Not a great topic but I am really bored and thought about this alot lately.

First, I don't have kids.

But this board has had a recent post by Fishfryer that a friend was raped by employees at Atlantis on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.

That girl was snatched and most likely killed in Aruba. And my own experiences in Jamaica.

Now I have not been to Jamaica in ten years but I doubt it has changed very much. I was there for a spring break and stayed in Montiego Bay which is a bit slummier than places like Negril or Ochos Rios. But my friend and I were threatened with a knife by someone wanting money on the street (three of us so we told him to FO) offered drugs of any kind EVERYWHERE. At our hotel, the guy at the desk was pimping out the young hotel maids. He told us we could buy a late night visit from any one of the maids if we wanted. Half the women on the street were prostitutes.

But this part I found most disturbing my friend and I were at an outdoor bar one night (at Doctor's Cave Beach for anyone who has been there) and were buying a few beers for ourselves and some girls we met. One of the locals came up to give us a "tip" he said tip the bartender $5 and ask him to put some "fly" in it for the ladies. Now this was not the old fabled spanish fly, it was a form of date rape drug. Thats not how Vader rolls, I got the force baby. He told us you could do this at ANY bar on the island. We warned the girls we were with to kind of watch out for this.

We were talking to a guy back at our hotel who was in the navy and on his honeymoon, he said that is common on most islands in the caribbean. Nice. Jamaica has a huge AIDS problem too and there were lots of locals leaving with spring breakers that looked kind of intoxicated. At most bars we were at, tourists were let right in but locals always had to be patted down or run through a metal detector.

So would you let your young son or daughter go down to the caribbean on a trip without coming along, and is the answer different for a son than a daughter?

 

Hind sight is 20/20. However, having a 18 year old attractive country girl go on a senior trip to Carribbean is simply asking for trouble. I was discussing this exact topic in my office last week, and I compared it to dropping a bunny among a pack of wolves.

The U.S.A is a very safe, secure and innocent place to live. So is canada. Go outside their boundaries and you better be prepared for trouble. You are kinda inviting it.

 

About as safe as walking on razor blades.

 

Depends on where in the US you are talking about.

What I am so surprised by is that last time I was going on College spring break the plane was half full with an organized high school trip. This kids were getting bombed and then preyed upon by college age kids and even older.

Some parents seem to be OK with that, thinking "well I was out trying to get some when I was a kid so I guess it is ok". But some take the other approach that I might have heard is "This is wayyy crazier than we were and I don't approve" or "I did it when I was a kid but that does not make it right"

Just knowing the date rape drug can be had anywhere, (and is suspected in this Aruba case) would make me wary of allowing my high school kid, especially girl, go down to party.

If they are 18, have their own money, you can't stop them, but I don't know if I would shell out a bunch of money for my high school kid to get wasted and schtup on the beach somewhere in a potentially dangerous place.

 

I've got about 13 more years before this becomes an issue for me. But I already have my mind made up. It's not going to happen. Sure I partied hard when I was 18 but that was a long time ago, things have changed for the worse in our society.
When I was in high school you didn't see weirdos kidnapping 5 year olds on a weekly basis. You didn't see pop stars sleeping with little boys and you didn't see gang rape rape trials against the County Sheriff's son & classmates. There was no date rape drug. These are all becoming more common nowdays and the situation is worse in other Countries.

My daughter will be pissed but I'll make it up to her somehow. My thinking is if you raise a child the right way (love & attention) they will probably understand your concern a little better.

 

Ditto.

I would not accept a drink from someone I did not know very well that I did not see poured with my own eyes, regardless if I am in another country or at the bar down the road. It is disheartening to know that people working in these vacation spots are so willing to put women into danger by drugging them.... but women need to know to take care of themselves.

If I ever have kids, no I won't let them go to another country for a trip that I am not going on myself... I do think that parents need to instil responsibility and the ability to handle situations in their kids. These days too many things that are wrong with kids are the result of bad parenting.

 

places in the caribbean are underdeveloped. so theres poverty and drugs and what not. Their police force is not top notch and probably taking part in illegal action as well. You should always warn people, and if you want your kids going somewhere, make sure you take them to a nice place with a lot of people around and make sure they stay at the hotel and the beach connected to it, rather than the other side of the island. my g/f and i went to fort lauderdale and everything was fine. But my dad (50) went with a bunch of other middle age guys, and their apartment (which was top notch on the beach) got robbed. So really, no one is safe in those places, and the younger u are the easier it is to corrupt. if i was a parent, i would NOT send my kids further than florida. Ive done idiotic things in my 19 years, but i wouldnt let my kids put thereselves in danger just because daddy made a poor decision once or twice. My parents wont let me leave the country, and ill treat my kids the same.

 

Both of mine have been, but they have lived in several foregin countrys while
growing up. You have to explain to them that they are not in the United States.
That you are under different rules and a different set of circumstance's while in
a foregin country. Stay with your friends dont go off the beaten path and most of
all use common sense.

 

Even if you do decide to let your kids to those kinds of areas, make sure that you train them in using "Date Rape Coasters". You just put a drop of the drink on the tester and it tells you if the drug is in it or not. Of course, if youre turning around constantly, rechecking would be a good idea. BTW here's a link: Date Rape Coasters

 

I think that letting a group of high school seniors go anywhere where you only have to be 18 years old to drink is just inviting trouble - both for boys & girls. Even if you had 1 chaperone for each kid, they just can't be watched 24 hours a day.