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1. He will miss 3 days of school to attend (this is not a school club)
He should talk to his teachers about what work he'll be missing, and get the assignments head of time. From a previous post, it sounds like your kid is mature, responsible, and smart. Missing three days of school will not be harmful.
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Originally Posted by cddweller
2 The trip is 10 hours, not including stops for potty, gas, food in a rented van.
That's a long time in the van but it shouldn't be a deterrent for him to go. Send along some of the easier assignments, and he can use some of that time to complete them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cddweller
3. The kids will return from the trip around 1am Sunday night in a van with inexperienced large vehicle drivers
Drowsy drivers would be a concern from me as well. Will the adults be taking turns driving/resting? Perhaps the adult driving the late stretch is a night owl? I'd need more information before determining it's unsafe.
If any of the drivers drive an SUV or pick-up truck - they are accustomed to driving a vehicle the size of a van. If they're veteran members of the club, they may not be inexperienced at all.
Coming back at 1:00am - is Monday one of the missed school days? If not, add one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cddweller
4. Cost 700
If you can't afford it, then you can't afford it. If he's in the club next year, he can start helping to pay the costs by fundraisers and odd jobs for neighbors. Start doing the jobs now, and save.
Quote:
Originally Posted by cddweller
5. My son would be staying with families I don’t know all that well.
You have a month, start getting to know those families now. Call them up, have coffee with them, engage with them.
You have to do what you think is best for your child. I think 6th grade is a little young for that long of a trip for robotics. It's not like this is the last opportunity. I think it's important for kids to learn that they can't do everything. In our area robotics competitions start in HS and the school will partly fund state and world competitions.
I'm surprised by the posters comparing their HS trips to this poster whose child is 11 or 12.
This could be a real growth opportunity for your child and a chance to overcome the obstacle of being a coddled child, making him more mature about future independence.
I have seen kids dropped off at college who were never further than a half a mile from their parents until the day they closed their dorm room door. Not pretty.
I would only say no if you have serious concerns about the maturity if your son being able to be away from home that long in the event that he lacks the developmental maturity that is expected of 11-12 year old kids.
However, with the rest, you seem to be a bit overprotective and paranoid, and I think it's time to cut the cord. It will be a 10 hour drive plus stops... and your point? How do you know they've never drove a large vehicle before? Also, what is 3 days of school in the grand scheme of the year? Can't he make it up or do some work while in the van?
If you still use the word "potty" in reference to your 6th-grader, then yes, you're overprotective.
This exactly! LOL. I couldn't believe when I read it. I worked in daycare, and a mom asked her 8 year old boy if he needed to go poop before they left when she picked him up. I was like, "Okay, this mom is going to get her kid beat up when he is older." She was an over-protective parent, and heart jumped when she found out I was a "man" working with the kids, but to her credit, she admitted it was her problem having been abused when she was a kid by a man at a camp, and seemed to be willing to loosen the harness after a couple weeks of checking me out and seeing I cared about him genuinely. The relevance to all this is I think that you're a bit like this in the sense you want to stop every bad thing that could possibly happen to your son, even when the worry is fear based and not on anything that is likely to happen. Just let him go and enjoy the freedom, and after this assuming it works out well and good, you'll be able to start to let go of some of that anxiety where you feel you have to always be stepping in and protecting him from everything all the time.
You have to do what you think is best for your child. I think 6th grade is a little young for that long of a trip for robotics. It's not like this is the last opportunity. I think it's important for kids to learn that they can't do everything. In our area robotics competitions start in HS and the school will partly fund state and world competitions.
I'm surprised by the posters comparing their HS trips to this poster whose child is 11 or 12.
I think it depends on a lot of things. My son started traveling for competitions at the age of eight, though not without a parent until around sixth grade. Of course by that time I knew some of the parents as well as you can know people when you don't spend time with them outside of the group.
A four day trip, especially over a weekend, wasn't uncommon as many of our destinations were roughly 500 miles one way. Most teachers were understanding and supportive, as long as his work didn't suffer, a few were not.
I agree that it's important for kids to learn that they can't always do everything, but they also need to understand that being part of a competitive team means being supportive and contributing to the team. If OP feels like it might become too much of a burden or an expectation then it might be best to try to find a less competitive club for his/her son.
I would let my kids go, but I understand the hesitation. I don't think OP is wrong for worrying. But I do think that it's something the kid will remember for the rest of his life. There were probably 4 or 5 of those sorts of things across my entire childhood that I can remember like I was there yesterday; everything else is a blur.
Kids here often go to an "outdoor ed" thing for school in 6th grade. Used to be a week, budget cuts etc have decreased it to 2-3 days.
Heck I was going to summer camp for a week in 4th grade.
Biggest concern for me would be the driving situation.
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