So, I let my daughter buy a concert ticket to see a K-pop band who is actually big enough to get a gig at Rogers Stadium in Vancouver. There's no way I can send her to Korea to see any of them so I wanted to let her go to "the big city"
The ticket was $200.
I wasn't that happy about it but they're floor seats so... okay. I can live with it. Still cheaper than a flight to Korea.
Only one of her friends was allowed to go as well. The friend is Korean and her family doesn't speak English. Ingredient one for planning disasters.
Her friend decided that it would be better for them to make the arrangements, maybe because they bought the tickets and I wrote them a cheque for half... which the girl lost so I had to cancel it and write another one. Big tip off on how this was going to go.
We've had the tickets for about a month. I listened to Enya reporting back on a plan for them to stay with friends of her friend's family. Then concern that the friends couldn't pick the girls up at the ferry (which is an hour away from the actual city of Vancouver) and that they live in Coquitlam, where I used to live and is about an hour the other side of downtown Vancouver. Then she was asked to bring a mattress or foam pad to sleep on. Then I was asked if I'd pitch in $100 in case they had to take a cab to the friend's house from the ferry. You can imagine my disapproval.
Meanwhile, a week ago, I called my own friend in Vancouver who has been keen to see me again and asked if she'd be around that weekend for a visit. I had Enya tell her friend that I would be going to Vancouver the same time as them. They could come with me, meet me on the ferry, meet me downtown or just know I was there in case of an emergency. Her friend dismissed my involvement because she didn't want to take a bus to the ferry. Instead, she thought it better to get a ride to the ferry, hope the friends were there to pick them up and be ready to take a cab or bus or sit there and cry until the concert was starting. Ingredient two: a 15 year old girl who thinks she's too good to take a bus.
When I was asked for $80 to pay for the girl's father to drive them through the ferry and to the address in Coquitlam I finally put my foot down and said that my daughter is now traveling and staying with me. I was paying my own way and hadn't asked them for a dime. Their plan did not actually involve a plan and Enya was going to spend most of the trip wishing she was somewhere else. My daughter's friend is welcome to save her father $160 and come with me and my kid. I will stay by her side until such a time as another adult takes responsibility for her. She can stay with us right up to the end of the concert where I'll wait with her for her ride. If they don't show up I will keep her with me until she is safely delivered home.
So far, we can't get an answer back from her friend as to when we can pick up my kid's ticket. I imagine I'll be going to their house after school tomorrow with two days left before the concert.
Lesson: Why 15 yr olds shouldn't plan their own trips
Lesson: Why 15 yr olds shouldn't plan their own trips
Clearly youre doing the right thing. Its one thing to let your daughter have supervised independence but I think you would be worried sick and too many things could go wrong the way events were unfolding. Teens cant really be expected to make the right decisions all the time.
I AM AWESOME MAN
Lesson: Why 15 yr olds shouldn't plan their own trips
Whew. The solution ended up being to bypass one teenager, talk directly to the korean teenager and it all worked out. She's now coming with us for the whole trip. I figured, correctly, that she'd feel she had to listen to a parent and think it out more thoroughly.
Lesson: Why 15 yr olds shouldn't plan their own trips
Glad to hear youre a hands on parent.
I AM AWESOME MAN
Lesson: Why 15 yr olds shouldn't plan their own trips
well, hands on to make sure they're safe. rather hands off to make sure they are living their own lives.