 22, 2009 at 2:22 pmMs C.E.
I don't think I'm harsh. I'm entirely responsible for that child when she visits and I'm taking no risks. Remember she is from a small town.
Also happy to take them out late with me, as you know, I've taken my daughter out with me to gigs, festivals and squat parties etc but not on their own at that age.
You are very tall (6ft?) and probably looked older than your age. You can easily look after yourself. Also you were brought up in a smaller place, not London.
My teenager, on the other hand, is tiny, 4'10", looks very young for her age, so unlikely she would get into any clubs anyway. There are few clubs for under 18's in London.
But, at the end of the day, every parent has their own rules, what they feel comfortable with. In some ways I am more liberal than other parents and in others, stricter.
Canal Explorer
January 22, 2009 at 4:16 pmIt was a joke marmie, "way harsh" being a teenage term and me being 27.
Note that I only went with family members at that age. I occasionally braved pubs with friends from about 16th birthday onwards (yes I was very tall), but I was 17 before I went clubbing parent free with any frequency. Of course as you know, I by no means stopped socialising with my mum and aunties after that age, and will still go to clubs and gigs with them.
I wasn't really that wild.
Example: NYE aged 16 my best friend and I went 'into Manchester' and entered a bar on trendy Deansgate. 10.30 her dad picked us up as planned, and we were home safe to celebrate midnight with our families. 😀
bellaphon
January 22, 2009 at 11:38 pmShittus, I didn't properly 'partay' till I was 18. (Boarder and that rubbish)
CellarDoor
February 1, 2009 at 8:18 pmAre you peoples serious?
And thing stop acting like you're so strict and boring. It's really annoying you just sound like a velevet hairband wearer.
And you really have no idea about my life..
I'm never looking at your blog again.