I am shocked that Kirstie Allsopp has been reported to Social Services for allowing her 15 year old son to travel abroad (Kirstie Allsopp reported to Social Services on 25 August for allowing her 15 year old son to travel abroad). I left school in 1973 at 15 and then left home and got a job within months. My brother went on holiday to Spain with friends when he was 14. I let my son go to New Zealand alone to stay with his uncle when he was 14. Until last year you could get married at 16 with parental consent. I cannot understand what has been done to put this young person at risk. As responsible parents we should send our children out into the world and let them find their own way. 15 year olds are young people, not big kids.
Sharon Murray
Carlisle
It is not clear why Kirstie Allsopp is so upset about being under a child protection investigation into her 15-year-old son's overseas trip. The investigation did not say she was a bad mother, or that her son should not have travelled overseas, or that child protection concerns were substantiated. They simply investigated, and that investigation will be left on file for future reference if necessary. Isn't what we want from child protective services to check the allegations and see if there are reasons for concern? As to whether the original allegations were malicious, many allegations were malicious. That is why social workers approach investigations with an open mind, and they appear to have done so in this case.
Sylvia Rose
Totnes, Devon
My incredulity was further heightened when I read about Kirstie Allsopp's 15-year-old son's trip to Europe with a friend (Kirstie Allsopp defends sending her 15-year-old son on a trip around Europe, Reports, 21 August). In 1956, when I was 15, I hitchhiked to Copenhagen with a classmate. As no one could give us a lift from Holland, we decided to split up and meet at a youth hostel at our destination. We did, and did the same on the way back. But this was not my first adventure. When I was nine, with my 11-year-old brother and my parents' permission, we travelled from Deptford in London to Chislehurst (then in Kent) and pitched a tent there. We were meant to stay for a week. It rained for three days, we ate all our food, and returned home much earlier than we had planned.
Dr. Jack Fendley
New Malden, London
In the late 1970s, when I was 17, I traveled alone for 17 days from London to Paris. From a naive girl (I wasn't diagnosed with autism until I was 60), I returned home with improved French, better budgeting skills, enough money to extend my original two-week stay by three days, and a much better understanding of how predatory men can be and how to navigate it safely. Allowing me to travel with my own money was the best thing my parents could do for me.
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In 1958 I didn't have much money. I wanted to cycle from Southall, in what is now West London, to the Black Forest. My parents said I could go if I could raise the money, but they thought this was impossible. When I did raise the money they balked. My grandfather stepped in forcefully on my behalf. Promises had to be kept.
I cycled to Germany, had the time of my life and returned on my 15th birthday. I plan to repeat part of the route in a campervan with my cycling-loving wife (married for 54 years) two weeks after I turn 80.
Children must be allowed to take risks that, while they may end in tragedy, are more likely to be life-affirming and develop the confidence to face the rest of their lives.
Aidan Law
Manchester
When my son was 10, I took him by train across Europe because I wanted to show him how easy and fun it can be. When I was 17, I took him by train for the first time across Europe with another girl. We paid for it ourselves; she worked Saturdays and I won a writing contest. On our mother-son trip, my son made many of the decisions, including navigating platforms and timetables, deciphering timetables and signs in a language he didn't know. My son is 16 now and could travel around Europe by train without any problems, avoiding social interactions and trouble. Would I let him do it? No.
Cathy Comerford
London
Sixty years ago my school friend Nick (aged 15 and a half) and I (aged 16) travelled around Scotland on Railway Rover tickets, enjoying a train watching holiday sleeping on night trains and in station waiting rooms. On one night train to Aberdeen we briefly shared a compartment with a chatty drunk who fortunately remembered to get off at Cumbernauld but otherwise had a trouble-free and memorable journey. The only way to get in touch with our parents in those days was via telephone box. Such a change in thinking!
Graham Thompson
West Burton, North Yorkshire
Well done, Kirstie Allsopp, for giving her son a sense of independence. I'm sure he was in daily contact via mobile phone. In the 1970s, when I was 16, I took the Magic Bus across Europe non-stop for three days to Athens, then backpacked around the Greek islands by ferry for nine weeks. The only time I was able to contact home was when I missed the bus back and made the only possible 30-second call from the Athens exchange. I told my mother I'd be a week late, and she replied, “Are you sunburned?” It was the best holiday of my life.
Andrew Keeley
Stockton Heath, Cheshire
Reading your article about Kirstie Allsopp being reported to social services for sending her 15-year-old son on a trip to Europe reminded me of my first trip to Europe with my brother in the late 1970s. I was 10 and my brother was 12 when my father put us on a train to London in York. With the help of a few adults we managed to get across London, take a train to Dover, a hovercraft to Calais and then a train to Paris where we were picked up by a friend of my parents. It didn't seem particularly strange to us at the time and we both thought it was a great adventure.
David Chadwick
Hutton Rudby, North Yorkshire
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